scaryblog

Continuing my trip up The Guardian's   Top 51 Films of 2021 #16 :  Quo Vadis, Aida? Through the eyes of a translator moving between the different ethnic factions, director Jasmila Žbanić musters real tragic power and clear-eyed compassion revisiting the Srebrenica massacre 25 years on. Right.  This is serious stuff.  We've had two =#17 and then we have #16 - and do you know what that means?  Well, I can tell you it means we seriously need to reconsider our place in this world, because it turns out The Guardian's Top 50 Films of 2021 is, in fact, The Guardian's Top 51 Films of 2021.  WHAAAATTTT?!?  I feel like I've been lied to my entire life - well, since Xmas, anyway. Anyways, moving on from such serious matters, let's consider this film which deals with a much more light-hearted subject - namely the Srebenica massacre.  This is going to be a giggle, isn't it?  I'm imagining this is going to be a grim watch about man's inhumanity to man and ...

Continuing my trip back in time through the album charts 04/09/83 :  True : Spandau Ballet Wow - Fantastic followed by True.  We're certainly mining a very 80s seam here, aren't we?  This was the first album I ever bought - it certainly wasn't a cool choice for a teenage boy, but it might not surprise you to hear that I was very much not a cool teenage boy.   I bought it because of the title track but never regretted the purchase and, whenever I revisit it (which isn't often, but does happen) I always think it stands the test of time pretty well.  Yes, the songs do take themselves far too seriously (one even namechecks Catcher In The Rye - they were serious fellers, I can tell you) but there's not a shabby track amongst the eight on there (about the only thing it had in common with Fantastic).  I like the album cover too - even if it's got a white background which always messes up my blog posts. What did surprise me though is that the album isn't avail...

Continuing my trip back in time through the album charts 11/09/83 :  Fantastic : Wham! Well, this is a thorny one and no mistake.  We know that compilation albums are a definite no-no, but what about greatest hits albums?  Queen's Greatest Hits was a definite "yes" and Little Mix's still felt natural to include because it was an "end of an era" thing (not soon enough for some, I realise).  But, at #2 this week, we have The Very Best Of The Beach Boys.  Which is undoubtedly a very fine album but, well, hmmm.  Even if I'm being generous, this was their 6th "best of" (the first one being released in 1966) and I can easily count another 12 that followed it (out of approximately 60 (SIXTY!) various Beach Boy related collections released over the years).  So, I think I'm going to reject it due a lack of cultural relevance - yes, this is a totally subjective decision but it's my totally subjective decision, so deal with it.  Also, over the yea...

Continuing my trip back in time through the album charts 18/09/83 :  Born Again : Black Sabbath My third Sabbath album after Paranoid and their eponymous effort (which I'd completely forgotten about) and we've had an Ozzy solo effort in there as well - so I really can't say I'm approaching this with a great deal of enthusiasm. And well, it's not hateful but it does take itself all very seriously in a 70s rawk style.  Amusingly, like Johnny Mathis from a yesterday, it's very much a throwback to earlier times - whilst being nothing like Johnny in the slightest, obviously.  I'm not an expert, but if you like this sort of thing I see no reason why you wouldn't like it - it's not Ozzy-era (I assume he was in rehab somewhere) so I'll be interested to find out who the vocalist is, but tbh it doesn't make a great deal of difference to me.  It is however a horrible album cover and i t will no doubt amaze you to hear neither of us own this one - 6....

Continuing my trip back in time through the album charts 25/09/83 :  Unforgettable : A Musical Tribute To Nat King Cole  - Johnny Mathis And Natalie Cole I'm tired after having to type out that title, I can tell you - I hope it's worth the effort, but I'm not expecting to be enthralled.   However, before we get to Johnny, we have another compilation album to consider - the incredibly memorable "The Hit Squad - Chart Tracking".  Who thought up that title?  Ah - Ronco, that's who - apparently there was a whole range of "The Hit Squad" albums.  Oh joy.  But (to my great surprise) - it's actually got some very decent tracks on it with the top three for me being "Wings Of A Dove" by Madness, "Nobody's Diary" by Yazoo and "Everything Counts" by Depeche Mode (although "Bad Boys" by Wham! is very close to breaking into that set).  Modern Romance supply the worst track, but it's not dreadful and the whole th...

Continuing my trip back in time through the album charts 02/10/83 :  Let's Dance  - David Bowie Yes, I know it's not the trendy option but this was my gateway album to Bowie - all the other stuff was just too early or too cool for me (yes, too cool - even for me!).  It was mostly the singles that got me there - I even bought "Modern Love", although, with hindsight, I think it's the one I like least out of all of them. I'm looking forward to revisiting the album though. And yeah, I enjoyed it - although I thought a lot of the songs were at heart pretty average funk numbers, thankfully elevated beyond their inherent worth through the interesting vocal performance of Mr Bowie.  I still like "China Girl" and "Let's Dance" though (although a lot of that involves me mentally playing their cool videos in my head).  Of the non-singles, I think I like the quirkiness of "Richochet" best - it has some weird talkie bits on it.  I also lik...

Continuing my trip back in time through the album charts 09/10/83 :  The Crossing  - Big Country "What?!?" I hear you all cry "You've already written about this album - it was the one that kicked it all off, way back in November '20 !".  And yes, you're right, but - my circus, my rules.  OK?  I know (or at least I think I know) how to do these things these days - so I'm going to write about it properly, OK?     If I skipped over it you'd miss out on all the extra fascinating facts I ALWAYS supply about albums, which I know you'd miss. I didn't buy this one immediately - I think it was after I bought "Chance" as a single which has a great version of "Tracks Of My Tears" (" Seein' as how it's party time ...") as the b-side (" Daaaad - what's a b-side? ") that I was tempted to buy the album - and a lifelong appreciation was started (although, as Mr Hitchins will tell you, I need to spend mo...