So today, I whisper tears

Continuing my trip forward in time through the album charts

02/10/26 : Put A Smile On For Me - Keo 

Our first ever mention for Keo and I've never heard of them - I initially thought they would be R&B, but then realised I was thinking of Ne-yo, so I had no idea what to expect from this.

But I really quite liked it - it's the sort of indie-rock I'd have loved back in the 90s and whilst I rarely listen to it now, if I catch this sort of thing at a festival I love the throwback feeling I get from it. Think Nirvana and Pearl Jam with hints of Radiohead (and it's a very Smashing Pumpkins album cover) - it's all well put together and I'm pleased they've succeeded with it.

Because succeeded they have, being a new entry at #2 in the charts this week. And who's kept them off the top? Only Taylor Fucking Swift with her bajillionth rejig of The Life Of A Showgirl - there should be a law against such things. She's also at #1 in the singles chart and let me tell you that my eldest is not impressed with that track one bit. The rest of the top five in the album chart are Nothing But Thieves (another new entry), Olivia Rodrigo and Michael Jackson - very depressingly Oasis are at #6 with their best-of and #9 with WTSMG?. So let's just concentrate on the new music, shall we?

Nothing But Thieves (#3)
We've actually met this lot twice already - both times I've been somewhat perplexed by it, but not hated it. And that's pretty much where we are here, although it was a bit heavier than I was expecting - I'm sure their fans will like it (well, they obviously do as it's at #3), but I suspect most everyone else will completely ignore it.

Soft Cell (#24)
I was surprised to see this was a new album, not least because Dave Ball died last year - but apparently it was completed a couple of days beforehand. And this is OK - it has a Pet Shop Boys sound to it, but that's probably because those Pet Shop Boys must have listened to a bit of Soft Cell in their time. It's all well put together and feels like a fitting epitaph for the band - obviously I'll never listen to it again though.

Europe (#30)
I must admit I had no idea they were still going - apparently they split up in '92, but got back together in '03 and this is the seventh album they've released since then! But, God this is awful - sooooo bad. No thank you.

Tinashe (#35)
Another one I've got absolutely no idea about. And I quite liked it - it reminded me of SZA, but it's more glitchy (in a good way), but despite that it's got a nice clean sound to it. And, wow - it's her eighth album!

Orbital (#57)
This is their '94 Glastonbury appearance which is supposed to be legendary (don't talk to me about Glastonbury after this morning's complete failure to get tickets). And yeah, it's cool - it reminded me of when I saw them there in '04 and '10, which feel like a very long ago now.

Gurriers (#64)
Nope, never heard of them either. Amazon tell me they take elements of punk and shoegaze - and whilst I can see what they're talking about, they seem to take the worst elements of both. It's another no thank you here.

Linkin Park (#65)
This is the soundtrack to a documentary about the band coming back together after Chester Barrington's death - I'm sure it's good if you're into the band, but I feel I'm probably fine without it.

Julia Jacklin (#78)
We've met her previously and I was underwhelmed by the understated nature of it all. This one actually this one stuck in there a bit more, but it was still a bit lo-fi for my liking - she's heading in the right direction though!

Adult DVD (#92)
My initial thought was that this was a band that hadn't thought about the SEO when they chose their name, so imagine my surprise when Googling "Adult DVD" returns them first! Apparently they're a English dance-punk band and this is their first album. Hmmm - there's nothing really wrong with it but it feels like it wants to be The Prodigy and it just ain't.

The highest re-entry this week is Coming Up by Suede (#45 - thanks to a 30th anniversary edition) closely followed by MTV Unplugged by Alice In Chains (#49 - probably due to a slightly late 30th anniversary edition, because it was originally released in July '96). There's a few more in the lower reaches of the charts, including two from Taylor which are The Tortured Poet's Department (#98) and Folklore (#99) - she just won't go away! Last week I said that beabadoobee would be at #21 and it's fair to say I got it somewhat wrong because she's at #75 - I hope I'm wrong but I very much fear that Keo are going to be a one-and-done.

Wikipedia doesn't have an entry for the band or the album, so we have to resort to Google AI telling us that the band are from London and they "fuse grunge fuzz with melodic alternative rock and post-grunge energy". It also reminds me that Keo is the beer to drink in Cyprus and tells me you can buy it here in Tesco or Morrisons!

discogs.com tells us you can pick up a CD for £12 or a transparent vinyl for £25, which is pleasingly cheap - but if you want to splash out then you can go for a signed white label copy for £240. I really quite enjoyed this and feel they've done enough to take the album of the week award, but I'm also going to call out Soft Cell for tying up the loose ends nicely, Tinashe for a beautifully produced album and Orbital for a nice bit of personal nostalgia.

25/09/26 - Perfectly fine