Why are you frightened? Can't you see it's you?

Continuing my trip forward in time through the album charts

16/10/26 : Ghosts (100 Days Of Morning) - Jamie T 

Our third visit with Jamie T and I've not hated his stuff, but also not really seen the point to it - let's see what we've got this time.

Hmmm - no, I didn't really like this. It was just all a bit shouty and tiresome - maybe it was similar to his previous stuff and I just wasn't in the mood for it today, but it didn't hit the spot.

We're at #1 with a new entry in the chart this week and the rest of the top five are Chase & Status (another new entry), Olivia Rodrigo (18 weeks in the top ten), Michael Jackson and Olivia Dean (55 weeks in the top ten) - I'm also going to call out Sienna Spiro at #6 who's managed 15 weeks in the top ten. We've got a whole load of new entries to consider this week - has the pre-Xmas rush started early?

Chase & Status (#2)
C&S are definitely someone I have to be in the mood for, but I have to admit they do what they do well - and successfully, this being their fifth top ten album (and somewhat harshly their third album to peak at #2). If you like this sort of thing, then you're going to like this.

Troye Sivan (#9)
Troye is an interesting one because he's definitely not in the slightest bit interested in what I think about him - but for some reason I actually don't mind him at all. Not that I'm ever going to listen to it again, obviously!

The Temperance Movement (#10)
I've not heard of this lot and couldn't guess what they did from their name - but I've never have guessed they were hard rocking types, with a strong 70s Creedence Clearwater Revival kinda vibe and a more contemporary Kasabian vibe also thrown in. It's not something I need, but there's a lot to be admired because they certainly know their way round their instruments.

The Lilacs (#11)
Another lot I don't know, but they were easily guessed as indie youngsters - and it's nicely jangly stuff that bounces along nicely. I liked it.

Pet Shop Boys (#19)
This is a most peculiar beast - an orchestral score with sung and spoken word intervals celebrating the life of Alan Turing. It's well done, but I've absolutely no idea who would be interested in it - I certainly wasn't.

Cameron Winter (#20)
Cameron is the lead singer of Geese, who I very much don't like. And, whilst Cameron solo is, at least on first listen, more listenable, I'll not be racing back to this I'm afraid - and giving him a live album release seems very generous of his record label.

Basht. (#28)
Another lot I'd not heard of - and they're another set of indie youngsters, but they're much more serious than The Lilacs. I can't say I loved his vocal style, but there's a lot to admire here with Pixies, Radiohead and Fontaines DC all springing to mind at times, with some seriously impressive guitar work bringing earlier U2 to mind. I don't like their full stop though - it's just annoying.

Greta Van Fleet (#40)
I've met this lot before and found them skilful but tiresome - and that remains the case here. It's well done hard-ish rock with his voice reminding me of Jon Anderson, but it all gets a bit too much for me, I'm afraid

Unpeople (#62)
And another lot I don't know - and they're a most peculiar bunch. At times they're kinda US pop-punk and at other times it gets very heavy and shouty. Not for me, I'm afraid.

Dylan John Thomas (#83)
Do you think he might be Welsh? (well, you'd be wrong because he's Scottish). Given his name I was expecting dark and brooding lo-fi folky stuff, but it was actually pleasing upbeat with The Proclaimers and The Divine Comedy being brought to mind - I really quite liked it.

The usual inverse correlation of new entries and re-entries applies because we've only got the one this week with Raye soaring back in at #96. Last week I said (OK, randomly guessed) that Blossoms would be #62, so imagine my surprise when I see them at #69. I feel Jamie T will have similar staying power, so let's go for #58.

Wikipedia doesn't have an entry for the album - his entry tells us it's been released and that's your lot! It also tells us that the title track is a Jam cover and he's 40 now (having been performing since '05) and it seems like his '07 debut Panic Preventation is the one to catch - and we have a chance of visiting it when we get to that year. Critical reviews of this seem to be positive enough but I'll be amazed if it's done anything commercially elsewhere.

discogs.com tells us you can pick up a vinyl copy of this for £25 but if you want the numbered limited edition mustard yellow/milky clear/black venn effect vinyl then it's going to set you back the princely sum of £38 - it's quite pretty so worth the extra money imho. I won't be buying it though and I'm afraid it hasn't done enough to get the album of week award for me. I think we have to go for the young things this week with The Lilacs, Basht. and Dylan John Thomas all producing interesting work so they can share it between them. 

11/09/26 - A bit confounding