It's a long way up from rock bottom

Continuing my trip forward in time through the album charts

19/09/25 : Play - Ed Sheeran

Our fifth visit with Ed - I fear he's in full-on musical magpie mode here, which is admirable in some ways but I fear it might not make for a particularly coherent album. There's only one way to find out though...

Hmmm. There is some musical magpieness going on but I'm afraid it’s mostly bang average. There are some interesting lyrics in places that suggest he’s had a bit of a time of it and he’s not sure he's dealt with in the best way, but there’s also some dreadfully twee “you’re so gorgeous” nonsense as well - and I REALLY wish he wouldn’t rap. I liked "Old Phone" but the rest of it was eminently forgettable.

We are, unsurprisingly, at #1 with a new entry in the charts this week - his ninth consecutive chart topper. The rest of the top five are Sabrina, Jade (a new entry), Twenty One Pillots (another new entry) and Sophie Ellis-Bextor (also a new entry) - so let's investigate them new entries.

Jade (#3)
Well, this has certainly got a lot thrown into the mix - I got hints of ABBA and Rina Sawayama, amongst many others. I don't think it always works but it's certainly worth checking out - it's certainly not dull!

Twenty One Pilots (#4)
I'm very undecided about this lot - they make decent sounds but I've got no idea what I'm supposed to do with them. If you like them, I struggle to imagine you won't like this though.

Sophie Ellis-Bextor (#5)
And if you like SE-B, then you're definitely going to like this (and I didn't mind it at all).

Led Zeppelin (#16)
This is a four track EP featuring recordings from '75 and '79 - it's certainly not essential ("Kashmir" is surprisingly dull) and it doesn't really feel like it should even be called an album to me.

David Bowie (#49)
A 13 CD box set for £107 - possibly one for the completists only.

Mimi Webb (#81)
A perfectly acceptable if slightly unremarkable album - but it's surprisingly low considering her last album peaked at #4.

System Of A Down (#92)
Strictly yes, this is a new entry - but it's their debut album from '01. However old or new it is, I can assure you I don't like it.

Baxter Dury (#93)
This is a bit of a peculiar one - the apple certainly doesn't fall far from the tree vocally but it's more of an electronic backing. It seems well done if you like that sort of thing - I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it either.

Esdeekid (#97)
The first artist of the week I've not heard of - I guessed a hippy-hop type from the name. And yeah, he is and like Mazza_L20 last week, he's a Scouser - it's fair to say it's not for me.

Bit of a last minute rush in the 90s there, wasn't there? And we only have the one weird and wacky re-entry this week - Feeder's Comfort In Sound (#47) was released in '02, so I've no idea what's going on there. Last week I said that Suede would drop to #37 and I was somewhat out because they're at #100 which annoys because the album is better than that but I like the symmetry of something going from top to bottom. Next week, I reckon Ed will drop to #2 (with Sabrina reclaiming #1) and this week's Taylor stats are none in the top forty and five in the entire charts.

Wikipedia has a reasonable amount on the album (127 milliPeppers) telling us it's his eighth studio album, with the excellent news being that we can expect at least four more from him! Yes, his latest theme is the fascinating world of media control symbols - so Pause, Fast Forward, Rewind, and Stop are coming our way! Critically, the ratings are all pretty average, but all the quotes are surprisingly complimentary - reading The Arts Desk's one star rating is much more entertaining, declaring it "a mound of ear displeasure to add to the global superstar's already gigantic stockpile". Commercially, it's obviously done well everywhere - except for Finland (#42) and Lithuania (#76).

discogs.com has quite a few versions for sale but they're all the pink and white marble vinyl version (which I imagine doesn't look so great when rotating) going for £30-£50. I don't mind some of Ed's stuff (even off his later albums) but there's very little of interest here, I'm afraid. The albums of the week for me are Jade for her ambition and Sophie for her execution, but Baxter's is worth a listen if you fancy some Dury-based memories.

12/09/25 - A fine album
26/09/25 - Decent enough, but I really don't need another Biffy album

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