W/e 25/07/25 - Forth Wanderers, Jim Legxacy, Jessie Murph, Panic Shack, Bush

No great movers this week at the top, but congrats to Panic Shack who entertained most of us.

Jim Legxacy creates a motley crew with I Am Monster and Brigit Hayden in the bottom 3 for 2025.

Guy retains his 😀. Erol has his 4th ☹️ in the last 2 months.

Bush were a nice surprise for a few, and sit with The Duke Spirit and The Orb on the classics.

Was the 1 year ‘birthday’ for Annette this week 🎉.

Andy

Forth Wanderers - Pretty nice dreamy indie 6.5

Jim Legxacy - Not sure about this one. He seems keen on celebrating all the great black music since Windrush but sounds like Ed Sheeran sometimes. Underwhelming 4

Jessie Murph - She’s got a Ronnie Spector look and sounds like a Temu Miley Cyrus, except when she doesn’t. There’s a lot to like here even if it doesn’t all hit the mark. Might be the first time we’ve had an album open with a track named after someone who later provides a feature 6

Panic Shack - Fun punky tunes. I’m not bothered about the issues girls have on dating sites but not having room in your pockets? Preach sisters!! It’s not often you hear about Tit School either 7

TotW - Do Something by Panic Shack

Bush - Indebted very much to Nirvana, with Rossdale’s vocals especially reminiscent of Kurt but this is still a decent bunch of tunes and Glycerine is an actual bona fide classic 7.5

Phil

Forth Wanderers 6.75

Great grungey opener and there are several other meaty, guitar-heavy tracks on here, of which Springboard is about the best. The rest though are dull and directionless. Disappointing. 

Jim Legaxcy 6

Uneven album with too many stylistic shifts. Father is the best track on here and I also enjoyed Dexter’s phone call, even though it was so delicate it practically disintegrated by the end of the track. The rest? Patchy. Loses marks for heavy use of autotune.

Jessie Murph 7

Her voice has the same smoky quality that Amy Winehouse had but her sound is much more pop, despite the frequent and dramatic use of strings (some of which are synthetic, some real). The strongest tracks are the slower ones, like Heroin and Ain’t but a thing.

Panic Shack 7.5

Excellent stuff from a better band than the Lambrini Girls and with a lot less swearing.

TOTW – Panic Shack – Pockets

Classic

Bush 6.5

It’s 1994 so the influence of grunge is plain – swampy guitars, throaty vocals and moderately right-on lyrics. This was enjoyable but unmemorable and a bit too long. Easy to see why Bush became so big but also to see why I’ve not got round to listening to them till now.

Guy

Forth Wanderers - There’s a bit of shoegaze and a bit of indie in this but most of it is pretty wafty and unremarkable fare apart from Barnard which is an excellent, riff-laden indie pop masterpiece - 6.7

Jim Legxacy - Annoying sample of the album title throughout and when he sticks on the autotune it grates. But found some of the rest pretty decent - 6.5

Jessie Murph - Amy Winehouse with a bit more variety is a fair description. Great voice but lacked a killer punch on the tunes - 6.9

Panic Shack - Enjoyed this one. They are definitely better than Lambrini Girls as Phil pointed out. The song themes and lyrics are a level above and keep the interest - as does the raw energy - 7.5

TotW - Barnard - Forth Wanderers

Bush - Some decent grungey sounds, but I found it all a bit pedestrian personally - 6.6

Jim

Forth Wanderers 5.5 

More light indie that soon blurs in with the others queuing up at the landfill site.

Jim Legaxcy  4

Had a few moments more interesting than much of this mumbling naf modern hip hop, but nowhere near enough 

Jessie Murph 6.5 

Quite enjoyed this, nice mix-up of styles and some Tay Tay Reputation-era influence. Couldn’t Be Worse the best of the bunch . 

Panic Shack 7.5

Amyl hooks up with  Arctic Monkeys for a night out in Cardiff. Like their swagger, with plenty of humour -  Tit School and Pockets in particular. Great fun

TOTW: Panic Shack - Girl Band Starter Pack 

Bush 8

Not heard of them before let alone listened to this . Thought it was cracking. The Foos always seem miles ahead of their contemporaries, but this was pretty close.

