scaryblog

And 2025 bites the dust! Wow - there are an awful lot of albums here that I don't remember in the slightest and even fewer I remember liking (I'd suggest we're not far off single figures). It's also interesting how we've had some pretty unknown artists at various times whilst some bigger artists have completely missed out - it's all a case of how your release date aligns with (or more importantly) avoids other artists. The ownership ratio was obviously 0% but it's interesting to consider what it might have been if streaming wasn't an option - I reckon I might have bought five, the lovely Mrs Reed maybe two or three and my daughters maybe another couple, bringing us somewhere in the region of 20%. Except that, of course, if streaming didn't exist the chart would look massively different so it's a completely pointless exercise! Looking at the year-end chart of the "biggest" albums of the year, we see, somewhat unsurprisingly, that Taylor ...

Continuing my trip forward in time through the album charts 26/12/25 : I Barely Know Her - Sombr Christmas week gives us some odd albums - last year we had Lana del Rey's album from '12, which hasn't left the chart all year. I'm pleased to say we're somewhat more up to date this year with an album that came out in August - I met it as a new entry  and was somewhat nonplussed by it, but I have mentioned it a couple of times since because it's just not gone away, which is somewhat unusual. So let's see what I make of it on a second listen (this trick totally failed to convince me of the virtues of Addison Rae earlier today). Well, well, well - Sombr at least intrigues on second listen. I'd struggle to describe it - it's kinda poppy indie with a woozy vibe to it, but it feels like it has depths to it and I reckon the more you listen to it, the more you pick up on. Intriguing indeed - I'd love to tell you more but that's all I got for the time ...

Continuing my trip forward in time through the album charts 19/12/25 : That's The Spirit - Bring Me The Horizon This run of three weeks from Xmas to early January generally result in some weird album selections - but I don't think I would have ever imagined that this week we have a '15 album from BMTH (and yet it's still nothing compared to the weirdness of the album at #1 this week).  Until I saw them live , I was never a fan of BMTH - but somehow I found myself enjoying their set at Reading and ended up in the moshpit when they brought Ed Sheeran on. How did that happen? So I was considerably better disposed to this than I might otherwise have been - but even so I really enjoyed it. Yes, the vocals are a bit shouty at times but the songs are very well put together and the lyrics are perfectly understandable - listening to this made me think I fancy seeing them again because the songs all sound like they'd translate well live.  We're all the way down at #20 in ...

Continuing my trip forward in time through the album charts 12/12/25 : Kylie Christmas (Fully Wrapped) - Kylie Minogue Our ninth visit with Kylie, taking her clear of Taylor Swift, Bruce Springsteen and Neil Young - and, bless her little Australian cotton socks, I struggle to imagine I'm going to like this.  Woah. I might have struggled to imagine I'd like this but I would never, ever, in a million years, have imagined this could be quite as terrible as it is. Man, it's BAD. It's either well known Xmas songs done not as well as you would expect (she either uses an annoying sex kitten voice or duets with Frank Sinatra or (even worse) Dannii Minogue) or new stuff which is best avoided by everyone ("XMAS", the Amazon "special" is particularly poor and you just know they're going to play it whenever anyone asks Alexa for Christmas songs). Normally, I'd leave it there, but I feel the need to add another paragraph about exactly how bad this is, OK ...

Continuing my trip forward in time through the album charts 05/12/25 : Rebel - EsDeeKid Well, this is a surprise. We met this album 2.5 months ago when it was a new entry in the lower reaches of the chart - and when I say lower reaches, I mean #97. My comment was "it's fair to say it's not for me" but that wasn't a full listen and so, after some steady climbing up the charts (which is pretty rare these days), here we are giving it a proper going over - I'd love to say I expect my view to change but I very much do not. I think "it's fair to say it's not for me" is still a reasonable statement, but I can see why it has its fans. It's very "rant along with me" rap (which I believe the kids like) and it's nice to hear a regional accent - although it's so strong that a) I often struggle to understand and b) it strays dangerously close to parody at times. It's also odd because for the most part it has the simplest (and ve...

Back to the mothership! Yup, another trip to The O2 - and I'm up in the gods for the first time in ages. I saw Wolf Alice at Reading a couple of years ago and quite enjoyed them and I didn't mind their last album , even if I was a bit confused by it - so when tickets came up through work I thought I'd check them out and see if my confusion could be resolved. But first up, Sunflower Bean - tonight's support act (Bria Salmena are also supporting on this tour).  And I quite liked them (obviously I do, they're a female fronted indie band!) with some well-crafted songs with a decent full sound to them. They were maybe a little lacking in stage presence for such a large venue (although it didn't help that they seemed quite squeezed in to the front few feet of the stage) and it felt like a bit of a risk for both them and Wolf Alice considering they're not a million miles apart, but I enjoyed their set and it seemed to go down well with the rest of the audience. Wi...

Continuing my trip forward in time through the album charts 28/11/25 : One More Time - Aerosmith/Yungblud I wasn't aware Aerosmith were still going (they've got to be pretty old now, surely?) but Yungblud doesn't seem like the worst fit with the boys - even if it's not exactly something I feel I've been waiting for. Well, the good news is that if I didn't like it (go on, guess...) then there's only five tracks and nineteen minutes of it to endure. Wtf's going on here - call that an album?!? (it transpires they don't - apparently it's an EP). And actually, I wouldn't say I don't like it but, from my general position of not giving a single fuck about Aerosmith, I really can't begin to state how fewer fucks I give about this. And whilst it has Yungblud's name on it, I'd be hard pushed to say where he fitted in to the mix - the whole thing seems utterly, utterly pointless. And so, obviously, we're at #1 with a new entry in the...

Continuing my trip forward in time through the album charts 21/11/25 : Everyone's A Star! - 5 Seconds Of Summer Somewhat surprisingly, this is our fourth visit with 5SOS and their albums have been getting progressively worse, so I can't say my expectations are massively high. Nah, this is fine actually - but certainly no better than fine. When reviewing their second album I noted that they didn't know if they wanted to be One Direction, Busted or Green Day and that's still very much the case here (with some added hints of Robbie Williams's particular brand of uncertainty). They're trying to be both popular and edgy, but pointing out you drink, smoke and have sex really isn't all that edgy when you're in your late twenties/early thirties. I can only assume their fans just follow them by default because there's nothing here to warrant a #1 album - but it's certainly an improvement on their fourth album . As previously stated, we're at #1 with ...