The Physical Singles chart continues to confound and delight, this week highlighting the discrepancy between those Record Store Day releases that sold well on the day itself, leaving few copies available for sale after the event (such as The Smiths’ The Boy With The Thorn In His Side which drops from 2 to 13, Madonna’s Into the Groove down from 7 to 22, and U2’s Red Hill Mining Town falling from 4 to 36) and those with enough copies left over to make an impression on this week’s chart – notably the Prince 12″s, especially Little Red Corvette which is up from 12 to 3, the Madness double A-side Drip Fed Fred / Johnny the Horse which leaps from 37 to 10, and Art of Noise’s Moments in Love climbing from 20 to 11. Over on the album chart, something weird has happened, resulting in Bob Marley & the Wailers’ Legend being listed as a new entry at 31, even though it’s been in the top 100 for the past 72 consecutive weeks and was at #34 last week. More legitimately, following the announcement of their reunion, Bananarama’s Greatest Hits Collection returns to the chart at 66.
This week’s big new release is Blondie’s Pollinator, their fifth album since they reformed in 1999 and eleventh in total. The Afghan Whigs return with In Spades, while Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds release their new best-of Lovely Creatures in various formats including a super deluxe 3CD + DVD set. Peter Hook & the Light release a remarkable four live albums, all versions of Joy Division and New Order classics: Unknown Pleasures, Closer, Movement and Power, Corruption & Lies. Finally, your generic ’80s compilation of the week is 80s Classics: The Collection, a 4CD set including some baffling obscurities from KC & the Sunshine Band, Nu Shooz and Club Nouveau among the hits.
