2025: The 2nd Quarter - Albums & Conclusions

Originally posted July 2025

ALBUMS

Marking Key at bottom

Black Country, New Road “Forever Howlong”

I’ve never resorted to this before during the project but there we go. I really loved this, and my plan was to do one my more detailed lengthy analytical reviews like I did for The Last Dinner Party. I just never even got round to starting it and have forgotten a lot of the detail now. So Instead, here’s another review. I did make a note that my favourite tracks were “Two Horses”, “For The Cold Country” and “Forever Howlong” 8

https://theprogressivesubway.com/2025/04/30/review-black-country-new-road-forever-howlong/

Elton John & Brandi Carlile “Who Believes In Angels?” (#1)

I expected this to be any bit of crap novelty-type stuff. We’re not massively familiar with Brandi Carlile here in the UK but imagine if you saw ‘Elton John & Dolly Parton’..... u’gh! But I was wrong. It’s rock/pop/rock ‘n’ roll/county etc., done very very well. It also works well as an album, with its Meatloaf-like intro before some Elton John solo piano chords ring out followed by both voices singing in unison. There’s great balance with the track list and a strong heartfelt ending about the end of life from Elton John. I’d say it’s worth a listen. 7

Those Damn Crows “God Shaped Hole” (#1)

Standard rock music done well. Its doesn’t really add anything to the discourse, however. 6

Bon Iver “Sable, Fable”

This started out like ‘folk music but with a bit of an edge’ for the 1^st handful of tracks. These are marked on the track list as ‘Disc 1’. This isn’t the 1^st time I’ve seen this on a standard length album – suggesting it is perhaps meant to be something of two parts (...... maybe. I’d have to look into that a bit more). At that point it was OK. I was thinking 6. The remainder shifted things up a bit. It explores different sounds and style but with a grounding that identifies it as 1 artist. I thought it was really very good. The ‘Disc 1’ ‘Disc 2’ thing, and the different tones of each confused me a bit. Arguable, the 1^st drags the 2^nd down somewhat. But I’m going with.... 7

Gigi Perez “At The Beach, In Every Life”

The #1 hit single “Sailor Song” kicks this off and it’s a track that I said I thought was technically brilliant but something about it just wasn’t clicking with me. The album is pretty good but my take on that track seems to extend across the album. Its pretty good song-writing, well performed and has moments of interest that kept my ear keen. Something about the whole thing falls a little flat with me though. I just can’t get excited about this. “Crown” is a superb track. The album is good. This artist has great potential. 6

Davido “5ive”

Sitting broadly in the ‘afro-pop’ genre, this was enjoyable listening as its a little different from a lot of the other stuff I’m listening to. Although, it wasn’t particularly varied. I’m aware there have been a number of albums before this one and if they are all basically the same as this then that might change my opinion of this slightly. But, without that context..... 6

Avatarium “Between You, God, The Devil, And The Dead"

I feel like this is trying to bridge the gap between so-called ‘baroque-rock’ (or ‘barock’) and more traditional rock. And, I’d say it succeeds. It succeeds whilst also being pretty damn good. The track “Lovers Give A Kingdom To Each Other” is possibly my favourite (the title track is also a contender) and sums this up pretty well. It could easily be ‘Metallica trying to do a bit of baroque-rock’ or ‘The Last Dinner Party’ having a go at something a bit harder’. 7

Oklou “choke enough”

I’d call it ‘somewhat experimental electronic pop’ that often sounds like a dance number has had the drum track removed. It works very well. The sound of one track sometimes shifts – kinda like you’re experiencing one event but viewing it from different perspectives. There’s a lot of synth wind instrumentation that offers a calm and mystical ambience but this is often juxtaposed with fast rhythmic figures that allude more to a sense of urgency. There’s a number of musical interludes as well.... always a win for me.  It starts fairly conventional in terms of melody-writing, lyric-writing, song-structure etc., but that melts more and more as the album progresses. This gives way to experimenting with the boundaries of these elements, as well as the electronic sounds itself, before landing back on the ground again at the end.  For an overview I’d check out the title track which is part-way through the album. If you’re not interested at all then its probably not for you. 7

Stereophonics “Make ‘em Laugh, Make ‘em Cry, Make ‘em Wait”

For me, although there’s a been a few great tracks to speak of over the years, the Stereophonic were always a band that was right on the borderline of ‘middle of the road’ and ‘pretty good’. The status appears to be ‘no change’. 5

