scaryblog

Continuing my trip back through the 1971 album charts. 04/04/71 : Tumbleweed Connection - Elton John Our sixth visit with Elton but we've met a few of his from around this time which were pretty decent, so I have reasonable hopes for this. Yeah - there's nothing wrong with this in the slightest. It's decent songs from Elton and Bernie, which are all played well and showing enough variety across the album to keep you engaged. It doesn't have any of his generally recognised top tunes on it, but it exudes a similar level of quality and feels like multiple listens wouldn't get dull. We're at #13 in the charts this week on his thirteenth week of an eighteen week run, with it having peaked at #2 for its seventh to ninth weeks. The top five this week were Andy Williams (his second of two weeks at the top, but that's not enough to tempt me to investigate it),  Jimi Hendrix ,  Simon & Garfunkel , and Jethro Tull  and a Burt Bacharach compilation with the highest ...

Continuing my trip back through the 1971 album charts. 11/04/71 : Death Walks Behind You - Atomic Rooster So who expected us to see two albums from Atomic Rooster this year? Last time I was pleasantly surprised - here's hoping for more of the same. Yeah, I quite liked this despite it not really being my sort of thing. It's "heavy prog" with some serious guitar and Hammond organ riffs, with some proper skills on display. It acts as a nice bridge between prog and rock and it makes me somewhat surprised that Atomic Rooster aren't really talked about these days - maybe it's a longevity thing? In this guise anyway, because the band are still going, but all the people who played on this album are no longer with us - if you like a bit of Deep Purple or Led Zep and aren't aware of this, then maybe check it out. We're at #12 in the charts this week on their third week of a seven week run with this being as high as it got. The top five this week were Motown Cha...

Continuing my trip back through the 1971 album charts. 18/04/71 : If Only I Could Remember My Name - David Crosby So we've had Stills (decent enough) and Nash (better) earlier this year, so it's only fair we give Crosby a listen - and yes, we've obviously already met Young  (surprisingly decent) because Rolling Stone LOVE him. So let's see how Dave does... Oh dear - it starts with a very wishy-washy number and then follows it up with an 8:11 track which goes on far too loooong. And, yeah, I think "unstructured" is probably a reasonable description for everything here - it just sounds like he wandered into the studio and went "today I'm gonna strum along and sing "doo doo doo" and see what happens". I wouldn't say it's dreadful (and there are some very interesting, almost choral harmonics in places) but it does feel like it could have been a helluva lot better if he'd just put some thought into it. I also have to say that...

Continuing my trip back through the 1971 album charts. 25/04/71 : Elegy - The Nice OK, OK - we've had plenty of albums of covers this year, so let's break the rules again and have a live album. In my defence, this is our first visit with The Nice and it seems like we're not going to meet them on a non-live album, so I'm intrigued as to what we're going to get here. Well, yes - that was certainly intriguing. One thing I can say without a shadow of a doubt is that Keith Emerson was no slouch on the keyboards - there's some absolutely amazing playing going on here. He also plays for a very long time - there may only be four tracks on the album, but the shortest is over seven minutes long. And what a strange mix of tracks they are - a Tim Hardin cover, a Bob Dylan cover, a Tchaikovsky movement and Bernstein's "America", with the latter closing the album with a good couple of minutes of Hammond Organ feedback. I can't say I loved this (it definitely...

Continuing my trip back through the 1971 album charts. 02/05/71 : Elvis Country (I'm 10,000 Years Old) - Elvis Presley It may be the '70s but the UK was very much still under the spell of Elvis, so we welcome him back for a twentieth visit, extending his lead at the top over Frank (who's still very much around this year but I've been able to get away with ignoring him). I do have to admit to being slightly intrigued by this one though because apparently it's his country album - which I feel could go either way. Hmmm - I'm not entirely sure I'd quite describe it as his country album because to me it sounds like a pretty normal Elvis album but just with some additional banjo, fiddle or something similar shoehorned into the tracks. I do have to say that none of the tracks are dreadful though (which is pretty good going for Elvis albums of this period) and his voice sounds good on it too - so I'd argue it's a pretty decent normal Elvis album (which is mu...

