Peter James – “Prophecy” (1992) Review. 3/5

This review was originally published on Goodreads on 23/09/2022

Peter James’ novels have been improving as they go, with the stories becoming more original and his characters better drawn.  “Prophecy” felt like both a forward and a backward step in some ways, as whilst the story and some of the set pieces were very good, the characterisation seemed to lose a little from the previous novel I’d read.

The novel starts with disaster, as an evil man is killed by having a red-hot poker inserted into his body and then, over 300 years later, a young boy and his father are in the wrong place to see his mother killed in a road accident that leaves her decapitated.  A few years later, the two of them meet Frannie, a researcher at the British Museum and a relationship starts.

As things progress, it seems that Frannie and the father, Oliver, have lives linked by seeming coincidences.  It transpires they had met before and the café where she once worked had a link to Oliver’s titled family and a Ouija session she had once held there with some university friends has released some evil stored in the walls which has had an impact on Oliver’s son, Edward and their time together is interspersed with incidents and accidents.

Whilst some of the plot felt like a bit of a reach, if nicely explained by the whole plot revolving around coincidences, some of the scenes were different to what Peter James has written previously.  Some of the deaths are far more detailed and visceral in description than I’d seen in his writing in earlier novels.  The opening scene with the poker and a couple later on were particularly nasty and felt like a step in a different direction for James’ writing.

However, I didn’t feel that the main characters were as well drawn as in the previous novel I’d read, “Twilight”.  The focus was very much on the story and the coincidences that link the people, more than the people themselves.  We find out very little about Frannie and Oliver’s previous lives, which seemed largely incidental and whilst this kept the pace of the writing high as they moved from one situation to another seemingly without break and everything felt to be happening far too close together.

That isn’t to say that “Prophecy” wasn’t a good read and had I read it prior to reading “Twilight”, which was the best of his pre-Grace novels I’ve read so far, I might have felt better about it.  This is still a good novel, but it has a few gaps in characterisation that the previous novel seemed to have improved upon and that leaves a slight hole, but this is very plot driven and visceral, so regardless of the minor limitations, the horror novel fan in me did still enjoy it.    

My Running Year 2024: Month 1

I’ve made some quite lofty goals for myself in running over many years, mostly involving trying to reach 1000 miles or run every day for a whole year.  This year, I’ve done the same thing in both areas, hoping that a return from injury and going back to my running club on a regular basis would get me going and knowing that with the first two days of the year being running days would get me going.

Whilst I’m slightly behind on my target for the annual mileage at the end of the first month, having logged around 70 miles against a target of just under 85 miles, at this early stage this isn’t an issue.  For the remaining months of the year, it would require an increase in my daily target mileage of just 0.04 miles, which is easy enough to catch up.

I’ve had a couple of events which have helped keep me going, as I signed up to help on my running club’s beginner’s course, so I’m committed to running with someone two or three times a week.  As they follow a similarly increasing running volume in a  run/walk plan, this also means I’m getting to ease myself back into running fairly slowly, which might not be a bad idea as I gave myself an injury in the Summer by increasing my mileage from nowhere far too quickly.

Whilst I suspect I’ve done the same here, the purchase of a p hone holder, which has meant I’ve not carried a phone in my hand seems to have balanced me out a little.  I was running tense, largely due to fear of falling again having broken my collarbone last year and not holding my phone, as well as not using it to play Pokémon on the run, which was the cause of my fall, seems to have cleared some of the fear of falling and has meant I can run beyond 2 miles without pulling my left calf, which was the issue I was having last Summer.

3 of my runs every week are helping me get ahead of the mileage, as the club runs and parkun mean I’m covering over 3 miles at least 3 times a week, against a daily target of 2.73 miles (or 2.77 miles as it will have to become).  Most of my runs during the week have been shorter ones, usually between 1.03 miles and 1.7 miles, with only one really exceeding 2 miles and this is something I need to work at to avoid falling further behind, although I’m not great at pushing myself when I’m out on my own and some days in the bas weather have already felt like a chore or an obligation rather than a pleasure, so there is some attitude adjustment required.