Ghost “Skelatá”

I think of ‘80s’ rock with this group. The grand, big sound, big production that was a residual of 70s rock (but without the pretentiousness of much of that). There is some creativity and innovation but it tends to colour the music rather than lead it. 6

James Arthur “PISCES”

He seems to go for a standard indie-rock-pop feel. Much of it doesn’t do a lot. Its not awful, I guess. There are moments of interest but they are so heavily padded with a sort of aloof meandering that it’s hard to make very much of it. A momentary drift into a hip-hop feel for the short-lived title track seems out of place. 5

Sleep Token “Even In Arcadia”

I’d enjoyed the few tracks I’d already heard from Sleep Token. They lean towards ‘progressive’ but without being fully fledged progressive rock. That’s probably a good thing. As much as I love the best of progressive rocks output, it’s probably one of the most problematic genres in rock. With Sleep Token the rock and song formats remain at the heart of the matter – they’re just tampered around with a little. I’d say it’s mainly the ‘sound’, and the expectation of what you might hear, that is played around with. This is set up right from the opening. The intro of the 1^st track, “Look To Windward” doesn’t give away that this is a rock album, it sounds more like a minimalist electronic album is about to commence. The entry of the vocal gives things away more. We then hear distant wailing vocals and what sounds like spiccato strings..... of course, eventually it all kicks in. That said, the use of the full standard-sounding rock outfit is used sporadically for the rest of the track and indeed the rest of the album. You’ve got your sax and piano at the end of “Emergence”. Tuned percussion in “Caramel”. An extended piano and cello section in the title track. There’s a heavy use of synths in “Provider”. On the one hand you’ve got tracks that barely sound like ‘rock’ at all like “Past Self”. On the other hand, they are very good at reminding us that rock is exactly what they are. In the second half of “Caramel”, the bass and guitar and so heavy and distorted, the drums so loud and fast, and the vocals so screamy (literally) that my ear struggles to latch onto any detail behind what I’m hearing. The album ends similarly. These days the ‘fade’ ending is used sparingly and I’ve disliked it the few times I’ve heard it. I think this is the 1^st time I’ve liked it while listening to new music. It signals that this rock could play on and on infinitely......... and ‘infinite’ is used in the title of this last track. Clever. 7

PinkPantheress “Fancy That” (E.P.)

It’s quite good for what it is. Its great stuff for filling a club nightclub dancefloor. That’s about all I’ll say though. Even within its own genre its not particularly outstanding. I enjoyed it as an EP – I think if it had been extended to a full length album it would have started to drive me a bit mad. 5

The Kooks “Never/Know”

I know some earlier Kooks’ stuff. As I remember they were pretty good. They still sound like a good band. This is OK. I’d say it’s a ‘take it or leave it’. You won’t wish you hadn’t bothered. You won’t feel richer for the experience either. 5

Morgan Wallen “I’m The Problem”

It’s fine. However, I’m aware his previous album got a lot of criticism for being too ‘monotonous’ which this album supposedly responds to, particularly with its numerous collaborations. It doesn’t really achieve that though. You can hear the attempts. There are other genres such as R&B, and ones that regularly compliment country music such as rockabilly. But, its not like it drifts that far – and the song-writing itself, while good, doesn’t break any ground And here’s the biggy. Its nearly 2 hours long. Firstly...... come on!! Secondly, if you removed all the monotonous tracks and kept all the slightly different ones, you’d probably have an album that’s at least a 6 if not a 7. But I have to go with 5. 5

The Sparks “Mad!”

Brilliant. A sort of sound that you’d fine with Depeche Mode but leaning very slightly towards an ‘arty’ sound in terms of vocal arrangements, the lyrics, and some of the instrumentation. What I really like is the way they pull off that ‘arty’ feel yet keep things really simple. The band set up, if you like, is fairly standard. The song structures break no boundaries. And, there’s as much repetition, if not more, as you’d find in any pop or rock music. As an album, it has a strong opening and closing. The tracks share the acts definitive ‘sound’ but are varied. And there are various ‘peaks’ in the album. Namely “Running Up A Tab At The Hotel For The Fab”, “Don’t Dog It” and “I-405 Rules”. I think “A Long Red Light” is an absolutely outstanding track. 8

Self-Esteem “A Complicated Woman”

Sadly, an error means I’ve lost my mini-review but I did give it an 8 so check it out!!! 8

The Sherlocks “Everything Must Make Sense!”

