Suedehead2

Almost every poll rating the party leaders in recent months has shown Ed Davey on top. Has that been reported? Most polls now show the Lib Dems polling higher than they have done since before the 2019 election. How many "news" providers have reported that?

All that, and a the return of timey-wimey.

Saturday 12th April Manchester City 3-1 Crystal Palace (12:30) Brighton & Hove Albion 3-0 Leicester City Nottingham Forest 3-1 Everton Southampton 0-2 Aston Villa Arsenal 2-2 Brentford (17:30) Sunday 13th April Chelsea 2-0 Ipswich Town (14:00) Liverpool 3-1 West Ham United (14:00) Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-2 Tottenham Hotspur (14:00) Newcastle United 2-1 Manchester United (16:30) Monday 14th April AFC Bournemouth 2-0 Fulham (20:00) Wednesday 16th April Newcastle United 2-0 Crystal Palace (19:30

This week's ramblings can be found from the Blogs section or the Forums index page.

Alex Warren still has the number one single. Elton John gets another number one album. Alex Warren’s Ordinary remains at the top of the chart for a fourth week at number one. It is the second song to spend a month at the summit this year after Lola Young’s Messy. Yes, we have had a messy month and now we have an ordinary one. Chappell Roan’s Pink Pony Club spends a third consecutive week at number two, it’s fourth week in the runner-up slot in total. When Ed Sheeran released - in 2023m he said that it marked the end of his albums named after arithmetic symbols. Now he is about to start a new collection of albums.These are to be named after buttons on a CD player (or various other devices), starting with Play. The first single from the album Azizam (Persian for my dear) was released last week and it is this week’s highest new entry, at number three. He is joined on the song by a number of Iranian and Indian musicians, playing traditional instruments. It is Sheeran’s 63rd top forty hit, the 42nd to make the top ten and the 30th to reach the top five. The lad from Halifax (and who spent most of his childhood in Suffolk) has done quite well. Doechii’s Anxiety slips one place to number four. Benson Boone’s Beautiful Things clocks up a twentieth week in the top five. It is at number five this week. Having surprised many people by getting a top twenty hit earlier this year, Sleep Token have done even better with Caramel at number ten. This all bodes well for their new album which is released next month. With all the turmoil caused by the acts of an ego on the other side of the Atlantic, now might seem a good time to release a song called End Of The World although a new version of a similarly-titled REM song might have been even more apt (and less apocalyptic). Miley Cyrus, for it is she, might even have re-released Wrecking Ball instead. However, she has gone with End Of The World and it is at number 23. As it is a good deal better than Wrecking Ball, I’m not complaining. It is her 26th top forty hit. Just a few weeks ago we were treated to an album featuring an excellent live performance by Florence and the Machine at last year’s BBC Proms. Now she is back in the singles chart thanks to a remix of Spectrum by a Manchester producer who goes by the glorious name of Morgan Seatree. As far as I can tell, that is his real name. Spectrum, taken from the Ceremonials album, reached number one in 2012 while the London Olympics were in full flow. This version, under the title Say My Name, is at number 31. Pink Pantheress enters at number 35 with Tonight. It is her fifth top forty hit although, so far, only one of them has been a major hit. Boy’s A Liar reached number two in 2023 but none of her other songs have made the top twenty. Nathan Dawe and Abi Flynn’s Here In Your Arms is at number 36 after floating around outside the top forty for the last couple months. Sabrina Carpenter’s Espresso has dropped out of the chart as it is no longer her third ranked song. It has been replaced by Taste at number 37. It was last in the top forty in February. She also has a re-entry at number 34 with Juno. That song left the chart in December. Sombr’s Undressed reaches a deserved new peak of number 28. His other charting song Back To Friends also climbs to new heights. It is at number 25. Last week Show Me Love by WizTheMC and bees & honey took a little rest, staying at number fourteen after a 24-place jump the previous week. This week it climbs into the top ten at number eight. Elton John famously had to wait until 1990 to get his first solo number one single, nearly two decades after his first hit. By contrast, he had his first chart-topping album in 1973 with Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only The Piano Player, his sixth album in under four years. His most recent compilation Diamonds, released in 2017, became his ninth number one album at the beginning of this year. Last week he released an album in collaboration with US singer Brandi Carlisle, Who Believes In Angels? The album instantly becomes Elton John’s tenth number one and allows Carlisle to enter the top forty in the UK for the first time. The songs on the album were co-written by John and Carlisle along with John’s regular collaborator Bernie