But I have reached 70 miles, which is around 55 miles further than I ran last January, so that’s a start.  I’ve also clocked my fastest parkrun time in around 4 months, without feeling particularly like I’d gone too hard, so that provides some encouragement, as does being a few pounds lighter than I started the year.  I may not have quite remained on target for mileage, but I think that all things considered, this has been a very successful first month of my running year.

Lily Allen – “Alright, Still” (2006) Review. 3/5

This review was originally published on ciao.co.uk on 22/10/2006

It is a rare occasion I buy an album based on hype alone, as previous experience has taught me that they tend to be disappointing. But after the enjoyment I gained from the last album I bought that way, Sandi Thom’s “Smile…It Confuses People”, I thought I’d try another darling of the MySpace crowd. So I decided to give Lily Allen’s “Alright, Still” a shot, especially as it was on offer in various places and available for less than £5, which was handy as with a running time of 37 minutes, this is a very short album.

My expectations going into the album were very low. The singles I’d heard had been OK, but didn’t really move my world and I figured that, as is often the way, this would be as good as the album got. I’m not greatly enamoured of Lily Allen as a person, either, with her chav attitude and stories of a bad girl past and her foolish statement that she was going to celebrate her first number 1 single (with “Smile”) by taking drugs. She did later retract this comment and claim to be joking, but I’m not convinced. One thing in her favour, however, is that she is the daughter of Keith Allen, whose “Vindaloo” single was a masterpiece to a football fan like me.

The album opens with the jaunty reggae tones of number 1 single “Smile”. It’s more of a pop-reggae sound, a little like Paris Hilton’s “Stars Are Blind”, although with a darker tone to the lyrics and more of a pop influence. A lot of the lyrics are half-spoke, breaking into song only in the chorus, quite similar to The Streets. There’s an interesting contrast between the jaunty upbeat music and the story the lyrics tell and it’s a song that has grown on me with repeated listens, impressing me more now than it did on first listen, largely due to that contrast.

There’s another upbeat start with the jazzy piano intro to “Knock ‘Em Out”. It’s again half spoken and quite The Streets like and seems to sit half way between being a skit and being a song. Again, there is contrast between the lyrics and the music, but it’s not as good a track as the opener, seeming more like Allen’s just messing around for a laugh than trying to put a song together and it’s a lot less mature in outlook

Next up is second single, “LDN” which, for a song about London, opens with a Latin sort of beat and a brass intro that The Mavericks would kill for, with a slight ska backbeat to much of the song that makes it seem a little like a toned down version of the Notting Hill Carnival. Otherwise, it’s back to the tried and tested formula of a happy beat and a slightly dark and depressing lyric, telling us what Londoners already know – it can be a hard and depressing city, but still manages to be a great place to be.

Given the dark nature of the lyrics so far, you have to think that “Everything’s Just Wonderful” is a sarcastic title. But you’d never know from the intro, which sounds a little like lift music. But, as before and as expected, it’s a jaunty up-tempo pop tune and the title is meant to be ironic. It’s not a bad track, but the album is starting to get a little boring by this point, as although the music changes every time, there is a repetition here with the contrast between music and lyric that seemed unique in the first song already appearing to be a cliché.

It’s back to the reggae theme for “Not Big”, which is a warning for any ex-boyfriend of Lily Allen, or another attack at the same ex as “Smile”, which would explain the same tune. Apart from being a bloke and really not fancying being on the receiving end of something like this; it is quite a funny tune. Although the lyrics are Allen having a go at an ex, she’s clearly enjoying doing so.

“Friday Night” is the chav tune I feared from this album, being hugely confrontational in the lyrics, although with some amusing insults thrown in here and there. Again, though, it’s a jaunty up beat pop-ska tune with the same half talking, half sung Streets style vocals which, combined with the tune actually makes me think of a female version of Madness. Allen isn’t as good as Madness, but she’s got the same foot tapping pop-reggae feel going on.

“Shame For You” is again a shame for an ex-boyfriend. There’s another slightly jazzy piano backbeat going on, with a slight blues edge. It gives the music a slowed down tempo and a darker twist, which keeps it more in feeling with the lyrics again. There’s the same chav confrontation thing going on in many parts, though.

