{"id":1664,"date":"2012-11-18T20:54:36","date_gmt":"2012-11-18T20:54:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=1664"},"modified":"2012-11-18T20:54:36","modified_gmt":"2012-11-18T20:54:36","slug":"charts-18-november-2012","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=1664","title":{"rendered":"Charts &#8211; 18 November 2012"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I haven&#8217;t had a chance to properly read most of this week&#8217;s X-books yet, so in the meantime, here&#8217;s this week&#8217;s chart post to be getting on with.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=cOQDsmEqVt8\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>39. \u00a0Little Mix &#8211; &#8220;Wings&#8221;<\/strong>\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The number 1 single from September. \u00a0It&#8217;s back because of the overspill of hype from their new single, which we&#8217;ll come to in a bit.<\/p>\n<p><strong>37. \u00a0Example &#8211; &#8220;Close Enemies&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/qMsmdQ2oTN4?rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"400\" height=\"225\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>This is the follow-up to &#8220;Say Nothing&#8221;, which reached number 2 in September. \u00a0Considering that it&#8217;s had over a month of promotion, number 37 is hugely weak (and since it was 31 in the midweeks, it&#8217;s a fair bet it won&#8217;t be going further).<\/p>\n<p><!--more-->Mind you, it&#8217;s a pretty weak single. \u00a0Example laments that his ex-girlfriend was a bitch, without much in the way of a hook to back it up. \u00a0Must try harder.<\/p>\n<p><strong>32. \u00a0Lana Del Rey &#8211; &#8220;Ride&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Py_-3di1yx0?rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"400\" height=\"225\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Ride&#8221; started as a track from Del Rey&#8217;s EP &#8220;Paradise&#8221;, but it&#8217;s now being used as a single to promote the special edition of her album.<\/p>\n<p>Your eyes do not deceive you, the video really is ten minutes long. \u00a0The song isn&#8217;t, but the video is. \u00a0If you want to skip the rambling open monologue (&#8220;pushed me to a nomadic point of madness that both dazzled and dizzied me&#8230;&#8221;) with the backing music that keeps threatening to turn into the New World Symphony, the actual song runs from 3:25 to 8:00.<\/p>\n<p>There is an awful lot about this record to irritate. \u00a0The grandiose video; the little-girl-lost biker chick persona. \u00a0On the other hand, it&#8217;s really not a bad song, and taking Lana Del Rey videos at face value is somewhat missing the point. \u00a0Theatrical self-mythologising is her thing; the element of contrivance isn&#8217;t a flaw in the act, it\u00a0<em>is<\/em> the act, for better or worse.<\/p>\n<p><strong>21. \u00a0Stooshe &#8211; &#8220;Waterfalls&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-BvFd5JLpxw?rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"400\" height=\"225\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Yes,\u00a0<em>that<\/em> &#8220;Waterfalls&#8221; &#8211; the TLC single from 1995. \u00a0Seventeen years later, the statute of limitations for cover versions has emphatically expired, and you can see what they were thinking. \u00a0Stooshe are good singers, it&#8217;s a good song that&#8217;s still relevant, and it helps move them beyond being Motown revivalists. \u00a0The result is an entirely serviceable version of &#8220;Waterfalls&#8221;, but <a href=\"http:\/\/youtu.be\/8WEtxJ4-sh4\" target=\"_blank\">the original&#8217;s kind of a classic<\/a> and I prefer its more laid back arrangement.<\/p>\n<p>The original reached number 4, though TLC&#8217;s biggest UK hit was &#8220;No Scrubs&#8221;, a number 3 single in 1999.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/youtu.be\/rtOvBOTyX00\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>19. \u00a0Christina Perri &#8211; &#8220;A Thousand Years&#8221;<\/strong>\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n<p>This is a track from the soundtrack to\u00a0<em>Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 1<\/em>, which reached number 32 on its initial release last November. \u00a0It&#8217;s tempting to say that it must be back because\u00a0<em>Part 2<\/em> is out, except that it&#8217;s done a lot better this time, which seems odd. \u00a0The other possible explanation is that it was exposed to a new audience when it was used on\u00a0<em>Strictly Come Dancing\u00a0<\/em>last week.