Sometimes I like to just hide in the shadows

Continuing my trip forward in time through the album charts (still running late!)

10/07/26 : Confessions II - Madonna 

Our twelfth visit with Auntie Madge, taking her into equal fifth with Rod Stewart on the most visited artist list. This is a sequel to Confessions On A Dance Floor which I enjoyed, so I have higher expectations for this than I normally would for her latest album.

Yeah, I'd say I quite liked this. It's got a much more house-y feel than I was expecting and Madonna is happy to let the music take the spotlight, with her contributions being amazingly low-key on some of them. It's maybe a little long (just over an hour) but I think she's just about got enough variety in there to get away with it. I particularly liked "Betrayal", which is one of the less dance-y numbers, but there wasn't a single track that had me rolling my eyes - which for a recent Madonna album is almost unheard of! I'd say this is well worth a listen if you like that kinda thang - it was surprisingly enjoyable.

We're at #1 (her thirteenth) with a new entry in the chart this week and the rest of the top five this week are Sienna Spiro (a new entry), Olivia Rodrigo, Michael Jackson and Olivia Dean - so it's a good week for the ladies! And let's check out them new entries

Sienna Spiro (#2)
Never heard of her, but this is pretty decent - strong Amy Winehouse or Raye vibes. She's only 20 but it's got a much more mature sound than that would suggest - I didn't mind it at all.

Deep Purple (#12)
I don't think I was aware they were still going - amusingly they were formed in the year I was born and Ian Gillan is 80 now. It's not my sort of thing but I imagine those that like it would tell me it I don't know what I'm missing. I was somewhat surprised to see that Keith Urban plays on one of the tracks and I also have to wonder who thought Splat was a good name for an album...

The Shires (#28)
I always think I should like The Shires, but they've never quite done enough to get me that interested. And unfortunately this did nothing to change my view because it's all perfectly pleasant, but drifted past me - I suspect the lovely Mrs Reed might like it though.

Mary In The Junkyard (#30)
I've not heard of this lot, but I'll be amazed if they're not a US rock group. Well - count me amazed because they're very much on the indie side of things with some interesting rhythms and vocals thrown in there. It gave strong Throwing Muses vibes and so I obviously quite liked it - younger me would have loved it. They're also from here, so I got it all very wrong (for a change).

Ken Carson (#62)
Not heard of him either - a rappy dude, I assume. Hmmm, yes - he's one of them vocoder rappy types which places him firmly in the "not for me" category.

There are only three re-entries in the entire chart this week, with the highest being Luke Combs (#87) and Taylor's wedding gave The Secret Life Of A Showgirl a fantastic bounce all the way up to #96. Last week I said that Muse would be at #12 and they're at #32, so I think we can say I got that wrong - Madonna's going to do better than that, so I'm going for #6.

Wikipedia has a lot of text for a new album (484 milliPeppers) and it tells us this is her fifteenth studio album and it "was inspired by familial and professional challenges, in addition to the sociopolitical state of the world". It was written and produced by the lady herself and Stuart Price who she worked with on the first Confessions album - and whilst there's a load more text there, that's probably about as interesting as things get other than noting that her daughter Lola appears on one of the tracks. Critically, it's been very well received, with many saying it's her best since the last Confessions album and commercially, it's obviously done very well, getting to #1 in a load of countries including the US.

Somewhat surprisingly, discogs.com doesn't have any copies for sale over here - if you head to the US you can pick up the deluxe double pink translucent vinyl option for $60-80 (plus $30-40 shipping!). I doubt I'll ever actively listen to this again, but if I needed an album to put on in the background to create some cool vibes then there are far worse options I could go for than this. She's just done enough to get the album of the week award, but Sienna Spiro pushes her close with a very decent offering indeed and Mary In The Junkyard also get a shout-out for doing something different.

03/07/26 - Muse being Muse

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