scaryblog

My expectations for 1988 were mostly dross, but with some intermittent highspots throughout - how did it do? Mostly dross is harsh actually - mostly average with some intermittent highspots is a lot fairer. Ownership was at eleven which was a bit lower than I was expected - I was buying quite a few albums around this time, but maybe not so many from the charts. There were also very few owned that we've met previously -  Tracy Chapman  is the only one that jumps out at me. Looking at the best selling albums of the year, I think it's fair to say it's not a great top five.  Kylie  took the crown following by Cliff Richard's best-of,  Michael Jackson , Now! 13 (which we never investigated, but is obviously easily the best album out of this lot) and  Bros  (which never made #1). What a selection! The next five are a much better selection  Wet Wet Wet , Tracy Chapman,  Terence Trent D'Arby ,  Fleetwood Mac  and  U2  - whilst I d...

Completing my trip back through the 1988 album charts. 03/01/88 : The Circus -  Erasure Only a couple of weeks after our first visit with the boys, we come to our second visit - I suspect "more of the same" is likely to be the overriding theme here. Yeah, if anything this is more Erasurish than our previous visit, with "Victim Of Love" and "Sometimes" (which I quite like) being peak Erasure for me. And the rest of the album sounds very similar - last time, I was pleasantly surprised by the variety across the album but unfortunately, that's not the case here and so it all got a bit too much for me. It does sound a bit harsh to complain that an Erasure album sounds like Erasure though - maybe I just wasn't in the required mood for it today. We're all the way down at #24 in the charts this week on their 40th week on an impressive 73 week run, with it having peaked at #6 in its debut week - it's actually had ten separate runs in the charts tot...

Continuing my trip back through the 1988 album charts. 10/01/88 : Whitesnake -  Whitesnake 1988 has been a surprisingly heavy(ish in places) year and brings us our first ever visit with Whitesnake - who are not a band I know well, but I know enough that I'm certainly not expecting to like it. Yeah. For me, this is to music what WWE is to sport in that I can see that  there is skill involved and  people find it entertaining but they know it's just acting right? - it's not real, is it? I knew "Here I Go Again" but I'd forgotten it was by this lot - there were quite a few US rock groups  in this era  coming out with power ballads which blew up big time so it really could have been any of them. "Straight From The Heart" did make me laugh though because it steals the "in-say-yay-ane" from "Let's Do The Time Warp". Overall though, it's safe to say I will not be revisiting this. We're all the way down at #23 in the charts thi...

Continuing my trip back through the 1988 album charts. 17/01/88 : Raindancing -  Alison Moyet Our first solo visit with Alf, as though of us of a certain age still think of her - I have heard this and seem to recall it's OK without really being my sort of thing. It is however, one "we" owned bringing us to eleven for the year. Yeah, it's not really my sort of thing - without me really being able to say why. They're all nice enough songs which are done well and she's got a lovely voice, but it all sounds a bit "try hard" - it's a very US friendly sound, certainly when compare with the Yazoo output. I remembered "Weak In The Presence Of Beauty" but I'd completely forgotten "Is This Love?" which was huge at the time - "Ordinary Girl" and "When I Say (No Giveaway)" were the other tracks that stood out for me, but I generally thought it was all perfectly bearable without really grabbing me. We're all the...

Continuing my trip back through the 1988 album charts. 24/01/88 : Come Into My Life -  Joyce Sims I think I vaguely remember the single, but that's all I've got for this - I'm assuming she's an American R&B/soul singer but who actually knows... Yeah - definitely R&B. Now, I'm not saying she loved the title track, but not only does it open the album but it also goes on for 7:49 and there's absolutely not the content there to support that sort of thing. And this very much continues - there are only two tracks (out of eight, one of which is a remix) that run less than five minutes. It's not my sort of thing but none of it seems dreadful, however I do think it is pretty average and it all totally outstays its welcome - I've just no idea what she was thinking. It also sounds amusingly dated these days with the drum machine effects she chose - and I think it's also fair to say the album cover is of its time. We're at #8 in the chart this week o...

Continuing my trip back through the 1988 album charts. 31/01/88 : If I Should Fall From Grace With God -  The Pogues Our second visit with The Pogues and this is one I'm quite surprised to get to meet - pleasantly so because I don't think I've ever listened to it, which feels like a big omission on my part. And yes, it very much was - and I've got quite a lot to say about it. We have to start with "Fairytale Of New York" which is quite possibly the best Xmas song (even if it's not exactly Xmassy) with Kirsty (who has been mentioned quite a few times, but we have yet to meet) elevating things nicely - but it's not even my favourite Pogue's song on the album! "Thousands Are Sailing" is pure poetry about the desolate life of the Irish immigrant, comparing expectation and reality whilst delivering a few stark home truths -  "w here'er we go, we celebrate t he land that makes us refugees ". It's also got a great tune to it - ...