Taupin. Added to his ten number one singles, his twenty chart-toppers see him pull ahead of Madonna. Only eleven acts have spent longer at the top of the two main charts. His new total of 60 weeks at the top of the charts again sees him pull clear of Madonna. He draws level with Take That in joint seventh place in the all-time list. Many thanks again to Colin for the figures he sent me at the beginning of the year. After a week in unfamiliar territory Sabrina Carpenter’s Short ‘n’ Sweet is back at number two for a twentieth week. Shortly before the release of their second album in 2002, Black Country New Road’s vocalist Isaac Wood announced that he was leaving the band for mental health reasons. For their new album they have used three vocalists, all of them women. One of them, Tyler Hyde, is the daughter of Underworld’s Karl Hyde. Forever Howlong is a new entry at number three. Ariana Grande’s Eternal Sunshine is at number four. Two of the songs from the album that were in the chart last week (Dandelion and Intro) have left the top forty. Twilight Zone has dropped ten places to number fifteen. Ed Sheeran’s Tour Collection climbs back up to number five after the release of his new single. As I have commented before, there are times when it is not hard to see why a singer has chosen not to use their real name. Would Derek Dick have succeeded under that name? The are other times when a singer’s real name is rather more exotic than their chosen alternative. If your name was really Hayden Silas Anhedönia, why would you choose to record under the name Ethel Cain? Still, it’s her choice She released her debut album Preacher’s Daughter in March 2022 to be greeted by near universal indifference. Following the release of a physical version last week, it enters the chart for the first time at number ten. Billy Joel’s Piano Man compilation returns to the top forty at number 37. It has been in the top 100 almost continuously since the beginning of 2022, but this is its first appearance in the top forty since July 2010. Before Lush the brand, we had Lush the band. They were formed in 1987 and became part of the shoegaze movement that was a prominent part of the indie scene in the 1990s. Miki Berenyi, who provided the aptly lush vocals for the band, is now involved in two other musical projects. One of them, the Miki Berenyi trio, released a superb debut album Tripla last week. Lush disbanded following the death of their drummer Chris Acland. They later re-formed with Justin Welch on drums. He had previously worked with Elastica, the band formed by Justine Friuschmann after she left Suede. Welch also preceded Simon Gilbert briefly as Suede’s drummer. Before that they had used a (Psycho for) drum machine. The above two paragraphs were written at the beginning of the week when Tripla was at number twelve in the first midweek update. I had thought that that would be enough to see it just about hold on to a top forty place in the final chart. Alas, that was not to be. However, there is a reason for keeping it in and it has nothing to do with the opportunity to mention Suede. Regular readers will know that I usually only pay tribute to a musician who has died in the preceding week if they can be linked to a song in the current chart. The last paragraph illustrates just how far I will go to find an excuse to mention the death of a member of one of my all-time favourite bands. It wasn;t just an excuse to mention Suede. Drummers are a much-maligned breed. What do you call someone who hangs around with musicians? A drummer. Ho ho ho. Yet, drummers can be as essential a part of a band as a conductor is for an orchestra. One such was Clem Burke of Blondie who died this week aged 70. Debbie Harry (who, for obvious reasons, gained most of the attention) and Chris Stein were founder members of the band and Burke joined them shortly after, remaining a member ever since. Such was his brilliance that Dreaming, one of their number one hits in the UK, has been described as a drum solo with other members able to join in. Like Lush, Blondie had a spell on hiatus before, in their case, returning with the brilliant number one single Maria. In that time Clem Burke played with The Ramones (as Elvis Ramone) as well as Eurythmics, Bob Dylan and others. The music world is poorer without him.

Same for me. Emergence was epic but this one isn't really doing anything for me yet.

That wasn't as bad for me as the Premier League game a few weeks earlier!

Ah yes, I remember the original story and read about the series. It's on my list!

I have now watched the programme and can see why it has been praised so highly. Even allowing for the fact that each episode was recorded multiple times, getting a single recording with such brilliant performances from all actors is an impressive achievement. Yes, some of the school scenes were a little off. Teachers in my experience don't resort to shouting as quickly as the ones in the programme. I would hope a fire drill (planned or otherwise) wouldn't be as noisy and shambolic as that one. However, that is always a problem when they portray something you know about. Last weekend's episode of Grace had the same problem.