As if to prove that she doesn’t hate all her ex-boyfriends, or can still think of the good times, “Littlest Things” is the albums first real ballad type track. The intro reminds me very much of Cat Stevens’ “Wild World”, which would possibly be an appropriate influence for someone like Allen, before the song moves into a pop influenced piano ballad. Like many love songs, this is a story of a romance, but it’s certainly a modern chav romance and not the idea of romance many of us may have. It does show the softer side to chav culture that the news never focuses on, however, so it’s slightly valuable for that insight and it is quite a sweet song, really.

Sadly, that was unlikely to last and “Take What You Take” brings us back to the confrontational side of much of youth culture. This is the ultimate chav song, with the backing vocals in the bridge sounding like they were written and performed by Catherine Tate’s Lauren character. There’s again an upbeat backing, with a slight funk influenced pop song buried underneath those lyrics and the lyrical tone reminding me of Shampoo from the 1990s.

“Friend of Mine” has a slightly more down tempo reggae feel than many of the songs before and is possibly the strongest reggae influenced track; not quite to UB40 levels, but not too far away, really. Strangely, this is more of a song than many of the others, as there’s more singing involved than the Streets style half-talking, half singing that much of the album has been based around. Strangely, however, the down tempo music and the sweetness of the vocal makes this less effective, especially as it’s another song trying to get at someone, as it’s a little too saccharine to be a proper hate song.

The album ends with my favourite track, “Alfie”, which is apparently about Allen’s brother. The music is halfway between a circus background and Scaffold’s “Lily the Pink” and probably wouldn’t sound out of place in a Disney cartoon. Again, though, the lyrics are a lot darker and the constant insistence on rhyming lyrics does give the song a very immature feel, especially with the nursery rhyme style music. For all this, though, it’s seemingly designed to make you smile and it does that wonderfully well, as I can’t help but grin when I hear this one, particularly as a huge “Game of Thrones” fan, through which I have come to know Alfie Allen.

With the lyrics full of insults and reflecting the chav culture that many of those outside it have so far failed to understand, I should really hate this album the way I expected to in the first place. But I don’t and that confuses me. I think that Allen’s masterstroke is the combination of dark lyrics with a jaunty background, be it with ska and reggae as the musical influence as for around half of the album, or the many other musical styles she borrows from. This means that the listening experience is frequently an enjoyable one, as long as you don’t concentrate too much on what the lyrics are saying, even for someone like me.

Of course, if you are a chav, particularly a female one, this is the album for you. For perhaps the first time, an album is catering specifically to a sub-group of youth culture. You’ll most likely be able to track aspects of your own life through the lyrics, which I was delighted to say I couldn’t.

For me, this was never going to be a classic album, but I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. I expected to be disgusted and horrified and to play the album once and never again. But it is surprisingly catchy and whilst I still can’t quite get comfortable with some of the lyrical content, musically it is quite an enjoyable album and I can see myself using this album as background listening for a while, as it’s quite unobtrusive if you’re not concentrating on the lyrics. Try as I might and as much as I’d like to, I can’t quite hate the album. It’s not great, but it is alright and if you can handle the lyrical content, worth a go for the prices it can be found for.

Co-Op Bakery Milk Chocolate Ball Doughnuts Review. 3/5

I do love a doughnut, but I also love trying new foods even more. When it comes to round filled doughnuts, there isn’t much opportunity for new things to try, as they tend to be jam or custard filled and that’s about it. This was mostly why I was so excited to find the Co-Op Bakery Milk Chocolate Ball Doughnuts, as the last time I remember finding something different in a standard doughnut (not counting Krispy Kreme, which are a category all of their own) was when Asda did an apple filled doughnut, but they stopped doing that years ago.

The differences between these and a normal doughnut is immediately obvious as they are a dark brown ball, actually slightly darker in colour than you would expect from something made of milk chocolate, although this doesn’t come through in the aroma. Then, once you bite into them, you find they are a little more heavy and dense than a regular doughnut. I suspect this is probably due to the chocolate in the dough, as when I tried the Co-Op Chocolate and Orange Hot Cross Buns last year, I found the same issue with the density of the dough.