It’s alright. Its starts strong with real energy and it also ends well with a crescendo-type song with a nice big ending. However, in the middle..... its just alright. Its just your bog-standard unremarkable indie. 5

When Rivers Meet “Addicted To You”

It sets itself up as ‘classic rock’ (leaning towards ‘AOR’) and basically delivers. There’s good balance between harder-rock, more ballad-type stuff and folky-acoustic tracks. The vocals (its a male/female duo who both take lead) are great with lots of multi-layered harmonic work. Aside from that, it doesn’t have anything noteworthy for me to shout about – and that’s what it lacks. It’s a good solid rock album though. 6

Pete Doherty “Felt Better Alive”

This continues to be one of the surprises of me doing this project. I never got into the Libertines 20-odd years ago when everyone was loving them. They didn’t seem to be for me. But, I ended up being very impressed with their album last year and gave it a 7. I think I’m going to do the same here! This is short and sweet and crammed with great classic song-writing and there’s just a smidge of innovation here and there to keep things interesting. Drawing from classic rock to boogie-woogie to rockabilly – it’s certainly not boring. My favourite tracks are “The Day The Baron Died”, “Ed Belly”, Poca MaHoney’s”, “Fingee”, and “Prêtre Da La Mer”. 7

Louise “Confessions”

Louise Nurding (later Redknapp) was my number 1 teenage crush. Its easy to forget that she start as 1 of the soulful R&B outfit Eternal. That’s probably because that was a story displaced with a racial overtone that was uncomfortable then and seems even more so now. The other 3 members were Black (and therefore arguably more ‘authentic’) and that aside Louise, although not lacking talent, seemed the least talented of the four. Yet, it was the white-lady who somehow took the spotlight. I always suspected her leaving the group was actually a deliberate move from a managerial point of view to strengthen, and therefore cash in on, both sides. Again, perhaps uncomfortably, it worked. A true spotlight on Louise in her own right led to a successful pop career that was arguably well beyond what her talent and contribution justified. Id describe her output as ‘serviceable’.  Eternal actually strengthened too, gaining their 1^st #1 single, stronger albums sales and international recognition without her.

She later became a WAG and dropped the pop career for many years. There was an album in 2020. I haven’t heard that. The strange thing about this album is it’s better than the 90s offering. Its got a little more edge to it and the songs seem better written. For example, her most popular original hit in the 90s was “Naked” with a lazy meandering melody and an even lazier and predictable lyric. Most of these tracks seem much lighter. It could pass for Kylie Minogue. Still, there’s very little that knocks you back on here. And there’s nothing about the whole thing that means it stands out from the crowd. You’d never say ‘yes, that’s Louise’. You’d say, ‘I dunno..... Kylie? Ariana? Jade from Little Mix?’. 5

Skunk Anansie “The Painful Truth”

I really liked this act in the 90s. “Paranoid and Sunburnt” (1995) and “Stoosh” (1996) were superb albums. I know nothing of the interim. But this is good. Its everything you’d want from a good solid rock album. Plus, Skin’s vocals are as wonderful as they were. It opens well with “An Artist Is An Artist” – if you are daydreaming this will wake you right up. There’s a backdrop of electro about the place – keyboards and such – that I don’t remember from classic Skunk Anansie..... but that’s not an issue for me at all. There are some fantastic tracks and my favourite is “My Greatest Moment”. I wouldn’t want to directly compare it to their mid-90s albums but its pretty good overall. 6

Pulp “More”

Read my review (that features contributions from Alan Lowe) in the 'Lengthier Reviews' section

Volbeat “God Of Angels Trust”

One of Simon Ore favourites so he’d know a lot better than me about how this stacks up against their other albums. It’s pretty good, though. It starts off strong – I like the chromaticism in the opening – which seems to be a theme (not sure if that’s just this album or Volbeat more generally) and the way it then cuts to a faster tempo for a high-energy 1^st track. That energy continues for the 2nd track. There’s some great rock-song-writing. I really like “In The Barn Of The Goat Giving Birth”, “Time Will Heal” and “At The End Of Sirens”.

