second

howdy pop pickers


there is absolutely no good reason why anyone would reference my blog for any sort of cutting edge information. i do appreciate this, look you see, but every now and then it's nice for me to pass a comment so that i may feel relevant and, as it were, "with it" in a very real sense.

promises were made that were ultimately not delivered on. promises in respect of what? well, now, in this era of big data and widespread information, there is now such a thing as a "midweek chart", in which the sales of records and pop singles are given an indication report prior to the weekly chart proper.

in the most recent of these midweek reports, there was some promise, or perhaps a threat, of the band James being crowned number one in the chart proper with their quite remarkable, brilliant new album Girl At The End Of The World. as things transpired, alas, it was not crowned number one. but close.

the sheer word of mouth, force of will and love of quality music that has drawn people to the James record was not, it turned out, enough to remove Adele from number one. second to that huge selling record, however, is no disgrace at all.

far from it, in truth. from what i can work out, there was nearly no advertising or promotion of the James record prior to its release, and when it did get released there was little fuss. it didn't even make it onto page one of the "new this week" section of Google Play or iTwat store at first, and you're all aware of how entirely disinterested HMV were in promoting it.

James did not lose out in the transition from midweek to actual chart in the way that Primal Scream did. the midweek chart had them at number 6; the final chart has them pegged at 12. oh dear. it's not like they have ever been big sellers, i suppose, but i had hoped the album would have gotten a bigger audience. perhaps this will come over time, as you, the people, discover what a great album Chaosmosis is.

the most awesome thing about this chart is that it's vibrant and healthy. it shows that the people still love the music and buy it. there's just the one "Greatest Hits" in there, and that's the understandable one of Bowie. new music, whether by the acts of today or the legends i honour from my youth, remains alive and well.

dig what you dig, man.



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!