Whilst the texture and density isn’t great, they have worked the taste profile out perfectly, as there is a distinct chocolate taste coming through from both the dough and from the chocolate custard filling. The texture of the filling is smooth and light enough to suggest this is a chocolate custard rather than just molten milk chocolate as with the Cadbury’s desserts. But thanks to the density of the doughnut part, the change in texture is very welcome.

As with the chocolate version of the hot cross buns, the idea of the chocolate doughnuts is tastier than the execution. I’m happy to have tried them and the taste offered something different, but the dense texture made for an experience which wasn’t entirely enjoyable after the first couple of doughnuts. That said, it does make for a nice change for a doughnut to become a little too much for reasons of density and texture of the dough rather than because the sweetness of the filing becomes too cloying.

Sainsbury’s The Collection Lemon Soap Bars Review. 4/5

We were attempting to reduce our plastic waste, but it seems that some companies aren’t as up to speed as we had hoped. The only soap we could get in our supermarket delivery that seemed to come in a cardboard covering was Dettol Antibacterial Soap. This soap blotted its own copy book by having the double bars wrapped in plastic as well as cardboard, being a very strange shape and being so strongly lemon scented that our cats weren’t keen on us petting them for a little while after washing our hands.

Having tried this without success, we reverted back to the supermarket own-brand soap, which doesn’t create any more plastic waste, but also comes in at half the price. Whilst the standard soap bars from the supermarket were a little boring in both shape and colour and the faint generic floral scent wasn’t unattractive, but not entirely to our taste. However, when you step outside the supermarket’s basic soap range, things improve a little and so we tried Sainsbury’s The Collection Lemon Soap Bars.

These are more boring in appearance than the Dettol soap bars, although the yellow colour is a bit more interesting than the basic soap bars, if not as vivid as the yellow of the Dettol soap bars. They are slightly larger than the Dettol bars as well, measuring roughly an inch high, about 1 ½ inches wide and roughly 2 ½ inches long and they have a strong lemon scent, although it isn’t as overpowering as the Dettol bars. Fortunately, it also doesn’t last as long on our hands after washing, which means the cats, whilst still not entirely keen on the lemon scent, don’t avoid us for as long as they did with the Dettol bars.

What I was surprised by is that it does lather up quite well and whilst it perhaps doesn’t have the same cleaning power as liquid soaps, it does a passable job.  I was also surprised that it’s much softer on my hands than some liquid soaps and after a while of use, it hasn’t dried my hands up in any significant way.  And there is a lot of use in each bar, even more so when you buy them in a pack of 4 for just a couple of pounds, offering a significant saving over both liquid and luxury soaps for a much smaller drop in effectiveness than I was expecting.

Perhaps the only down side to this soap is that, just like in the old days, it reacts badly to being immersed in water and can break down in a soap dish and it also leaves a scummy residue around the sink after repeated use.  Whilst this isn’t a problem with liquid soaps, some of the specialist soaps we have tried have done the same thing, for a higher price, so this isn’t a problem that occurs solely in cheaper soaps.

With Sainsbury’s The Collection Lemon Soap Bars, it turns out that you don’t necessarily get what you pay for.  Sure, they’re visually less appealing than many soaps and the detritus they leave behind is less than ideal.  But in terms of what you want them to do, in cleaning your hands without damaging them, they do almost as effective a job as other similar products for a greatly reduced price, so the value element comes into play in a major way.

“It Could Happen Here” Podcast Review. 4/5

Before coming across “It Could Happen Here”, I was familiar with the work of Robert Evans through different places in my podcast feed.  His novel, “After the Revolution” was generic post-apocalyptic fiction, read by the author, which wasn’t great in either way.  His podcast “Behind the Bastards” is better as an idea than in the execution, as whilst Evans’ knowledge is clear to see, he seems more inclined to make the podcast about him than about the subject matter.

However, “It Could Happen Here” contains all that is best about Robert Evans’ writing.  For one thing, it is in the non-fiction space, where he does his best work, as regardless of how I feel about his fiction writing and presenting, the level of detail and research he puts into his writing is undeniable.  The podcast is literally just himself reading his work, so he stays much more focussed without someone else to try and impress and the non-fictional content means he isn’t trying to add drama or perform.