<\/p>\n<p><strong>18. \u00a0Ed Sheeran &#8211; &#8220;Give Me Love&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/FOjdXSrtUxA?rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"400\" height=\"225\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>He played this on\u00a0<em>X Factor<\/em> last week, so this is perhaps a slightly underwhelming entry. \u00a0Then again, it&#8217;s yet\u00a0<em>another<\/em> single from his album +, which has been out since last September, and still managed to be one of the top selling albums of 2012 &#8211; so you&#8217;d figure there can&#8217;t be that many potential buyers left out there by this point.<\/p>\n<p><strong>10. \u00a0McFly &#8211; &#8220;Love Is Easy&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/APlPjz9Ry84?rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"400\" height=\"225\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>This is one of the new songs on their greatest hits album. \u00a0In their heyday (2004-7) they had seven number ones, and that phase is clearly long gone &#8211; but they&#8217;re still capable of getting a single into the top ten. \u00a0Even in their prime, though, McFly had an extreme case of frontloaded boy band sales, with their records being bought almost exclusively by hardcore fans, and then failing to cross over to a broader audience. \u00a0By Sunday, this was already at 27 on iTunes. \u00a0Nice video, though.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=zNpeK7sDLzE\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>5. \u00a0Gabrielle Aplin &#8211; &#8220;The Power Of Love&#8221;<\/strong>\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n<p>As predicted, it vaults 31 places now that it&#8217;s had a full week on sale.<\/p>\n<p><strong>3. \u00a0Little Mix &#8211; &#8220;DNA&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/D3h-lLj3xv4?rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"400\" height=\"225\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The second proper single from last year&#8217;s\u00a0<em>X Factor\u00a0<\/em>winners (their coronation single doesn&#8217;t really count) continues the attempt to position them in the largely vacated Girls Aloud niche. \u00a0Unfortunately, beneath a decent production job, this is really a pretty lousy song, which casts around for a novel image to jazz up the the lyrics, and then can&#8217;t think of anything to do with it. \u00a0So the group end up more or less declaring that their man is awesome because he just is.<\/p>\n<p>I don&#8217;t see this one hanging around for that long &#8211; it&#8217;s currently at 9 on iTunes &#8211; which is not a good sign with an act like this on their second single.<\/p>\n<p><strong>2. \u00a0Bruno Mars &#8211; &#8220;Locked Out of Heaven&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/e-fA-gBCkj0?rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"400\" height=\"225\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The lead single from his second album and, well, somebody&#8217;s been listening to the Police, haven&#8217;t they? \u00a0(Given the VHS effect on the video, the director was clearly thinking along similar lines.) \u00a0Actually, there are six writers credited on this thing, including Mark Ronson, so who knows who decided to give the verses a Police arrangement. \u00a0The sales look to have been frontloaded &#8211; this was number one on the midweeks, but iTunes already has it down at 8. \u00a0Still, it&#8217;s kind of growing on me after a few listens, and it does stand out on the current radio playlists, so I wouldn&#8217;t be amazed if it found a broader audience after all.<\/p>\n<p><strong>1. \u00a0One Direction &#8211; &#8220;Little Things&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/xGPeNN9S0Fg?rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"400\" height=\"225\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Technically this is an album track, but it is scheduled as an upcoming single, hence the video, and they promoted it on the\u00a0<em>X Factor\u00a0<\/em>results show last week. \u00a0Also, the album&#8217;s just come out, so there&#8217;s been a round of publicity for that.