That night we met, I can't forget - we talked until the morning

Continuing my trip forward in time through the album charts

17/04/26 : We Will Always Be The Way We Were - Jack Savoretti 

We've met Jack once before and I declared his songs to be "desperately uncool...laid-back Euro-lounge-singer kinda stuff" (which surprisingly got to #1), so I can't say my expectations are massive here.

Hmmm - I feel he's got more of a 70's retro style going on here. The songs are decent enough and they're performed well, but I'm really unclear as to who on earth who be interested in this. And that's all I've got to say really - it's not unpleasant but it's completely mystifying.

And I'm further mystified because we're at #2 with a new entry in the chart this week with the rest of the top five being Olivia Dean (her eighth week at the top), Raye, Holly Humberstone (another new entry) and BTS (that's hanging around a lot better than I expected, pushing Harry down to #6). And after the last two weeks of extremes in the new entry department, we've got a relatively normal number this week.

Holly Humberstone (#3)
This is very Tayloresque - it's not really my thing but I can at least understand why people will listen to it.

Ella Langley (#7)
An artist I've never heard of (this is her first ever mention) and I just assumed she was going to be like Holly - but no! She's very country - it wasn't unpleasant but it seemed remarkably average on first listen.

Enter Shikari (#16)
St Albans' finest, but I tend to find them a bit too noisy for my delicate ears - and that's pretty much where we are here as well, but again I can understand why people will listen to it.

Alfie Boe (#32)
I'm usually very rude about Alfie because he (and his old mate Mike) absolutely murder songs I quite like with their granny-friendly renditions. But, I'm pleased to say that this is an album of original material and the delivery isn't quite so granny-friendly - I'm not going to go as far as saying I liked it, but it was surprisingly bearable.

Bring Me The Horizon (#55)
This is a live album and I think it's the same set as I saw them do at Reading - I didn't mind it, but the live experience was a lot more enjoyable.

Lime Garden (#58)
Another artist I'd never heard of and I'd guessed indie from the name - and that's very much where we are. It's not horrible, but it's also not particularly memorable.

Justin Bieber (#72)
I was surprised this was so low - until I did some investigation and found out it's his debut album, so I've got no idea why it counts as a new entry. Whatever the reason, it's a safe bet that I was never going to listen to it...

It's interesting that we end with Justin though because he has re-entries at #26, #37 and #82 this week - I assume the Coachella slot or the rumours of an upcoming BST appearance are responsible. He doesn't have the highest re-entry though because Laufey (#22) nicks that with a deluxe version of her album from last year. Last week I said that Dermot would be at #27 and I was very wrong because he's at #66 - I struggle to imagine Jack doing better than that, so let's go for #85. And this week's Taylor stats are one in the top forty and three in the entire chart. 

Wikipedia doesn't have an entry for the album, but his entry describes it as him going back to his roots - the man was born in '83 though, so I'm not sure I quite understand what's going on there. Google AI tells me it's been well received though - and I know AI would never lie to me about anything. There's no evidence it's charted anywhere else, although I have a sneaking suspicion it'll put in an appearance in Italy - his last album was an Italian language offering which did OK over there. 

discogs.com has one CD for £10.99 - take it or leave it, people! And, don't get me wrong, I'm very happy for anyone who likes this - I just can't comprehend who that might be. There's nothing wrong with it though and, with the very likely exception of Justin Bieber, that's true for all the new entries this week - but it's also true that none of them particularly stand out either, which makes the album of the week award tricky to hand out, especially given the wide range of genres involved. So let's cop out and declare it a tie - except for Bieber because it's not really a new entry.

10/04/26 - Decent enough