In the short term, that is probably true. One of the consequences of the party's ruthless targetting at the last election is there are a lot of seats where the Lib Dem vote is very low. While Farage's fascists only lost a few deposits in July, the Lib Dems lost dozens. However, we seem to be moving back towards a period where the Lib Dem "Would bever vote for them" figure is relatively low. I'm sure it is lower than the figure for Farage's loons.

How is anyone supposed to run a business which relies on trade with the USA supposed to operate with this chaos? The same applies to US companies trading with any other country. This sort of volatility makes it impossible to plan even days ahead.

I'm currently torn between recommending a well-known song like Dreaming for Clem Burke or finding a lesser-known song where his drumming was just as prominent.

Some interesting polls recently, the reporting of which speaks volumes about the press. A few weeks ago, the Observer reported on poor ratings for Starmer, Farage and Badenoch. Ed Davey's ratings in the same poll were a lot better than those of the other three. Yet the Observer chose not to mention that at all. A YouGov poll published today showed something close to a four-way tie. Labour were in front, albeit on a miserable 24%. The Lib Dems were fourth on 17%, their highest rating since the election. Not a peep from the press. Then there is perhaps the most significant of them all. Readers of the press could be forgiven for thinking that voters were deserting Labour for Farage's fascists in their droves. However, another poll shows that the Lib Dems are by far the biggest gainers from 2024 Labour voters switching their support. Farage's mob are the fourth biggest gainers.

I've heard quite a lot of Pentatonix covers and have generally found the to be refreshingly different. Therefore, I wasn't surprised that I liked their version of Creep.

The Dinosaur Jr version of Just Like Heaven was probably my biggest disappointment. I had expected better from them.

My recorded comments on that song stated that it sounded rather like Blancmange. I already loved the Hurts version (with added Kylie), so I was bound to like a version that sounded like Blancmange.

Thanks for hosting Severin, and congratulations to Bre. After the deadline, I was reminded of a fantastic cover that would have been less obviously my entry, but it was too late to change. That said, The Paraochestra and Brett Anderson's version of one of Echo and the Bunnymen's greatest songs is fabulous and I make no excuse for introducing it to a wider audience.

Can I cast negative votes for the three Drake songs instead?

Week 24 Best fun. - We Are Young (feat. Janelle Monáe) Gotye - Somebody That I Used To Know (feat. Kimbra) Mark Ronson - Uptown Funk (feat. Bruno Mars) Pharrell Williams - Happy The Weeknd - Can't Feel My Face Worst Flo Rida - Whistle John Legend - All Of Me Pitbull - Timber (feat. Kesha) Week 25 Best Billie Eilish - bad guy Justin Timberlake - CAN'T STOP THE FEELING! The Weeknd - Starboy (feat. Daft Punk) Worst Drake - God's Plan Drake - One Dance (feat. Wizkid and Kyla) Cardi B - Bodak Yellow

Someone set a challenge last week for me to find a third picture of him with a similar pose, so that's what I did.

Everton 0-2 Arsenal Crystal Palace 1-2 Brighton & Hove Albion Ipswich Town 0-2 Wolverhampton Wanderers West Ham United 1-2 AFC Bournemouth Aston Villa 1-2 Nottingham Forest Brentford 0-2 Chelsea Fulham 1-4 Liverpool Tottenham Hotspur 3-0 Southampton Manchester United 2-1 Manchester City Leicester City 0-2 Newcastle United

This week's musings on the charts can be found from the Blogs section or the side of the Forums section.

