We are searchlights, we can see in the dark

Continuing my trip back through the 2017 album charts.

15/12/17 : Beautiful Trauma - P!nk


Our fifth visit with Alecia Beth Moore-Hart and generally I've quite enjoyed her stuff. Some of it is a bit over-enthusiastic for my old ears but that's fine - not everything has to be for me, you know!

Ah, this has got "What About Us?" on it, which is probably one of my favourite tracks of hers. And the rest of the album is in a similar vein, slightly less excitable than her earlier stuff - so I liked it. The other thing that's obviously different from her earlier stuff is that the girl has been taking singing lessons - she wasn't exactly a slouch before, but there's a control and depth there now that wasn't there before. I doubt I'll ever listen to it again, but I feel this probably hit the spot for those who were looking for this sort of thing.

We're at #9 in the charts this week on her ninth week of a 39 week run with it having peaked at #1 in its debut week - it spent its first 27 weeks in the top 20, so well done her! The rest of the top five were Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith, Alfie Boe & Michael Ball (thankfully this is a compilation album, so I can safely ignore it) and Rag'n'Bone Man, with the highest new entry being Barbra Streisand (#65). 

Wikipedia has way more on the album than I was expecting (484 milliPeppers) and it tells us this is her seventh album and comes after a five year gap from her previous album. It goes into an awful lot of detail on her thinking and motivation behind the album and the original tracks, but it's all very lacking in items of any actual interest - except maybe for the big name producers she got involved including Greg Kurstin, Max Martin, Jack Antonoff and Shellback. The critics were a bit mixed on it with the strength of her voice and the songs being praised, but some felt it was all a bit too calculated (I'm not entirely sure what else they were looking for). Commercially, it did very well though, getting to #1 in a load of countries, including all the major English-speaking nations and it was the third best-selling album in the world in '17.

discogs.com tells us you'll need to spend a couple of quid to get a decent version, but if you want the gatefold sleeve double vinyl then it's going to set you back £40. There's no danger of me shelling out even a couple of quid for it, but it feels like a decent example of "that kind of thing" if that's what you're looking for. 

22/12/17 - Surprisingly boring

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