The original podcast under this title and feed consisted of 10 episodes, ranging between 25 and 75 minutes, which were published on a weekly basis between March and June 2019.  Theis series ran to around 6 hours of content in total and whilst the podcast feed would later be utilised for other purposes, this podcast section stands alone as there was no new content until August 2021 after this.

The basic theorem that Evans is proposing here is that the United States of America is looking very close to descending into a second Civil War.  He has worked as a journalist in war zones and area where protests and discontent is happening and some where there has been open insurrection and he feels that the United States is showing all the signs of an approaching schism that will split the country in such a way that another Civil War is looking likely.

Evans covers the subject from multiple angles, drawing from historical events within the United States and what he has seen as worsening conditions both at home and abroad.  He provides examples of the kind of rhetoric and thinking that would encourage a Civil War and discusses events which have already happened which are indicative of events to come, albeit with such events only occurring in isolation at this point.

The format of the podcast does make it a little difficult to listen to in long stretches, as Evans’ narration is relentless and largely uninterrupted other than with brief splices of voiceover that support his points, usually from Alex Jones of Infowars.  Evans’ voice isn’t the best for this sort of thing, with a nasal quality that does get a bit wearing after extended periods of listening, which, when combined with the subject matter at hand, can make the whole thing quite tough going.

Perhaps the most worrying thing is that Evans has collected sufficient evidence of a coming Civil War that he could talk solidly about it for 6 hours making the same point.  Even more concerning is the thought that this all happened in 2019, before Trump had lost the 2020 election and the events around the transition of power in January 2021.  At the time of release of the podcast, the fatalities at the Unite the Right rally in Charlotteville had happened, but George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery were still alive.

Whilst listening now perhaps doesn’t feel as bad as when it was released, given what has happened since and the calming effect of the current administration, it is hard to be settled knowing what is to come.  Trump has numerous court dates in the near future and the next election isn’t too far away and there is no obvious signs that the extremism we have seen in recent years is going away.  I may not have enjoyed Evans’ post-apocalyptic fiction writing, but his pre-apocalyptic non-fiction writing is far more terrifying and hopefully will be a lesson learned, not an example followed.

“Best Baker in America: Season 4” (2021) Review (TV Series). 2/5

Whilst it doesn’t quite have the same warmth as “The Great British Bake Off”, my wife and I have enjoyed “Best Baker in America”.  It doesn’t have quite the same heart as the British version, as the bakers are largely professionals in some form or another and there isn’t the same opportunity to see them interact or to watch them grow over the course of a series and there isn’t much interaction between the judges and bakers, so it all feels just a little antiseptic.  That said, perhaps due to some or all of the above, the bakes they produce tend to be incredible and it’s worth watching for that alone.

After three seasons of the show, there have been a lot of changes to “Best Baker in America” for the fourth season.  Two of the three members of the judging panel have changed, with Carla Hall taking over host duties and Marcella Valladolid being replacement by Gisele Prado, who I didn’t realise until I looked her up is Sandra Bullock’s sister.  Adding a touch of continuity is Jason Smith, who has been the only constant over all 4 seasons of the show and the one I would least like to lose, as his Kentucky accent is incredibly soothing and some of the comments he comes out with, as well as some of his outfits, are great to experience.

The bakers remain the same, with each generally running their own business or working in a professional field related to baking, but the format of the show has also been changed this time around.  All the bakers compete in a single challenge which involves a specific type of bake, which is this series is selected from the home state of one of the bakers, with each bake needing to highlight a particular flavour profile.  The change is what happens next, as some bakers are allowed through to the next round, whilst the poorer performing bakers, of which there are always at least two, but can be more, have to compete in a further head-to-head challenge to see which one will be leaving that week, with the successful bakers not only getting to watch, but also getting to taste the bakes and add their comments before the final judgement is rendered.

