Come on and give me a sign - don't let the blind lead the blind

Continuing my trip forward in time through the album charts

16/01/26 : Reflections - Blue

Finally, the Christmas nonsense is all over and we've got some decent new releases to listen to. And this one as well...

OK, OK, I'm being mean - there's obviously plenty of people that want a bit of Blue in their lives and whilst it's safe to say I'm not one of them, even I have to admit this wasn't dreadful. It's very Take That-ish, but there's more variety in their voices which does help somewhat. However, it's all dreadfully earnest and it's impossible to tell the songs apart so it all felt like a very long 40 minutes. I'm pleased to report though that at no point did my ears start bleeding, so I'll take that as a win.

We're at #2 with a new entry in the chart this week, which is their highest position since '03 and the rest of the top five are Olivia Dean (her fifth week at #1), Zach Bryan (another new entry), Fleetwood Mac (how is this doing so well recently?) and The Cribs (another new entry). And somewhat unsurprisingly, we have a few more new entries to consider this week

Zach Bryan (#3)
I thought I liked Zach Bryan, but it turns out I was stupidly confusing him with Zac Brown - silly me, eh? However, they're both US country singers, so I wasn't a million miles away and I didn't mind this at all - it had quite a Jason Isbell feel to it.

The Cribs (#5)
The chart website doesn't deal in definite articles, so I originally thought this was Cribs, who sounds like a UK rapper if ever I heard one. Adding the "The" makes them sound much more like an indie band - which is exactly what they are. They've been going since '01 and this is their ninth album (all of which have charted) so you really think I would have heard of them, but they don't ring any bells and they've never even been mentioned here until now. And, with the world waiting with baited breath for me to at long last comment on them, my verdict is "perfectly acceptable, but bang average".

Dry Cleaning (#12)
You have to be in the right mood for Dry Cleaning and I can be, but a whole album is a bit of a challenge. It's got some great lyrics though delivered absolutely deadpan, which resulted in wry chuckles at times.

Alter Bridge (#20)
Another band I'm drawing a blank on - and this lot have been going since '04 and have released eight albums, most of which have charted, including #3 in '16. They have been mentioned here before though because they number Miles Kennedy amongst their members who had an album reviewed back in the AOTD period. And this is a perfectly acceptable hard rock album - I wasn't aware anyone really listened to such things these days (but I guess this proves they do). 

The Kid Laroi (#22)
I've endured a couple of his albums previously and I can report that this one is no better. Not for me, thanks.

We're somewhat lacking in weird re-entries this week - the only ones in the entire chart are Skye Newman (#69), Bruno Mars (#96) and Neil Diamond (#97 - I expect Song Sung Blue is responsible for this). Last week I said that Ed Sheeran would be at #61 and I wasn't far off because he's at #55 - Blue is a hard one to predict because it could be anywhere depending on how much their fans love it, so let's randomly pick #61 again because it's as good a number as any. And this week's Taylor stats are one in the top ten and seven in the entire chart (although 1989 is at #99, so the 2026 slump has already started).

Wikipedia has more than I was expecting on the album, but all it really tells us is this is their eighth album, with a surprising amount of text being used to explain they weren't sure they should record it because their seventh album hadn't done so well - but then they went ahead and did it anyway. Critically, the reviewers really didn't care whether they'd bothered or not, but I was pleased to note that The Times said it sounded like Take That and laut.de (whoever they are) said "what Blue deliver are thirteen variations of the same song, carried by a stubborn refusal to finally leave the old days behind". And commercially, it's also done OK in Belgium - obviously.

discogs.com offers you three different colours if you're into such things - a white vinyl for £23.50, a silver vinyl (complete with alternate cover!) for £40 or an indie blue vinyl (don't ask me) for £63.50. Decisions, decisions, eh?!? I don't feel I can be too mean about it though because it's 100% better than the offering from The Kid Laroi, but the album of the week award goes to either Zach Bryan or Dry Cleaning, depending upon whether I'm in the mood for some country or some deadpan indie. 

09/01/26 - Decent enough, but mystifyingly successful