<\/p>\n<p>Nonetheless, One Direction are\u00a0<em>not<\/em> a band who are guaranteed number one hits &#8211; despite the hype, this is only their second number one, following their\u00a0debut <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=QJO3ROT-A4E\" target=\"_blank\">&#8220;What Makes You Beautiful&#8221;<\/a> in 2011. \u00a0(Well, they also had a featured artist credited on that year&#8217;s X-Factor charity single, but that doesn&#8217;t really count, does it?)<\/p>\n<p>One Direction&#8217;s stock in trade, at least where their singles are concerned, is upbeat teen pop. \u00a0This is obviously rather different, which is because it&#8217;s not a product of the usual songwriting suspects at all. \u00a0Instead, it&#8217;s one of Ed Sheeran&#8217;s cast-offs &#8211; a song he wrote at 17 and has now offloaded onto the wide-eyed boy band. \u00a0And it&#8217;s sappy &#8211; it&#8217;s one of those &#8220;I know you have body image problems, girl, but I think you&#8217;re adorable&#8221; numbers &#8211; but it\u00a0<em>is<\/em> a better than average One Direction single. \u00a0Unlike most boy band singles, this one\u00a0<em>is<\/em> holding up on iTunes, which suggests it may well have a broader appeal than its initial target market. \u00a0(Ed Sheeran fans, for example.)<\/p>\n<p>Over on the album charts, it&#8217;s mainly Christmas presents, rock veterans, and Christina Aguilera&#8217;s record label weeping softly:-<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>One Direction, &#8220;Take Me Home&#8221;\u00a0<\/strong>at number 1, naturally.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Rod Stewart, &#8220;Merry Christmas Baby&#8221;<\/strong> at number 2. \u00a0And for the his and hers grandparent present set&#8230;.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The Rolling Stones, &#8220;Grrr&#8221;<\/strong> at number 3.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Alfie Boe, &#8220;Storyteller&#8221;<\/strong> at number 6. \u00a0Boe is a pop-classical tenor. \u00a0He also sometimes crops up on records by the Clint Boon Experience, but that&#8217;s another story.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Green Day, &#8220;Dos&#8221;<\/strong> at 10. \u00a0The middle album of a trilogy, obviously.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Soundgarden, &#8220;King Animal&#8221;\u00a0<\/strong>at 21. \u00a0The alt-rock band reformed in 2010. \u00a0This is their first new album in 16 years.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Christina Aguilera, &#8220;Lotus&#8221;\u00a0<\/strong>at 28. \u00a0Her last album &#8220;Bionic&#8221; didn&#8217;t stick around for long, but it still managed a week at number 1. \u00a0Number 28? \u00a0That&#8217;s really, really bad.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The Deftones, &#8220;Koi No Yokan&#8221;<\/strong> at 30. \u00a0That&#8217;s been about standard for a Deftones album in recent years, though they skirted mainstream success around 2000 or so.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Steps, &#8220;Light Up The World&#8221;\u00a0<\/strong>at 32. \u00a0No, it&#8217;s not a greatest hits album. \u00a0It&#8217;s something far worse &#8211; an all-new collection of Christmas songs covered by Steps!<\/li>\n<li><strong>The Weeknd, &#8220;Trilogy&#8221;\u00a0<\/strong>at 37. \u00a0The Weeknd (sic) is a Canadian R&amp;B singer, and this is a collection of his three earlier mixtapes with a bit of new material thrown in.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Foster &amp; Allan, &#8220;The Ultimate Collection&#8221;\u00a0<\/strong>at 38. \u00a0Greatest hits album from the veteran Irish folk duo.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I haven&#8217;t had a chance to properly read most of this week&#8217;s X-books yet, so in the meantime, here&#8217;s this week&#8217;s chart post to be getting on with. 39. \u00a0Little Mix &#8211; &#8220;Wings&#8221;\u00a0 The number 1 single from September. \u00a0It&#8217;s back because of the overspill of hype from their new single, which we&#8217;ll come to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1664"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1664\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1669,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1664\/revisions\/1669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}