She’s an egg hatcher, dream catcher

Continuing my trip forward in time through the album charts

11/09/26 : Act III  - Kasabian 

Our sixth visit with Kasabian (the 35th artist to reach this milestone) and it's their eighth #1, so they haven't finished with us yet - I suspect it will be fine if you like that sort of thing, but I only ever really go as far as not minding it.

Yeah, I don't mind it and I'm sure Kasabianites will love it (although I suspect some might consider whether they absolutely need it in their lives), but I really struggle to see it's going to get them any new fans. And I think that's pretty much all I have to say on the matter - you're welcome to it if you want it, but there's absolutely no chance of me revisiting it.

As previously stated, we're at #1 in the charts this week with a new entry and the rest of the top five are Adela (another new entry), Olivia Rodrigo, Michael Jackson and President (another new entry) - and boy do we have a load of new entries for you this week!

Adela (#2)
I'd never heard of Adela, but my youngest told me she auditioned to be in Katseye but was rejected as too much of a solo artist - and here she is in that very capacity. And given how awful the Katseye album was when I met it in passing, I was not looking forward to this - but actually it's not that dreadful, with a strong Camilla Cabello vibe. Don't get me wrong, it's really not great - but it easily exceeded my very low expectations.

President (#5)
I've never heard of President, but one look at the album cover and name (Blood Of Your Empire) suggests it might be slightly heavy. And it is, but not overly so - I didn't love it but it was all well played and perfectly listenable. Their Wikipedia entry is quite interesting because they're an anonymous band who were booked to play Download '25 before they'd released any music, so there's obviously someone well known involved but no-one is letting on - intriguingly there are rumours that suggest it's Charlie Simpson from Busted.

Jamie Webster (#10)
A singer-songwriter that I've met before and quite liked - there was nothing wrong with this on first listen, with it reminding me of Sam Fender, but it didn't overly grab me.

Ellie Goulding (#16)
This seems like a decent enough Ellie album - which will either be something you need in your life or not. I don't, but there's nothing wrong with it.

Dexy's Midnight Runners (#20)
Whenever I've caught any recent Dexy's stuff, I've been somewhat perplexed by its oddness - and this is no exception. And, unfortunately, Kevin's singing style makes this basically unlistenable - which is a bit of a shame because the tunes seem decent enough.

Natalie Imbruglia (#22)
Another female artist plodding on - and this isn't a million miles away from Ellie's album, with a slightly more electronic vibe to it. It's also, unfortunately, not quite as listenable.

Ricky Warwick (#28)
Another artist who I don't know but the album cover and title (Fire & Vengeance) tells us we're in heavy territory again. And again, this is more listenable than it might be - but not really my thing. And I really should know who he is, because he's the current lead singer of Thin Lizzy.

Paris Paloma (#30)
And another artist I don't know - her album cover suggests she might also be heavy, but it's another Ellie-like album. And pretty well done, but not really something I need.

Airbourne (#56)
And yet another one I don't know, but there's no doubt from the cover that we're heavy again - and I'm afraid this is one heavy album too far for me (I'm amazed i've lasted this long)

Nemzzz (#64)
All those z's tell us we're in rapper territory - well, I guess at least it's something different. But no, I don't love it.

Arab Strap (#100)
And some vintage Scottish indie to finish off the charts - I know they've been around for ages but I'm not sure I've ever listened to any of their stuff. And I really quite liked it because there are some great lyrics - "Be A Man" has some lovely thoughts on parenting a son and "Fighting For You" is scathing about some of the more right-wing politicians out there.

The highest re-entry this week is Beyonce's B'day (#31 - a 20th anniversary release), closely followed by Evanescence's Sanctuary (#32 - probably due to a deluxe version) - there are a few more further down the chart, but nothing of particular interest. Last week I said that Alex Warren would be at #17 - so imagine my complete surprise to see him at that very position! I can't see Kasabian doing that well, but think they'll do enough to hang around for a second week - let's say they'll be at #64. And I also have to report that one week without Taylor was enough for some people because she's back at #96 - I can't say I overly missed her.

Wikipedia tells us this is their ninth album and the only information of any interest is that it was supposed to come out in July, but didn't - fascinating, huh? There's no word on the critical reviews, but a quick Google suggests that Kasabian fans like it and everyone is a bit "meh, but it's not dreadful" on it - commercially, it's done surprisingly well in Japan, getting to #50 but doesn't seem to have done anything anywhere else.

discogs.com tells us you can spend £18 on a CD version or £25 on a vinyl option, but if you want the numbered, limited edition picture disc then it's going to set you back £75 - I think I'm probably fine without, thank you. Like a lot of the albums this week, I think it's done well enough but there's not enough there for me to really care about it - all of which makes the album of the week award a tricky one this week (although I can assure you it's not going to Dexy's). Part of me thinks Kasabian deserve it because it is #1 after all, President's offering is certainly well played and Ellie continues to churn out stuff which fits the brief (if the brief is something that interests you). However, the only album I really engaged with (mostly because of the top notch lyrics) is Arab Strap and, not only is it the only one I can imagine ever listening to again, but I'd actually quite like to - so they become the first #100 album to take the much coveted album of the week award.

04/09/26 - Not enough for me here