Alex Warren gets a third week at number one with his Ordinary single. If he loses the top spot next week, Ordinary will be the first single this year to spend an odd number of weeks at the summit. Warren’s Carry You Home climbs one place to a new peak of number nine. Alex Warren heads an unchanged top four. Chappell Roan’s Pink Pony Club remains at number two. Doechii’s Anxiety, which sounds even better each time I hear it, is still at number three. Benson Boone’s Beautiful Things holds on at number four. The song has spent 25 weeks in the top ten since it first entered the upper tier in February of last year. Ariana Grande released a new version of her Eternal Sunshine album last week. Predictably enough, three of the new songs enter the top forty this week. Twilight Zone is at number five. It is the fourth song of that name to reach the top forty. The song generally known as Just A Song At Twilight is actually called Love’s Old Sweet Song. Moreover, as it was written in 1884, it has never been a hit. Dandelion is at number nineteen. The only other song with Dandelion in the title to be a top forty hit was by the Rolling Stones in 1967 as part of a double a-side with We Love You. Intro is at number 26. Sadly, The Intro And The Outro by the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band has never been a hit. Grande has now had 42 top forty hits. His Apple Music profile (otherwise known as promotional puff from his record company) states that Sombr’s song Caroline was a viral hit. However, it wasn’t an actual hit. Undressed, on the other hand, has now become a hit. It is a new entry at number 37. In even better news for him. Another song, Back To Friends, enters two places higher. He will reach the grand old age of 20 in July. For some of us, the appeal of Central Cee’s “music” is one of life’s great mysteries on a par with “Why do people run marathons?” and “How can someone not like chocolate?”. Nevertheless, he has managed to recruit a string of fellow performers to record with him. This week their number has been boosted to include Manchester rapper Nemzzz. His moniker’s last three letters are highly appropriate. Their collaboration Dilemma is at number 39. The title does not describe my thoughts about the prospect of hearing it again. One of the biggest victims of the dominance of American playlists of Christmas songs are surely The Darkness. Their gloriously over the top Christmas Time (Don’t Let The Bells End) hasn’t even reached the top 100 since 2020. They do, however, still clearly have their fans. While two of their last four albums missed out on a top ten place, their eighth studio album Dreams On Toast enters at numb two. Its sales would have been enough to give them a second number one album (after their 2003 debut Permission To Land) in some weeks this year. Mumford and Sons, whose name still sounds like one you would expect to see on the side of a removal van, are one of those bands whose biggest album didn’t get to number one. Sigh No More was released in October 2009. It entered the chart at number eleven and spent just one more week in the top forty. However, after singled from the album enjoyed chart success, the album returned to the top forty the following January. It hit a new peak every few months before reaching number two in February 2011. Its eventual success also meant that the following two albums both topped the chart. Mumford and Sons’ fourth album Delta didn’t quite match that, reaching number two behind Michael Buble. This week, after a six-and-a-half year absence, they return with Rushmere and get a third number one album. As mentioned above, Ariana Grande has released a deluxe edition of her Eternal Sunshine album. On a day when the sun has indeed shone all day (in Brighton at least), it enters at number three. The original release spent two weeks at number one last spring. Sabrina Carpenter’s Short ‘n’ Sweet takes a break from its customary number two position to spend a week at number four. American singer-songwriter Lucy Dacus released albums in 2016, 2018 and 2021. Two of them failed to chart in the UK at all while the third stumbled to number 85. Just a month before her thirtieth birthday, album number four Forever Is A Feeling has given her a first big hit in the UK. It is a new entry at number five. Two rap releases complete this week’s new entries. Nemzzz is at number six with his mixtape Rent’s Due. Lil Durk gets his seventh top forty album in nine releases as Deep Thoughts lands at number twenty. Alex Warren’s You’ll Be Alright Kid (Chapter 1) continues to climb. After finally entering the top forty last week, it is up to number ten this week. Ever since physical sales of albums were almost entirely concentrated in the first week or two of release, it has become common for the number one album to drop straight out of the top forty the following week. That has happened again this week with The Lottery Winners nowhere to be seen. However, thanks to the way an album’s streams are calculated, other albums have become almost a permanent fixture in the top forty. Many of them are compilations of some sort, in particular those whose streams are spread across several different tracks rather than one or two. This means that there are now a substantial number of albums in the chart which have topped the chart at some point, including some whose time at the top was many years ago. This week’s top forty contains 24 which have spent time at the summit in their (sometimes very long) chart history. Finally, many thanks to popchartfreak for providing last week’s commentary while I was heading along the south coast to Bexhill.

The White House

Those of us who are even older remember the Independent - Buy your Chesterfield in Thame Party candidate in the 1984 Chesterfield byelection. That byelection was used, successfully, by Labour to get Tony Benn back in parliament after he lost his Bristol seat in the 1983 general election. The Independent - Buy your Chesterfield in Thame Party candidate got 24 votes. Six candidates did less well.