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Continuing my trip forward in time through the album charts 15/08/25 :  Lost Americana  - MGK  I didn't think I knew MGK until I Googled him and realised he's Machine Gun Kelly, who I am vaguely aware of and he's been mentioned in passing a few times on here, but this is our first proper visit.  I was excepting rappy stuff (because I know he's had beef with Eminem and others in the past) but apparently he doesn't really do that any more. What it seems like he does instead is be influenced heavily by others because I got strong hints of Green Day, Linkin Park,  Yungblud and a few others whose names escaped me in a "you know, that guy" kinda way. I didn't think any of it was  dreadful but it was all definitely bang average - i t’s all almost catchy but doesn’t quite manage it. I d id like the chorus of "starman", but I don't know if that's because I'd heard it before or if he stole it off someone else (and it's not a single, so ...

  My first festival day of the year! I missed out on BST this year (but the girls loved Noah Kahan) so I took the opportunity to visit the first day of All Points East - without really knowing much about the headliners. I knew that Sault are a shadowy music collective (who we've met a couple of times on here) but I wasn't aware of Cleo Sol or Chronixx so I wasn't sure what to expect.  However, whatever I might have been expecting - I REALLY wasn't expecting what transpired... ...but let's start at the beginning. I enjoy All Points East because it's set in a lovely location (Victoria Park in Tower Hamlets) and there are six or so stages of varying sizes which I enjoy wandering between to see various artists, most of whom I have no knowledge of - some of which work out well, some not so much. And so this is how the afternoon began (under some very hot sunshine)  Gotts Street Park Some smooth soul/funk sounds which worked well in the sunshine, but was somewhat ines...

Continuing my trip back through the 1988 album charts. 06/11/88 : Rattle And Hum -  U2 Moving from the second best selling Irish artist to the best selling, this is one that comes close to being rejected because of its high live content but there's also enough original content there to get it over the line. It's the second album of the year I've owned, with it having bought with high expectations after The Joshua Tree and I remember it being a bit of a mess but having some high points that just about rescued it.  I take that back - it's not a bit of a mess, it's a helluva mess. It's also a very backward looking album, with earlier U2 stuff and various random 60s covers on there, but even the new stuff calls on Bob Dylan and BB King to prevent it sounding overly modern. Having said that "When Love Comes To Town" (with BB) is one of the better new tracks on here, with "Desire", "Angel Of Harlem" and "All I Want Is You" stan...

Continuing my trip back through the 1988 album charts. 13/11/88 : Watermark -  Enya Our second visit with Enya and last time I was pleasantly surprised by the substance within, so my expectations here are slightly higher than they would otherwise have been. It's also nice to see the women currently running at 3/7 of our visits this year. Yeah, it's all pretty fey Oirish New World-y, but there's still more substance there than you feel there's any right to be. This is the album with "Orinoco Flow" on it which still sounds pretty fresh and different, despite it having been copied a million times over the years. Familiarity with the general sound is a bit of a problem here because you feel like you've heard plenty of the tracks too often over the years but I feel it would be harsh to blame 1988 Enya for that. It's not something I'd actively choose to listen to, but if you want some background, but not completely invisible, music then there are far wo...

Continuing my trip back through the 1988 album charts. 20/11/88 : Hearsay -  Alexander O'Neal This US R&B kinda sound was very popular over here at this time and, whilst I didn't hate it, I was always intrigued as to who was actually buying it - maybe listening to a full album of it will help clear up the mystery. Hmmm - no. It's certainly not terrible, but it's all very samey for me and massively over-produced to boot. I recognised "Criticize" (with a zee, obviously), but apart from that it just slid past me without me overly paying attention to it - except for the fact that the album is set out as taking place at a party, with various random (and extremely annoying) conversations between some of the tracks. Seriously, who thought that was a good idea? Alexander has a nice voice, but apart from that I'm very meh about the whole thing and mystified by its popularity. And boy was it popular - we're at #14 in the charts this week on his 69th week of ...

Continuing my trip back through the 1988 album charts. 27/11/88 : Get Even -  Brother Beyond Hmmm - I suspect I'm not going to like this... Well - I can't say I liked it, but I also didn't hate it. It's interesting to compare this with Rick Astley 's recent offering because whilst that was average material elevated by his voice, this is average material not in the slightest bit elevated by their voices. It's not a SAW album, but it might as well be - it features a couple of tracks produced by them and it's not like you can easily pick them out. I'm sure this hit the spot for those in the market for such things but it's all completely forgettable to me - but I'm at least thankful it wasn't hateful. We're at #9 in the charts this week on their second week of a 20 week run, with this being as high as it got. The top five this week were Now! 13 (a new entry),  Kylie  and best-ofs from Cliff, Andrew Lloyd-Webber and Dire Straits with the next ...

The journey continues... Leave Your Sleep (2010) Well - this is a curious (and 104 minutes, long!) one and no mistake, which I'm not sure I've ever listened to all the way through (and certainly not in one go). To give some background which will make some of the following comments make more sense, most (maybe all) of the lyrics here are classic children's poems which Natalie has set to music along with the help of, apparently, 135 musicians Disc 1 - Leave Your Supper 1. Nursery Rhyme Of Innocence And Experience A snappy title to start with and there's a very Celtic feel going on - it's got a nice sound to it, but the lyrics are surprisingly indistinct, so I've no idea what it's all about. 2. Equestrienne Whereas this is a waltz, trotting along nicely with a beautiful orchestral backing. 3. Calico Pie But we're back in the yee-ha square dance arena of the last album here. 4. Bleezer's Ice-Cream And this is some jazzy nonsense about bizarre ice cream f...