Chez Wombat

She really is getting better with every album and taking so much more risks and I'm really here for it as she stands out so much in this pop landscape. This is a wonderful listen with some absolutely incredible production. So many late track switch ups which are all epic, L'AMOUR DE MA VIE is obviously a big standout in this regard, but I think my favourite that hasn't been shouted out a lot is BLUE, the transition from hazy club vibes to epic strings was brilliant, in fact the last three tracks are all great with the menacing vibes of DINER and the journey of BITTERSUITE. Definitely appreciating some clear earliy 2000s dance vibes in the style of Daft Punk as well as a fair amount of trance. I agree that it's a perfect length and the seguing songs make it feel like an intentional body of work.

I guess the inflation news would've influenced this, I've never seen a more monotonous announcement, the pouring rain and and the fact that Things Can Only Get Better went on so long, it's a perfect metaphor, almost like he knows. Still, just six more weeks of Tory majority, let's goooo *.*

One of their best and most innovative tracks, it's stunning to me how it comes from 1965 (not the least with the number 1 it inspired over thirty years later!), it sounds so far beyond anything a modern mainstream dance producer can do today.

The bombshells keep coming, the ICC is seeking arrest warrants for Yahya Sinwar and Benjamin Netanyahu for war crimes. Apparently, Putin has this too and he's still sitting pretty so may not mean immediate action, but pretty significant that an official institution has put them on the same level.

Help! is a great song of course and was on the fringes of them taking a more experimental approach to songwriting much like Ticket to Ride, just don't think it's quite as groundbreaking as the rest here.

Not an obvious winner here at all xx Liberty first, though Kelis' racket not far behind.

Yes, indeed, I think with this release model, a dip in ratings was bound to happen. Streaming figures would be what they're interested in and for a revival that's coming up to 20 years old now, that's still a fair amount of interest. This whole argument's a bit moot anyway - like it or not, the show's not going anywhere, Disney is clearly investing quite a bit into this and bringing it to an international audience and it looks better than it ever does. I'm still skeptical if it's completely for me but will continue to watch with an open mind to see where it's going and if it can recapture just a little bit of the magic of the original era. I enjoy reading a wide variety of views but I will give fair warning that the same repetitive, negative moaning with no constructive criticism week after week will be removed going forward and warned if not adhered to. There's so many shows out there, don't waste it on one that clearly isn't doing it for you anymore.

I mean this is exactly what brought the industry to a standstill last year when writers and actors rightfully protested against the increased reliance on AI. Certainly I can see it being subtly integrated, but only so much before people notice. It could well be the end of the industry as we know it as not a single person that isn't a well-off corporate fat cat would likely stand for it. I'm not convinced it will ever be as widely accepted to regularly make feature films unless the economy completely implodes and films are no longer possible to be made purely by human hand. The uproar would be too much and AI is still pretty laughable in its imitation of humans. Film is a form of expressionism that absolutely needs a human touch, not to mention the irony would be pretty big considering it'd be a product of something many films have forewarned about the dangers of...!

Lucy in the Sky... one of my absolute favourites, such a joyful psychedelic trip :wub: A Day in the Life is also brilliant and obviously one of the most groundbreaking pieces of popular music there's ever been. I agree that the contrast between vocals is what makes it so good. Help! above both of these is a bit questionable, it feels a bit of an odd one out in this top 10.

Only two big favourites here - Hey Boy, Hey Girl and It's My Life - but just about enough voteworthy ones to join them - went with Gangsta Trippin', When You're Gone, Bye Bye Bye, Say My Name and A Song for The Lovers. Celine and R Kelly an easy lowlight, but I did throw Eiffel 65 one for being an almost offensively lazy follow up.

Came across a few of these names while searching myself! No songs I know, but interested to find out x Love Gorky's Zygotic Mynci showing up, my favourite chart trivia.

That's more like it! Moffat has his weaknesses as a writer, but when combined when RTD, he can pretty much give us the best of modern Doctor Who and while I wouldn't put this up there, it was a darn sight better than most the last era so we're good for now x Was so good to finally have a proper sense of tension and a menacing threat, I haven't been overly convinced by Gatwa yet, but he was excellent here. That's the first really convincing performance, Ruby as well, it felt like her in a real crisis situation showed what she was really like. Unfortunately despite a brilliant start, it did lose a bit of momentum in the second half and became a bit too convoluted. The conclusion, while I get it, was a tad cheesy and social commentary interesting, but just a bit muddled. The world created was intriguing but underdeveloped, I wish there was an extra scene to give a bit more insight into it. It was pretty much all communicated through dialogue, which I know is a normal thing here, but show don't tell! Still, was good to see a proper Sci-Fi premise again as the last two had been leaning a bit too much into Fantasy which isn't really the crux of the show for me. I hadn't been keeping up with news and I thought the Ruby Sunday > Mundy coincidence stood out, I guess most other fans are ahead of me already with that x

Checked in myself, going for one of my favourite internet discoveries of the year with a mix of shoegaze and synthwave, it's quite Jadakissnia in style so an even number of participants would be nice :kink:

I'm certainly entering, just need to look for something, this is not a genre I know a lot about outside the obvious!

