Suedehead2

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

This week's musings on chart matters can be found from the Blogs section or from the Forums main page.

Alex Warren remains well clear of the opposition at the top of the singles chart. Ordinary’s fifth week at the summit makes it the longest-running number one single of the year so far. The last five-week number one was Gracie Abrams’ That’s So True in November and December of last year. This means that this year’s Easter number one matches the song that was replaced by last year’s Christmas number one. Ordinary heads an unchanged top four. Chappell Roan’s Pink Pony Club remains at number two. Ed Sheeran’s Azizam is at number three for a second week with Doechii’s Anxiety at number four. Therefore, we still have an X, three Ys and two Zs in the titles of the top four singles. There is just one E and no Ss. Tate McRae drives her Sports Car up to number five. Many charting singles from films aimed at children have been of a particularly low quality. Think of Let It Go for example. Some of them do at least have the virtue of being short. Such is the case with Jack Black’s Steve’s Lava Chicken from the Minecraft film. Yes, it’s diabolically bad, but at least it is only 34 seconds long. It is a new entry at number 21 and so becomes the shortest song ever to enter the UK singles chart. Listening to Lana Del Rey’s new single Henry, Come On is a much more pleasant experience than listening to that chicken thing. Del Rey first entered the chart with the sublime Video Games in 2011. Her chart performance since then has been a little patchy. Henry, Come On is her 38th top 100 hit, but only the 13th to make the top forty, a strike rate of only one in three. As a new entry at number 30, it is only her second top forty single as the lead artist since 2017. She has, however, had no fewer than three number 87 hits in that time which is three more than Ed Sheeran has had in his entire career. Ghanaian singer-songwriter Moliy made her UK chart debut in November 2021 as the featured artist on Amaarae’s Sad Girlz Luv Money. Perhaps as punishment for crimes against spelling (not that Slade ever suffered), she has had to wait almost three-and-a-half years to get another hit. Her drought ends this week as Shake It To The Max (Fly), which features someone called Silent Addy who we haven’t heard from before, enters at number 35. The battle for supremacy in the albums chart was between Welsh band Those Damn Crows and Sabrina Carpenter’s Short ‘n’ Sweet. Those Damn Crows were ahead in the midweek up[dates but their lead on Wednesday was a fairly slender one. In the event, they did hold on and God Shaped Hole, their fourth album, becomes their first number one. It completes a run of higher peaks for each album after starting with an album that didn’t make the charts at all. Sabrina Carpenter, therefore continues her residency at number two. Last Friday (11 April) was the latest Record Store Day which meant another long list of special releases, available only in independent record shops. Some of the releases are limited to so few copies that they have no chance of entering the chart while others are simply a new edition of an album that is already widely available. One such this time round is Oasis’s Time Flies compilation, originally released in 2010. The album was at number seventeen last week. This week, thanks to the new edition, it climbs to number three. One of the brand new releases for Record Store Day was a six-track EP from Sam Fender, Me And The Dog. Two of the tracks are new releases and there is also a live version of the title track from his latest album People Watching. It is at number fourteen. Two other Record Store Day releases also enter the top forty. Liam Gallagher has an Acoustic Sessions collection at number 33 and CVharli XCX is at number 37 with Number 1 Angel. Record Store Day has also had an impact on the singles chart. A vinyl edition of Taylor Swift’s Fortnight was also among the items on sale and the song returns to the chart at number 29 just under a year since its one week at number one. It is now nearly twenty years since Justin Vernon formed his band Bon Iver. In that time they have generally enjoyed more success with the critics than with the wider public. Their latest album, Sable Fable, is at number four. Ed Sheeran’s Mathematics Tour collection is at number five.

Another hard right government resurrects Thatcher's Section 28.

I've seen both 147s now. The first one was particularly good. It must be quite dispiriting to make such an excellent break in front of just a handful off spectators.

£147k when Thorburn did it is now worth around £500k. That's an indication of how a 147 isn't particularly special now. That's not to take away anything from Page's achievement of doing it twice in one match.

Back in the day before Cliff Thorburn got the first televised 147, £147k was the standard prize on offer for a maximum.

He still believes in them, but still doesn't understand how they work. The world's economy is at the mercy of an imbecile.

i assume we are also getting Dreaming for Clem Burke.

I've added one to my Best list.

Best The Weeknd - Blinding Lights Harry Styles - As It Was The Weeknd and Ariana Grande - Save Your Tears (Remix) Worst Cardi B - WAP (feat. Megan Thee Stallion) Drake - Toosie Slide Drake - Way 2 Sexy (feat. Future and Young Thug)

Most of Ferguson's players had a lot of natural ability. The reason why the best players rarely make the best managers is that they struggle to understand why players with less natural ability find some things so difficult. I've found something similar working in education. It took me a while to understand how students (adults as well as children) struggled with mathematical concepts that I had always found easy.

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.

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.