This amended format allows for a little added stress, as there is the tension in the judging process happening twice.  This second section also has the added bonus of everyone watching, which isn’t present in the first part and there were more tears from the contestants in this season than I remember in any of them previously, which I’m not convinced is a good thing, especially in these times where mental health is such a priority for so many shows.  It also seems rather strange watching the contestants watching and judging the others, when you’ve had no idea from watching them interact as to whether any of them have built friendly relationships and who likes and doesn’t like who.

The other aspect of this season I found off-putting is that it was incredibly loud.  New host Carla Hall is rather enthusiastic, but is someone who expresses enthusiasm with volume, so half the announcements she makes are done at top volume, whether they’re exciting enough to be worth shouting about or not.  Gisele Prado also seems to have picked up on this, meaning it’s only Jason Smith who has some semblance of control and I noticed that even he was getting more excitable as things went along.  There was also quite a lot of whooping and hollering from the watching contestants in the second section of some of the episodes and I found this American style of doing things a little too over the top after the calmer British versions.

Much of the baking that happened here was of very good quality and, with them all being professionals, there weren’t that many disasters and quite a few of the selections were variations on pies rather than cakes or pastries, which meant the reveals were often quite dull as there was too much perfection.  There was no growth in either the personality of or relationship between the contestants, or in anything they had learned and improved through the series, which essentially meant that the whole season was little more than the same episode 8 times over, with the additional disadvantage of it being too loud in parts, meaning this was perhaps the weakest season of the show so far, or at least the most annoying in some ways.

Peter James – “Twilight” (1991) Review. 5/5

This review was originally published on Goodreads on 17/09/2022

The further I go through Peter James’ pre-Roy Grace horror novels, the better I’m finding them to be. Whilst the first one I read was a touch generic, he has been developing his ideas and characters in the genre as he goes. “Twilight” felt like another step forward, particularly as it was based around Brighton, where he would make his fortune with Roy Grace.

As a young boy, Harvey Swire had an out-of-body experience when he was knocked off his bike and ended up in a long tunnel speaking to his recently deceased mother. After the accident, he finds he has similar experiences, some of which he has control over, which help him cheat in his exams and get into Medical School and once he has graduated, he finds another doctor with an interest in epilepsy and certain chemicals which may be able to induce similar effects.

Years after Harvey’s accident, there are stories that strange sounds have been coming from the grave of a recently buried woman. A local journalist, Kate Hemingway, manages to insert herself into the exhumation and what they find suggests a huge mistake has been made somewhere along the line and there may be a conspiracy between the hospital and the local undertaker, as everyone is denying that Kate has seen the evidence she did.

There is something additionally chilling about “Twilight” in that most of it seems horribly plausible and it features characters you can engage with. A doctor and a local journalist are people who are within reach of the average reader, as you’ll likely have come across them, or at least their work. The beaten up old car Kate drives adds to the realism and whilst some of the ways she inserts herself into parts of the investigation seems to be stretching things a little, this is a very familiar type of story and reminds me of the kind of urban horror Christopher Fowler writes so well.

In so many novels, the characters are not relatable and spend too much time doing things that normal people with normal salaries couldn’t hope to do. In this case, very little of that kind of thing happens and they don’t mix in circles that normal people wouldn’t. Harvey is an unpleasant, but believable teenager and then a self-obsessed doctor and Kate is occasionally out of her depth both financially, emotionally and professionally.

“Twilight” was the best of Peter James’ early novels I’ve happened across so far and given the improvement I’ve seen in reading them in publication order, I’m hopeful that this may continue. I may not have been impressed with the earlier ones, but whilst they were a touch cliched, they weren’t that bad to put me off entirely and the perseverance has paid off and with several novels still on my list to read, I’m confident they will continue being good reading.

I’m Too Old For This Fandom

There have been a lot of times where I’ve felt I was too old to be a Liverpool fan, as they rarely do things the easy way and it’s quite stressful watching them.  Amusingly, when I happened across this post on an old Blog, I noticed it had been written way back in 2005 when I was much younger than I am now.  We’ve won the Premier League since this was written, as well as other things, but still none of them were won the easy way.

Those of you who know me well will know that I’m a mad keen sports fan. Specifically, I’m liable to go crazy over any sport that involves England, and totally nuts over anything that Liverpool FC are involved in.