Continuing my trip back through the 1971 album charts. 09/05/71 : The Cry Of Love - Jimi Hendrix I'm not a huge fan of letting posthumous albums through, but if I'm going to let it happen then it's likely it's going to be a first posthumous album which features tracks which haven't been previously released and were pretty much complete at the time of the artist's death. And this seems to be very much in that category, so I'm happy to be checking it out. Yeah, there's nothing wrong with this - it gives us a good general Jimi feel, as much as I know what that's supposed to sound like anyway. I certainly can't claim to be an expert but it doesn't feel like this was disrespectful to his memory or an obvious cash-in - and I think that's about all I really have to say on the matter. It's quite a cool album cover though - particularly for a posthumous offering. We're at #9 in the charts this week on his seventh week of a thirteen week ru...

Continuing my trip forward in time through the album charts 04/09/26 : WILDCHILD  - Alex Warren  Our second visit with Mr Warren and last time he was "perfectly fine" - I strongly suspect that's where we are again. Hmmm - well. Taken one song at a time, I think it just about qualifies as pf but a whole album of it just gets a bit too much. Every song is aimed to pull at someone's heartstrings or deliver a message (dead dad, lost love, etc, etc, etc) and it all just gets a bit much, without any great variety between tracks. Actually, let me take that back because, on reflection, a whole album of it got far too much - I will not be revisiting this ever. I am somewhat intrigued as to what's going on with the album cover though. And so, obviously, we're at #1 in the charts with a new entry (our tenth in a row), aren't we? The rest of the top five are The Courteeners (another new entry), Michael Jackson,  Olivia Rodrigo  and a Dolly Parton best-of - and boy do...

Continuing my trip back through the 1971 album charts. 16/05/71 : Over And Over - Nana Mouskouri Yes, it's probably our third covers album in a row, but Nana is someone who's been mentioned a surprising number of times over the years and the only time we've actually met her was a track on the somewhat bizarre All Star Festival  so it only seems fair to give her a shout - giving us three women in a row! Hmmm. Well, I can't say I loved it - but I'm also hard pushed to say what exactly is wrong with it. She's got a nice voice and she's singing some nice songs (and quite possibly introducing them to her audience). Yes, it's a bit over-the-top at times, but not massively so - and I suspect a lot of people that listened to it liked things a bit over-the-top (but certainly not too much!). I was pleased to meet her properly, but I'll not be rushing back to it - and that's all I've got to say on the matter really. We're at #15 in the charts this w...

Continuing my trip forward in time through the album charts 28/08/26 : Jenius - Paul Heaton  We've met Mr Heaton once with The Housemartins, three times with The Beautiful South, twice with Jacqui Abbott and now twice solo - I suspect he's the front man we've met in the most different guises across the years. And I'll be amazed if this isn't well written tunes with intelligent lyrics... Yup - that's exactly where we are. I particularly liked "Favourite Kind Of Idiot", "I Want The Job" (which is a beautiful love song) and "A Son A Father" (which is nicely spiky), but they're all pretty decent with more variety than I was expecting (although I'm not sure we need 15 tracks) and they'd certainly benefit from multiple listens. He's a proper national treasure that Paul Heaton and that should be more widely recognised - this is well worth a look if you've not seen it. I'm pleased to say we're at #1 with a new e...

Continuing my trip back through the 1971 album charts. 23/05/71 : The Good Book - Melanie Two women in a row - is that even allowed in '71?!? This is our first visit with Melanie and, whilst I am vaguely aware of her, I don't know the slightest thing about her so I'm intrigued to see what we've got here. Hmmm - it's kinda campfire folk and I'm really not sure whether I like it or not. On first listen it sounds a bit too rough and ready for my liking (although I did like "Chords Of Fame") but I can see I might well get into it if I gave it a chance. Her voice reminded me of Joan Baez, but it's got more of an edge to it than Joan does - Marianne Faithful is another singer I was reminded of. It was certainly an interesting listen though and different from anything else from a woman this year. I'd say Leonard Cohen is probably the closest touchpoint we've seen, although this isn't as musically accomplished - which may or may not be your thi...

Continuing my trip back through the 1971 album charts. 30/05/71 : Something Else - Shirley Bassey Our fourth visit with Shirley and this is another one which I suspect is an album of covers, but I can't check it and if we're going to let Tom through, then it's only fair to let a Welsh lass have a go as well. It opens with "(Where Do I Begin) Love Story" which we've already met once this year and I've also spotted it on a few albums that I've rejected, so I checked on secondhandsongs.com to see how many times it's been covered. And it lists 533 (!) versions all told, but incredibly over 100 of these were done in '71 including versions by Henry Mancini, James Last and Mantovani - I suspect Shirley's is one of the better versions, but I'm certainly not going to listen to them all to find out. The rest of the album is very much Shirley doing her thing - most of the songs are of a slower tempo but present her with the opportunity to open up...