In terms of criticism I’d say I struggle to grasp anything that stands out from the rock crowd – in terms of ‘dynamic’, although they do play around with things like changes in tempo etc. that keep things fairly interesting, there’s not massive balance on the album – it’s all a very similar classic-rock style and a huge portion of the album relies on the old one chord ‘chug-a-chug-a-chug-a-chug-a’ guitar. 6

Miley Cyrus “Something Beautiful”

Now this was a surprise. I recently heard her 2023 album – largely a collection of middle of the road pop. Conclusion = ‘fine. But that’s it”. I think I gave it a 5.  I didn’t expect much from this. The opening grabbed me – ‘Prelude’ - a synth-classical instrumental music with spoken dialogue. It felt like good presentation I.e., the start of a proper album, rather than a random collection of songs. The title track then begins as a sort of basic jazz-ballad. However, it is interjected with these heavy distorted passage that I’d describe as ‘heavy mental without guitars’ (although I think there is a guitar). There’s a backdrop of distorted vocals and sounds thrown in. The lead single “End Of The World” follows which I found very middle of the road pop when I heard it in isolation but it sounds markedly better in the context of the album as it contrasts with the tracks that surround it. That includes the next track which has a more straightforward ‘ballad’ feel to it. There is then an instrumental ‘Interlude’ of strings, tuned percussion, un-tuned percussion and other noises. If you’ve read much of my other mini and full length reviews you’ll know I love this sort of thing. It gives way to a little bit of funk-pop with disco leanings. This is followed by another ‘Interlude’ – and it’s hard to describe what’s going on here. There’s a fast-paced rhythm that I can’t quite get to the bottom of without sitting down and analysing it I e., if it’s in a certain time signature, if it has a downbeat, or a repeated rhythmic figure. “Golden Burning Sun” is a well written song but the 1^st track of the album that passed me by without making much of an impact. “Walk Of Fame” goes on a bit of a journey – starting as a fairly straightforward sounding edgy pop track. This leads into a section that is at the same tempo but with lots of fast-paced percussion, a soaring vocal and short bursts of voices, this continues but a monotone distorted voice enters for a final section. “Pretend You’re God” has contrasting segments of fairly straightforward pop and more atmospheric sections. “Every Girl You’ve Ever Loved” has a really interesting vocal figure in the background that reminds me of when the Beatles would do their backwards vocals. It features Naomi Campbell who does domestic spoken word. This seems a little plagiarised from Madonna’s “Vogue” but using the word ‘pose’ instead...... but maybe it’s intentionally reminding us of that. “Reborn” has a good melody. “Give Me Love” a good big ending. I’ve probably only mentioned about 25% of the things I thought while listening to it. There’s definitely unexpected innovation and creativity here. My criticism is it might come across as a little ‘forced’ and arguably a bit all over the place I.e., confused in its direction. I’ve no doubt many are going to hate this. 7

Garbage “Let All That We Imagine Be The Light”

This is basically Garbage exactly as I remember them. Its good but not quite got the magic of the 90s albums. If you’ve not heard the 90s albums – go to them instead. 6

Addison Rae “Addison”

I’m not sure about this. There is an underlying sinister tone to most of her tracks. I like that. There’s a lot of talk of ‘dark pop’ – even Dua Lipa refers to this in her own music – but there’s nothing ‘dark’ about any Dua Lipa tracks. I think the term does work with Addison Rae. For instance, I still believe the track “Diet Pepsi”, and hit single from last year, although it sounds like a song about young love, is actually about abuse/grooming. However, it does all get a bit similar after a while. The penultimate track is more of a sound piece than a song, which is another plus point. But then, “Headphones” is a bit of a disappointing ending. 6

Little Simz “Lotus”

So this falls within that area I’m a little shaky on i.e , rap/hiphop/etc. But!! This is brilliant. Its not really hip-hip. Many of the tracks are more rock, but good rock, where the vocalist just happens to be rapping. And, not in the way we’ve heard rock acts do it before which is more just ‘shouting in rhythm’ than rapping. Its not just rock either. There’s a little punk, a little funk, a little jazz, and I think there was a bit of Bosa Nova thrown in there. The rapping style changes too. There’s gentle laid back rapping, conventional rapping, an occasional Eminem style of uneven phrased rapping, and vernacular style. Almost all the tracks have their own interesting musical quirks too  The mark I’m going to give this may be a tiny bit hyped by the fact that I’ve just really really enjoyed a rap album from start to finish....... but I’m going with it. 8

Marina “Princess Of Power”