Over the years however, they’ve become harder and harder to watch. Not because they’re getting really crap and keep losing games (although, admittedly, that’s happening more now than it ever did when I started following the game 25 years ago) but because I’m starting to think they are secretly in league with a pacemaker manufacturer.

This has occurred to me over the last few years. Certainly Liverpool are starting to win games, and major trophies, again after a break of quite a few years, aside from the odd cup here and there. But these days, it seems that no matter what they win, they’re doing it the hard way and a way that is going to put their supporters under the maximum possible stress.

Gone are the days of 9-0 wins over teams like Crystal Palace. No more are the days when we can win European games 11-0. Even the days when we could beat Newcastle 4-1 at St James Park (with a hat-trick from Stevie Nicol) have been replaced by 4-3 terror shows (with Stan Collymore getting 2 before being substituted so he can be arrested for dogging).

Today we have results like the 2000-2001 season where the club won three trophies and won every single one the hard way. The League Cup was clinched in a penalty shoot out, the FA Cup with 2 Michael Owen goals in the last 10 minutes after chasing the game for more than an hour and the UEFA Cup thanks to a golden goal own goal winner in extra time. Even more recently, the 2004-2005 season was no easy ride, with the Carling Cup Final being a nerve jangling experience, and the Champions League final containing the most unlikely come back in football history, followed by another penalty shoot out. And then there was Friday night, where Liverpool went a goal down despite running the game and didn’t look like scoring until they did 10 minutes from time, taking us into another terrifying extra time period before winning the European Super Cup.

Don’t get me wrong, I love to see my team doing well and winning all these cups. But I do sometimes wish they’d do things the easy way, as I’m getting a little too old to cope with all the excitement these days. 2001 wasn’t too bad, but I’m in my 30s now, and my nerves can’t cope with too many more penalty shoot outs, especially with a World Cup coming up next Summer and knowing that England will most likely put me through one as well. Being a Liverpool fan might be good for the soul, but it’s very very bad on the nerves. And the fingernails!

While I’m on the subject, I notice that the England cricket team are also in on the act. A 2 run win in a game they should have knocked off hours before in the 2nd test, a tight draw in the 3rd test, in another game they should have put to bed well before now and a few worrying moments before finally winning the 4th test earlier today. Perhaps the umpires should change the message on their jackets from “Fly Emirates” to “Take Barbiturates”, as I think I need drugs to cope after today…

James Blunt – “Back to Bedlam” (2004) Review. 3/5

This review was originally published on ciao.co.uk on 11/11/2005

So, a dark haired male solo singer leaves the Army and releases an album. We’ve heard this all before, although that’s the only comparison you’re ever likely to see between James Blunt and Elvis Presley. Even this is a tenuous link, as Elvis was already a huge recording star before being conscripted into the Army, whereas Blunt wrote most of the songs on his debut album “Back to Bedlam” whilst seeing active service and left the Army to become a star.

Having been trusted enough in his previous profession to have been allowed to guard the Queen; he has reached the top of the album charts with this release, proving that a jack of all trades can be a master of all, with enough talent and effort. If the British Army is as good at fighting as James Blunt is as a musician, we call all sleep easy in our beds.

Blunt’s debut begins with “High”. It’s a laid back pop ballad, with Blunt’s vocals over the top. It starts off as if it’s going to be an acoustic number, but soon expands into something that is a little more indie-pop. This combination of indie-pop with a soaring vocal over the top is reminiscent of Jeff Buckley, although Blunt’s vocals aren’t quite as smooth or as impressive as Buckley’s.

The first single from the album was “You’re Beautiful” and if you’ve seen the album advertised on TV, this will be the song you’ll have heard a snippet from. The acoustic guitar over the start has a laid-back Latin influence and sounds like it could be the theme from a TV holiday program, but the song is again another fairly basic pop ballad with the vocals leading on, which again draws comparison with Jeff Buckley.

“Wisemen” has an almost R ‘n’ B feel to the intro, being something that you could imagine a TLC song starting with. The vocals sound a little like Mark Owen’s more recent solo efforts, but it’s a laid back down-tempo pop track, although the vocals aren’t quite as soaring this time around. This is one of my personal favourites on the album.