Continuing my trip back through the 1988 album charts. 07/02/88 : Blow Up Your Video -  AC/DC Our fifth visit with AC/DC - it's fair to say expectations are low, but I've already been surprised by an Iron Maiden album this year, so you never know! Ah - it's all a bit of fun, isn't it? Where Iron Maiden take themselves very seriously, there's no danger of that accusation being levelled at AC/DC - this is just R-A-W-K! I can't say it's really my sort of thing and it does get a bit repetitive, but it's hard to hate and sometimes it hits the spot nicely (in small doses). We're at #2 in the chart with a new entry this week on the start of a fourteen week run with this being as high as it got. The rest of the top five were  Terence Trent D'Arby ,  The Christians ,  T'Pau   and Joyce Sims with the highest new entry being Climie Fisher (#37) who I seem to recall had a hit once, and that's as much as I can tell you about them... Wikipedia tells us...

Continuing my trip back through the 1988 album charts. 14/02/88 : Whenever You Need Somebody -  Rick Astley Our second visit with Rick this year and this is the one that really blew up for him - unsurprisingly, it's one I've never dared venture too closely to, although even I can't deny the quality of "Never Gonna Give You Up". Which is, of course, where the album starts - and despite having heard the track loads (mostly thanks to this ) it was interesting to actually listen to it for a change. Because it's a very decent track and Rick plays his part well, but the SAW production tries REALLY hard to absolutely ruin it for you - it's just far too busy on the drum machines and keyboards. The same is true to a similar extent for most of the rest of the album - the other tracks aren't quite the same level, but they're still pretty decent and Rick does his best to counteract everyone else's involvement. And then, right at the end, there's a stri...

Continuing my trip back through the 1988 album charts. 21/02/88 : Tiffany -  Tiffany OK, OK - I admit it. I've got a bit of a soft spot for "I Think We're Alone Now". Happy now? However, I'm expecting the rest of this to be pretty dreadful though. Well, it's not great, but I'm not sure it quite counts as dreadful either - it's just all very peculiar really. The whole album feels like a group of middle-aged dads (who used to rock back in the day) decided to get together and jam, roping in one of their daughters to try and make it "cool" - and rather than Tiffany throwing a teenage strop, she REALLY got into it. Having listened to it all the way through, I'm intrigued as to how many of the tracks are covers. I obviously recognised "I Think We're Alone Now" (they really hit paydirt with this one) and "I Saw Him Standing There" (which is just weird) but the rest of them could equally have been obscure US tracks from th...

Continuing my trip back through the 1988 album charts. 28/02/88 : Give Me The Reason -  Luther Vandross Our second visit with Luther - I think we pretty much know what to expect here. Somewhat bizarrely, it's not available on Amazon but YouTube rode to the rescue. Yeah, this is very much what you'd expect - it's not my sort of thing, but I have to admit he does it well and he's got a lovely voice. I was surprised to actually remember the title track and "I Really Didn't Mean It" so he obviously stuck in there more than I was expecting.  I didn't like his version of "Anyone Who Had A Heart" though, even if I have to admit he does it well in a Luther stylee. And if you're in the market for such a thing, then there are far worse examples out there than this album - high praise from me indeed! We're at #3 in the charts this week on his FIFTH EIGHTH week of an EIGHTY EIGHT week run - and this was its second run! It was released in late ...

Continuing my trip back through the 1988 album charts. 06/03/88 : Children -  The Mission Our second (and, in all probability. last) visit with The Mission and I don't mind a small serving of gothitude, so I'm happy to check this out but fear a whole album may be just too much. Yeah, coming in at 57:48, this is definitely not such a small serving of gothitude - and there are some lengthy tracks on there, with five of them being over five minutes long. So was it too much? I can see one track would be more than enough for some, but I got to the end without too much of a struggle - yes, it's all goth-rock but there was more variety there than I was expecting. It's also very well produced - it's got a lovely clear sound to it with some beautiful strings in places, which I wasn't really expecting. And having complained about the length of the tracks, I have to say that my favourite was the 8:03 of Tower Of Strength - it's a powerhouse of a track which just builds...

Continuing my trip back through the 1988 album charts. 13/03/88 : Tear Down These Walls -  Billy Ocean Our second visit with Billy Ocean and although it's not really my sort of thing, I've always had a lot more time for Billy than I have for Luther or Alexander mostly because he's British(ish, at least) and he's always seemed like a bit of a dude (and still does - the man has grown old very gracefully). Yeah, it's really not my sort of thing, particularly the slower numbers - but I can see he's just giving the fans what they wanted. But he's got a lovely voice (him and Luther definitely shade Alexander in my expert opinion) and you can't fault "Get Outta My Dreams, Get In To My Car" now, can you? It does all feel a bit dated but this is mostly because, whilst I assume people are still making music like this, I can't for the life of me think of anyone who is. None of it was hateful, but there's no danger of me revisiting it.  We're a...