I’d say just loud bass-y ‘heavy on production’ pop music. There’s nothing wrong with it per se, but I’ve nothing noteworthy to say about it. 5

Benson Boone “American Heart”

It’s short and sweet at 30 minutes and I think its a move that pays off. Its really good pop music. Well-above average melodies and lyrics that are ‘pop’ but with an interesting edge to them..... ‘I’m sorry, I’m here for someone else’...... It opens strongly with “.....Sorry I’m Here For Someone Else” and although “Young American Heart” isn’t the strongest track on the album its a great closing number. There’s a few ‘peaks’ with “Mystical Magical” and “I Wanna Be The One You Call” and there’s good balance with upbeat songs like “Mr Electric Blue” contrasting slower ballad-style tracks like tracks like “Momma Song”. My criticism would be that it’s a little cliché in parts such as “Momma Song”’s soaring vocal with its heavy reverb over a synth-orchestral backdrop...... but, you know, it’s pop music, innit? I’d say this is a step up from his last album which I gave a 6. Interestingly, that album had a few better tracks on it than any on this album. But, I think this is the better album. 7

Lorde “Virgin”

I really enjoyed this. I like the sparse arrangements of some of the songs. A lot of these arrangements are very interesting too, such as using vocals instead of percussion, a completely a cappella track “Clearblue” and a recurring noise that sounds like bass, synth, and percussion rolled into one to produced a chords that is stated very quickly and distorted so you cant quite make it out. I like the way she’s kind of got her own ‘thing’ going on. Its not ‘original’ particularly. But she doesnt sound like Taylor Swift.... or Billie Eilish...... or Dua Lipa....... or Lola Young....... or Madonna/Britney/Kylie....... or Kate Bush or Annie Lennox....... get my point? My favourite track is “GRWM” so check that one out at least. 7

Yungblud “Idol”

I’ve seen many comments along the lines of this artist being a ‘modern take on punk’ which gave me a false impression. I guess it depends what a ‘modern take’ on something is – because a ‘modern take on punk’ is presumably different from ‘punk’ (?). In any case, I detected very little of punk. However....... it is brilliant. Its great solid rock music that draws from all over the spectrum. Off the top of my head, at different points I detected Beach Boys, Queen, Stone Roses, Nirvana, Placebo, Snow Patrol......... even a little progressive rock in there. 7

Loyle Carner “hopefully !”

This was a curious one because it was somehow quite interesting, a bit different, lots of things going on in the music to hold your attention....... but at the same time there’s a ‘chill vibe’ that’s SO chill that it all ends up kinda dull. 6

Haim “I Quit”

I made a video with this title on YouTube back in 2022. Irrelevant. These ladies are great! Great rock music that’s fairly traditional but does have flutterings of innovation and originality. If you’ve read some of my reviews of ‘rock’ albums you’ll know I come to find rock music rather boring these days. This feel ‘fresh’. There’s usually something interesting going on. Take “The farm” as an example. This was actually a track I was finding a bit dull. A filler maybe. Then, suddenly, there’s a harmonica, banjo, and honky-tonk style piano. And I go from ‘bored’ to ‘sold’. 7

ANY CONCLUSIONS?

Well its definitely interesting to me that there’s a sort of ‘evolution of nostalgia’ going on. Older music is enjoyed and consumed it a way it wasn’t (arguably because it couldn’t be) in the past. This has not just suddenly happened but I feel like this year is significant. As for new music (which is the point of this project), things have picked up significantly after a disappointing start. I now have stronger contenders for Single of the year. Having given no albums an 8 in the first quarter of 2025 compared to 2 in 2024, I gave 4 albums an 8 in the second quarter of 2025 which is the amount I’d given for the whole year in 2024.

Things are definitely accelerating.

That said, I will draw your attention to this article, which gives a somewhat different opinion. Its about the US chart. But I think the same can be evidenced in the UK.  https://routenote.com/blog/is-2025-the-year-that-chart-music-and-hit-singles-died/

Marking key (in a nutshell)

10 – Perfect (only 3 albums in history)

9 – Basically 10/10 (I just don’t quite view them in the same way as the 3 albums)

8 – Outstanding (possible nit-picking criticisms)

7 – Brilliant

6 – Good

5 – Average

4 – Has potential but below average

3 – Some good points but not very good overall

2 – Poor (possibly a few good points)

1 – Abysmal