After so many of the songs sound like they could have been borrowed from Jeff Buckley, even the title of “Goodbye My Lover” sounds like one of his. Despite using a piano intro rather than the guitar, the song as a whole is very like Buckley again, being a simple pop ballad with Blunt’s voice being the main instrument. Even the lyrics seem to have the same yearning as Buckley’s this time around.

“Tears & Rain” is a little more polished that the previous track, being a little more up tempo and with the guitar giving the song a less severe sound than “Goodbye My Lover”. However, it does follow much the same template as the previous, being a down tempo pop ballad, although there are hints of Coldplay’s sound in here, especially as the vocals are less prominent.

There’s an organ leading “Out of my Mind”, which gives the song quite a lush albeit laid back sound, although it soon expands more into an indie-pop kind of song, which is perhaps even more like Coldplay than “Tears & Rain”. However, it’s again a song with the vocals mostly up front, at least in the verses, although the music overpowers them in the chorus, making this one of the louder and least effective songs on the album.

“So Long Jimmy” has a kind of pop-R ‘n’ B sounding intro, much like “Wisemen”, but this continues throughout the song this time around. It’s quite a jaunty little track, being slightly more up-tempo than most on the album, with a foot tapping rhythm and a slightly rockier chorus. The vocals aren’t as marked this time, either, which gives the song a more rounded feel and made it my favourite track from the very first time of hearing.

There’s a slightly funky organ intro to “Billy”, which gives it quite a retro sound. Blunt’s vocals sound a little like Rod Stewart in the early verse as well, which combines well with the music. It’s a jaunty, summery sounding mid-tempo pop tune, particularly in the chorus, and another one of my personal favourites.

“Cry” is a darker sounding tune, with the guitar having a reverb that brings to mind Duane Eddy’s 1960s style. It’s a more mournful sounding song than many that have gone before and the vocals seem to sound a little like Mark Owen again at a couple of parts although, unfortunately, they are a little buried by the music at points, which makes this just a pop ballad with few redeeming features.

It wouldn’t be a surprise to find that Blunt had been inspired to write something about his time in active service with the Army and “No Bravery” is that song. It’s again a haunting, piano-led pop ballad, with a hard hitting lyrical message. The song itself is very simply done, with the message more important than the music. Unfortunately, some of the effects later in the song take away from the vocals, which is a shame as it’s mostly a decent way to close a decent album, with hints of Jeff Buckley coming through again.

At only 39 minutes long, this is quite a short album by today’s pop standards, being more the length of a pop-punk album. However, because a lot of the songs are down tempo, it does seem to last longer than the playing time. It’s an album that you can put on in the background and have playing whilst you’re doing other things, but it’s also an album that could stand up should you care to concentrate on it.

There are obvious comparisons to be drawn with Jeff Buckley as, much like Buckley’s “Grace” album, the songs are quite simply put together and it’s the vocal that sticks out more than anything else. This album isn’t as polished as Buckley’s “Grace”, but there are enough similarities for fans of that album to enjoy this one.

That said, however, one of Blunt’s greatest failings is that there isn’t enough variation in his style. Sure, there are a few different sounds, but for the most part, it’s an album full of down-tempo songs and the one constant is Blunt’s vocal, which is pretty impressive, but does get on your nerves a bit after a while. Whilst this is an album that can delight when you first hear it, it’s not one that stands up to repeated playing, as familiarity with Blunt’s voice does breed contempt.

It’s not a party album, it’s unlikely to be one that’s listened to for pleasure, at a party of getting yourself up for a night out. This is a Sunday afternoon album – one that goes on whilst you take time to reflect. It fits in nicely with the more considered approach many bands have taken to making pop music of late.

However, some things don’t have a price. Although it’s not as good, like Jeff Buckley’s “Grace”, this is an album for music lovers, if only for a short while. However, it delights me to know that this album reached the top of the UK album charts as, after years of bubblegum pop and rap/hip-hop selling by their millions in the UK, this gives me hope that the British public might, after all, have some taste. Add yourself to their number and buy, but buy cheaply when you can.