March 14th, 2010

Reformed 90s pop group Boyzone have beaten Gorillaz to the top of this week’s Album Chart. The popstars’ new record ‘Brother‘ has entered at #1, ahead of ‘Plastic Beach‘ which debuts at #2. Singer-songwriter Amy McDonald (photo) has also scored a new entry in the top 10, with her second album ‘A Curious Thing‘ landing at #4. Rapper Tinie Tempah remains on top of the Singles Chart for a second week.

I’ve never been a big Muse fan. Let me get that out of the way first.

Now, it’s not that I don’t like the band. I mean, when I hear a Muse song on the radio, I don’t change the station or experience a visceral reaction like when I hear an Eagles song and I just want to tear my hair out they annoy me so much!!!…. Ahem… pardon me. Even mentioning them seems to have that effect on me. Same goes for the football team of the same name (Go Giants!). Strange… I wonder what it is that I have against the national bird? Anyway, it’s just that I’ve never really been a big fan of the band. I’ve never felt compelled to go out and buy one of their cds or download some of their tracks from Amazon or iTunes. However, I sometimes feel I should be a fan. In theory, Muse is a band I should really like.

In July 2008, SHINE teamed up with the legendary Terry Reid for a special project, “SHINE featuring Terry Reid.” (Read Live4ever’s review here) The project began when song writer Guillaume Simon watched the documentary Glastonbury Fayre and was floored by Terry Reid’s talent. The band knew they had to find a way to work with Terry. A demo of “Mind Dance” convinced Terry to cross the Atlantic. The EP “SHINE featuring Terry Reid” was recorded in two days in June 2009.