Sam

Forth Wanderers : was expecting them to be Scottish ! Parts were nice but overall a bit meh . 6 

Jim Legaxcy : what a load of old shite : 3 

Jessie Murph : poor Jessie ! Tough life . Great voice and some great lyrics . Patchy sometimes tho so 7 

Panic Shack : me likey a lot . Very funny . 8 

TOTW: Girl Band Starter Pack 

Bush : odd that I never got in to them as the quiet / loud 90’s thing is right up my alley. This is a blistering rock album I will listen to again for sure . Nice one it’s an 8.9 from me

Simon

Forth Wanderers: this isn't going to win any prizes for originality but as a moderately catchy blast of indie rock that didn't outstay its welcome it was just fine.  Springboard was the highlight, vocal reminded me of Liela Moss. 7

Jim Legxacy: I know I'm getting old but I can't get my head around the appeal of this - perhaps my kids can enlighten me.  And whoever first thought that putting a chipmunk vocal effect on an album was a good idea should be hunted down and publicly executed. 3

Jessie Murph: overbearing and overproduced imo - there's obviously an audience out there in the Tik-Tok generation for this but it did absolutely nothing for me. 4.5

Panic Shack: bright, breezy and lots of fun - the amusing lyrics and general air of good humour makes this a much more appealing listen than the annoying Lambrini Girls. 7.5

Bush: not a band I know at all but this was decent enough, even though the similarities in sound and style to Nirvana were difficult to ignore. 7

TotW: Forth Wanderers - Springboard

Erol

Forth Wanderers - very light and weedy indie. Not really for me. 5

Jim Legaxcy - some interesting rhymes but pretty middle of the road, if that. 5.1

Jessie Murph - really enjoyed this. Amie Winehouse meets Miley Cyrus. The power ballads are fab, but the more pop based numbers towards the end let it down just a tad. 7.5

Panic Shack - annoying juvenile girly punk. Songs like Lazy and Tit School were just irritating. Go and get a proper job please. 4

TOTW - Heroin, Jessie Murph

Bush - why have I never heard this before? The comparisons with Nirvana and Pearl Jam and perfectly valid but this stands firmly on its own two feet as a great slab of early noughties grunge rock. 8.5

Mark

Forth Wanderers - showed a bit of Wolf Alice potential  but all too often just slipped into obscurity, I played this one three times waiting for it to land but it's just a bit average - 5.5

Jim Legaxcy - started terribly, standard naff spoken word confessional intro and rubbish slow slacker mumble rapping, revealed some depth with a couple of the tracks in the middle but then reverted back to type. One day I'm going to snap and give an album like this zero cos at times I just loathe it, but for now I'll settle on - 4

Jessie Murph - what is this, Dolly Parton goes rnb. Enjoyed it more as it went on and she does have a touch of the troubled Amy about her, bit sweary for me but musically it had something going for it - 6

Panic Shack - lively taff riot grrrrl punk pop, obviously generations apart so a lot of their lyrical observations are not aimed at us, but I liked it - 7

TOTW - Girl Band Starter Pack, by Panic Shack

Matt

Forth Wanderers  - 6.8

Jim Legxacy - 5.9

Jessie Murph - 6.1

Panic Shack - 6.5

ToRW - 7 Months, Forth Wanderers.

Annette

Forth Wanderers: 6

Jim Legzacy: 5

Jessie Murph: 6.5

Panic Shack: 7.5

TOTW:  Girl band starter pack by Panic Shack 

Classic: Bush - 8

Adam

Forth Wanderers - 7

Jim Legaxcy - 4

Jessie Murph - 6

Panic Shack - 7

TOTW - Panic Shack - Thelma & Louise

Classic - 8

Justin

Forth Wanderers - not bad Pixieish guitar indie 6.7

Jim Legzacy - better than the usual albums from UK rap artists but still a bit moaney 6.6

Jessie Murph - brilliant Miley Cyrus meets Amy Winehouse 8

Panic Shack - overall a bit silly 6

Totw Gucci Mane - Jessie Murph