scaryblog

Continuing my trip back through the 1961 album charts. 10/09/61 : Listen To Cliff! -  Cliff Richard Oh good - it's more Cliff.  Sigh - 1961 really hates me, doesn't it?  I'm expecting this to sound dated, but not hateful - that feels like the best I can hope for.  It's a very bossy album title though! It's a strange mix of rock and roll, crooning and cabaret singing - as though he can't decide if he wants to be Elvis or Frank.  It's not great, but it's certainly not hateful - it's mostly just old covers with t he album containing the third version we've met of both "Unchained Melody" (although it's been mentioned a lot in our most streamed tracks list) and "Blue Moon" (the second this year!).  Doesn't he look so young though?!? We're at #10 in the chart this week on his 22nd week of a 26 week run, with it having peaked at #2 (as part of a ten week run in the top five - people really liked Cliff back then!).  The to...

Continuing my trip back through the 1961 album charts. 17/09/61 : His Hand In Mine -  Elvis Presley I may have skipped Frank last time, but there's no avoiding Elvis this time around (his FOURTH visit of the year) - but actually I'm looking forward to it.  I was intrigued by the title so gave it a quick pre-check on Wikipedia and it's the first of three gospel albums he recorded - so I reckon I might like it. I wouldn't quite say I liked it, but it's an interesting listen and it all sounds quite sincere - I certainly don't get the impression he's jumping on any bandwagon here.  I particularly liked "Joshua Fit The Battle" (which I recognised) and "Working On The Building" (which I didn't) but there's a nice melody throughout it all.  I was also surprised to see him sitting at the piano on the cover but apparently he was reasonably competent on it (I speak as someone completely incompetent on all instruments). We're at #11 on h...

Continuing my trip forward in time through the album charts 17/05/24 :  Can We Please Have Fun -  Kings Of Leon I'm not their biggest fan but I don't mind Kings Of Leon, so I'm happy to listen to this - I do not, however, like the lack of a question mark.  Un-acc-ept-able! I liked the opening track "Ballerina Radio" - it felt like a cross between U2 and Radiohead which worked well for me.  And that vibe continues - I thought it had a real Achtung Baby kinda vibe going on, but with the trademark Kings Of Leon vocal style turned down a bit which is an improvement for me.  They do revert to a more classic KoL sound towards the end of the album which I didn’t dig so much, but I’ll let them off because I’m nice that way.  I can also report that it sounds good in the car with the windows down - an important test metric, I think you'll agree. We're at #2 in the charts with a new entry this week and the rest of the top five are  Taylor Swift ,   Dua Lipa...

Continuing my trip down The Guardian's  Top 50 TV Shows of 2023   #19 : The Marvelous Mrs Maisel  “I want a big life,” said Midge (Rachel Brosnahan) in her career-breaking standup routine on The Gordon Ford Show. And finally – after five hilarious seasons – that big life was about to start for our favourite 50s housewife turned comic. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house when she shared a look of pride with her long-suffering agent, Susie (Alex Borstein). And the flash-forward scenes showing just how marvellous Midge’s world became were the cherry on the cake. I've heard this is good, but I've yet to hear of anyone who's watched even one episode - and I've certainly never felt the slightest inclination to check it out.  And given this is the fifth and last season, I'm really not going to start here. Interestingly, Wikipedia tells us it started life as a pilot which was shown six months before the rest of the first season - that doesn't happen so much these da...

Continuing my trip back through the 1961 album charts. 24/09/61 : Hell Bent For Leather! -  Frankie Laine I know I said I wouldn't skip over best-ofs this year, but I REALLY don't feel the need for a Frank Sinatra best-of - When Your Lover Has Gone was actually his fifth best-of but, to be fair to the lad, he was already fifteen years and three record labels into his career at this point.  But wherever he was, I didn't feel the need for a best-of so we're on to Frankie instead - and an album that the cover would have scared me off under most normal circumstances.  What was he thinking? You know what though?  It's very cheesy, but it's well done cheese - I was listening to it and it reminded me of the theme from Rawhide (as heard in The Blues Brothers).  So, of course, two tracks later the original popped up and then I realised that was where the album title came from, so it all kinda made sense.  The rest of the album is very much in that vein - it's very d...

Continuing my trip back through the 1961 album charts. 01/10/61 : Stop The World I Want To Get Off -  Original London Cast Before we get to this, I have to report one I skipped over - The Best Of Barber And Bilk, which is one side of Chris Barber's Jazzband and one of Mr Acker Bilk And His Paramount Jazz Band, but doesn't appear to exist anywhere on the internet.  I tracked some of the tracks down and I could have recreated it, but I wouldn't have had anything to say about - it was all twenties style jazz which I find enjoyable, but struggle to differentiate one track from another.   Which brings us to this - I can't say my expectations are particularly high for a 60s musical that I've never heard of, but you never know quite what you're going to get, do you? It's not nearly as bad as I was expecting - t he lyrics are cliched and dated, but I can forgive them that (although they are repeated considerably more often than necessary).   It sounds like it was w...

Continuing my trip down The Guardian's  Top 50 TV Shows of 2023   #22 : Ghosts  From headless Humphrey to Robin the caveman, mardy Lady Button to Kitty the divine, Pat the chipper scout leader with an arrow eternally through the neck and Julian the lascivious MP caught with his trousers down in perpetuity, Ghosts gave us a roster of classic characters that we have by now long adored. As the hilarious sitcom bowed out with its fifth and last season, it did so in a gloriously poignant way, with the “livings” Mike and Alison needing more cash ahead of their impending baby’s arrival … and threatening to leave the ghost gang. Cue multiple desperate attempts by the spooks to make Alison love and never leave them. Roll on the Christmas special! This is one that The Guardian put me on to at season 3  and I made the controversial decision to jump right in there, which made it a like rather than a love.  However, I then started it from the beginning with my youngest and w...