Warm with shame, I follow on

Continuing my trip back through the 2017 album charts.

16/06/17 : Truth Is A Beautiful Thing - London Grammar


Our second visit with London Grammar and last time I did a musical deep dive and declated that it all sounded very much like London Grammar. And I'll be amazed if we're not in the same space here...

Yup, this very much sounds like London Grammar. Which I'm absolutely fine with because I dig that kinda vibe - it somehow manages to slide by without being boring and Hannah Reid has a lovely voice. I wouldn't be happy if you asked me to compile the tracklist for a London Grammar best-of because I'd really struggle to pick any one of these tracks above the others - but since that's unlikely to happen, we're all good here. 

We're at #1 in the charts with a new entry this week on the start of a very decent 33 week run - not quite the 99 week run their debut album managed, but that "only" got to #2. The rest of the chart this week were Ed Sheeran, Glen Campbell (another new entry), Rag'n'Bone Man and Lyndsey Buckingham & Christine McVie (another new entry) and we have two more new entries in the top ten for the rhyming pair of Katy Perry (#6) and Chuck Berry (#9). 

Wikipedia tells us this is their second album, they released some singles from it and the critics had opinions on it - and that's your lot. The only thing that caught my eye is that Greg Kurstin pops up for the fourth time this year - he produces a couple of tracks and plays five different keyboards on "Leave The War With Me". The band do most of the production, but they call on six other people for various tracks, including Jon Hopkins for "Big Picture". Critically, most people were nice enough about, but there were some complaints about the lack of variety or progression (which I'd obviously struggle to argue with). Commercially, it did pretty well globally, getting to #3 in Ireland and Canada, #2 in France and #1 in Begium - but it only got to #129 in the US.

discogs.com tells us you'll have to spend four quid to get a decent version but if you want a signed copy then it's slightly more expensive at £300. Which I'm fine without, but I really quite liked this - without really remembering any of it in the slightest (which seems like a strange thing to admit).

23/06/17 - A well done "that sort of thing" 

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