scaryblog

Continuing my trip back through the 1965 album charts. 12/09/65 : Animal Tracks -  The Animals This is our first visit with The Animals and they're an interesting group because everyone knows "The House Of The Rising Sun", but I'm not sure how much of their other stuff people know. I do know how much of their other stuff I know though... Well, I wasn't expecting it to start with some honky-tonk piano - and it features quite frequently across the album. It's all very much in an early Stones vein of US R&B tracks and Eric Burdon's voice isn't unlike Mick Jagger's - it's easy to make comparisons with the last visit with had with them. And it comes off pretty well - it's not something I'll be rushing back to, but it's well done. I'm not convinced by the album cover though. We're at #14 in the charts this week on their final week of an eighteen week run, with #6 being as high as it got in third and fifth weeks, but it came b...

The latest in an occasional series of theatre reviews... The Years : The Harold Pinter Theatre  This is one I'd not heard of until it won the Olivier awards for Best Director and Best Supporting Actress - and somehow, completely coincidentally, adverts started appearing telling me it had been extended and I thought, "Why not - what's the worst that can happen?". And then I read about all the men fainting during the performance due to the harrowing description of an abortion. Oh... The play follows one woman, Annie, from childhood during the Second World War through to grandmotherhood in the new millenium, zooming in on various key events across her life and considering how past, present and future are all intertwined. And, because Annie is French, it seems like she spends a LOT of her life thinking about sex. There are five actors used throughout the play to represent Annie at various ages and they also become other characters as required - in ascending order of age t...

Continuing my trip forward in time through the album charts 18/04/25 : God Shaped Hole - Those Damn Crows  I've heard of TDC (such a great name for a band!) and I know they're rocky types, but I'm not sure I've ever heard any of their stuff - but that's soon about to change! Yeah, they are indeed rocky types - and i really quite like it. It's (relatively) melodic and not too heavy for my sensitive ears - yes, it's not going to change the world and conforms to cliché with its crescendoing choruses but it's enjoyable cliché and I imagine it works very well live. All of which leads me nicely to the fact that it reminded me of Live (Throwing Copper is a fine album if you're not heard it). I also think it's a great album title, although I'm not so convinced by the album cover. We're at #1 with a new entry in the charts this week - their first #1, so well done them. The rest of the top five are  Sabrina  (34 continuous weeks in the top five), t...

Continuing my trip back through the 1965 album charts. 19/09/65 : The Rolling Stones No. 2 -  The Rolling Stones This is our fourteenth visit with The Stones (bringing them tied into second place with Frank) and our second this year but it's fair to say my expectations are not high - unless I'm much mistaken it will be a load of muddy sounding US blues tracks. Actually, it's a bit of a pleasant surprise because it's not massively muddy sounding and it's more R&B than just B. It opens with an enjoyable version of "Everybody Needs Somebody To Love" - I obviously knew it wasn't originally done by The Blues Brothers, but I didn't know it was originally a Solomon Burke number (in '64) and I also didn't know The Stones were one of the first acts to cover it.  It then surprises me with a cover of Chuck Berry's "You Can't Catch Me" which I'm not aware I've ever heard, but I recognised some of the lyrics because John Le...

Well, at least I've actually listened to this one... The Wishing Chair (1985) This is the earliest 10,000 Maniacs album I've previously heard, but I think it was the third I experienced - I remember it giving me hints as to where they were heading but, since I'd already heard their later stuff, it felt a bit messy and unfocussed in comparison - so it will be interesting to see what I think coming back to it. Side A 1. Can't Ignore the Train This is a very similar sound to that which we hear on the next album - the lyrics are very unclear though, except for the title! 2. Just As The Tide Was A Flowing This is more like it - much better Natalie vocals on this with a nicer lilt to them and you can actually understand them. 3. Scorpio Rising Some very REM-like guitars on this - it's OK, but nothing special 4. Lilydale I like this one though - although Natalie tries to sing too high in places. 5. Maddox Table Yup - this is definitely signposting their future direction ni...

Continuing my trip back through the 1965 album charts. 26/09/65 : Catch Us If You Can -  The Dave Clark Five This is our first visit with the DC5 and only their second mention ever - the only other time they have come into our orbit was, quite obviously, when they had a #10 album in '20. I am aware of "Glad All Over" and that they were a big thing back in the day, but never quite managed to make it last - but I think that's as far as my knowledge of them goes, so I'm interested to see what we've got here. It's interesting that we meet this a week after we had The Beatles' because there are definitely comparisons to be made. A lot of this album sounds like the early high-tempo stuff that stormed the Atlantic but there are also hints of quirk and slowing things down like The Beatles had also just started - I guess DC5 just didn't take things quite as far as The Beatles did in the following years. All in all, I didn't mind this - it felt very much...

Continuing my trip back through the 1965 album charts. 03/10/65 : Beatles For Sale -  The Beatles Well, this was unexpected - I just assumed I'd listened to all The Beatles albums! But no, this is only our tenth visit which means there are still two more to go (assuming we avoid all the compilations which we're also going to meet over the years). Looking at the track list, there's not many I know, so it will be interesting to see what I think about it - I suspect there must be a reason it wasn't on Rolling Stone's list. Well, a lot of it was new to me - I only recognised "Eight Days A Week" and "Words Of Love" (from the Buddy Holly original). The rest is all perfectly pleasant if maybe not exactly thrilling - I liked "I'll Follow The Sun" (it's short and sweet at 1:49) and "I Don't Want To Spoil The Party", but nothing else really stuck in there for me. It's an interesting album because it doesn't have the ...