I'm pretty convinced nothing's gonna change until the BBC radio-friendly criteria is done with, we may strike lucky occasionally with a standout ballad by a capable performer, but otherwise, we're just too darn boring.

Travis – Why Does It Always Rain On Me? Dr. Dre feat. Snoop Dogg – Still D.R.E. The Cardigans – Erase / Rewind The Divine Comedy – National Express The Chemical Brothers – Let Forever Be Daphne & Celeste for the Jamelia slot? x

Not even a contest here, Back to Black is one of the finest songs of the decade!

Unsurprising for me to say given the leaderboard, but fantastic top 10 there, even the ones that have tired from overplay are full-on classics and some proper psychedelic classics too *.* Though Something and Come Together really should've been there too, two of their very best singles.

This totally would've been my entry if I could x WccfbPQNMbg

I will probably keep up with it this season as I am interested with where they're going with this foreshadowing and I know RTD is much better than Chibnall at writing arcs. Saying that, I do feel like I may stop watching if it mucks this up, I've just seen how Disney have completely botched Star Wars that I feel the same may be happening here. I should note these criticisms come from a good place and it's important to be critical as I know the show CAN appeal to wider audiences and build character, plot and tension and have fun at the same time. The recent specials seemed promising that this would happen.

Satan, Paranoid Android, Just a Girl, Everybody (Backstreet's Back) and Renegade Master my best picks I think x Hey Child was the worst listening experience because of the horrible audio upload, but I'll go by the song itself and I think The Journey was the worst thing I heard.

Narrator: It wasn't I'm getting worried that this series is going in a direction that isn't really for me. This was such a confusing mess. There were some great moments - the pure silence, the aesthetic and idea of a 60s set episode, Maestro was well played and the idea of the Gods taking things that are essential to humans. But it is ultimately style over substance. There's no slowing down to build a sense of plot, character, setting and tension. It felt so unfocused and the resolution felt nonsensical. For an episode that was meant to honour music, it felt like it was an afterthought, especially with how little the Beatles actually featured, and that's a wasted opportunity. Also, I'm getting a bit of foreshadowing overload. There's way too many hints and clues popping up right now at every moment and I'd rather focus on developing the story we're in now than hinting at what's to come, but I can't say I'm surprised given Star Wars and the MCU. Not to say I'm not intrigued by the fourth wall breaks and mystery, but it shouldn't be a replacement for telling a good story week on week. Guess next week could be better, I mean it's Moffat and RTD, seriously, you can't mess this up x

I really think they could've avoided all of this by just excluding Israel on the same grounds they did Russia. I mean I get why they didn't as depressing as it is, but really, has anyone actually been able to separate context from song? Certainly doesn't seem so in the public votes and I'd guess a lot of jury had that in their minds as well as it's the sort of song that usually would do quite well with them.

The start and end had real promise and a few assorted moments in between, Ncuti and Millie are good, if a bit annoying when they both scream and garble together but that may be a personal thing, just a shame about the main plot... I know Doctor Who's had its goofier moments, but not CBBC levels of goofy. Felt like a child's competition winner and and it wasn't well done as a story either, one minute the babies were happy to set the boogeyman on fire and the next they want to save it with barely a line devoted to it...the concept wasn't completely unsalvageable, but they certainly didn't make use of it. Not painfully bad or anything, just throwaway rubbish x Or maybe it just wasn't aimed at me, I get the sense from a lot of the lore and expositional dialogue that this was basically a pilot to introduce it to the Disney+ audience and they're showing the range of tones the show can have. That's all well and good, just hope the next one's better (post tbc x)

I don't think 'shocking' is the right word, but I sense the overt homoerotic nature of the performance was literally all that stuck with most of the audience, as the song itself was extremely forgettable in a really strong night of standout performances and song structures and that would've put off the more conservative voting bases and there were way more entries fulfilling the 'shocking' criteria. Not that that was by any means the main factor - the poor vocals stood out particularly. We did alright with the juries so this wasn't a major failure, but I don't know how many times it needs to be said - midtempo pop is not a vote winner, we need a strong, standout song that doesn't sound like anything else there and/or has a killer chorus or vocal. We have so, so many examples in our music industry, I am starting to wonder if it's interference from higher above that demand it be kept radio friendly.