I'm an only child, no one could've made another

Continuing my trip forward in time through the album charts

22/05/26 : ICEMAN - Drake 

Well this is a peculiar week and no mistake - and it all starts off with our seventh visit with Drake. None of the previous visits have shown me what people see in the lad and I suspect it's really rather late for me to be converted.

Yeah, there's nothing here to make me see the light - I will agree that there's some skill involved in the lyrics, but it's all a bit defensive, feeling sorry for himself or annoyed that people don't recognise his genius for my liking. If you like it, then I'm perfectly happy you're along for the ride but I won't be joining you.

And so, quite obviously, we're at #1 with a new entry in the chart this week - sigh (and things are about to get a WHOLE lot worse). The rest of the top five are a Michael Jackson best-of, Olivia Dean, Michael Jackson's Thriller and Noah Kahan - well, that doesn't seem too bad now, does it? Maybe I'm complaining about the new entries...

Drake (#6)
What?!? You don't seriously expect me to listen to this, do you?

Drake (#7)
Ditto.

Freya Skye (#35)
Well, at least it's not Drake, I guess. And there's nothing wrong with it if you're looking for something Taylor-esque - but it's only five tracks, so it's not really an album.

The Karma Effect (#39)
Well, it's not Drake and it is an album, so all is good (finally). It's 80s style rock/metal so it's not up my street, but I have to admit it's done well.

Kraftwerk (#84)
Well, it's not Drake and it is an album - hoorah again! It's not the end of the oddness though because it was first released in '75 and re-released in '09 - but, somewhat to my surprise, it does count as a "new" entry because it's never charted before, which at 50.5 years has to be one of the longest gaps. It's a very Kraftwerky album - which is something I can enjoy when I'm in the mood for it, but I do find it excessively quirky after a certain time.

The highest re-entries are from Harry Styles (#70 and #76 - probably to do with him touring) and there are quite a few others, but the only one of interest is the Dire Straits best-of (#100 - the ninth week it's occupied that position). Last week I say that Reverend & The Makers would be a "one and done" and I'm sad (but not surprised) to see that was true - unfortunately, the same won't be true for Drake but I suspect the three album thing is going to hurt him, so let's go for #14. And this week's Taylor stats are one in the top forty (just - The Life Of A Showgirl is at #40) and three in the entire chart.

Wikipedia tells us this is his ninth album and it contains a lot of references to his recent beefs with Kendrick and others. There's a load of text about the teasers and marketing techniques involved but I was fine ignoring all of that, so I'm sure you are too. Critically, people were pretty meh about it, although I was pleased to note that The Arts Desk agree with me that "Drake mainly chats about...how people don’t appreciate his magnificence" - amusingly, Slant said it "plays like a concept album set in an alternate universe where a two-year-old rap beef remains the driving discourse of public life, as though millions of people are waking up each morning and asking themselves how Drake is holding up". 

Commercially, it's done pretty well though getting to #1 in Australia, The Netherlands, Ireland, Lithuania, New Zealand and Sweden - and I'm sure Canada and the US will be added to that list soon enough. Interestingly, checking out the entries for the other albums, it seems like everyone agrees that Maid Of Honour is only one of the three really worth listening to - and the general feeling seems to be that he dropped three at once to get out of his record deal.

discogs.com tells us that there aren't any physical copies available (which tends to back up the whole "leaving the label" argument) so thankfully we're done with the man for another week. All of which leaves the album of the week award as a straight fight between the quite obvious pairing of The Karma Effect and Kraftwerk. But whilst Kraftwerk is the album I'm more likely to listen to again, I don't feel I can give the award to album over fifty years old - so well done to The Karma Effect on a walkover win, but it's well done if you're looking for that sort of thing.

15/04/26 - A well done album

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