Swan Lake's Beast Moans Tops The Chart

01/24/07 5:30pm

by Chris Burland (CHARTattack)

The holiday hangover has finally passed and a new crop of albums has burst on to the charts to sweep out a group of records that had firm footholds over the past three months.

These winds of change have blown a new album to #1, as Swan Lake's Beast Moans finally ascends to the top to dethrone Tom Waits' Orphans, which drops to #2. Shotgun And Jaybird's Trying To Get Somewhere moves up two places to #3, while campus radio pin-up queen Neko Case sees Live From Austin TX rocket up 34 places to land at #4. Sonic Youth's The Destroyed Room: B-Sides And Rarities moves up a place to #5, and is followed by the resurgent Immaculate Machine's Les Uns Mais Pas Les Autres, which rises 13 spots to #6. The Blow's Paper Television rises two places to #7. It's followed by Fucked Up's Hidden World, which catapults into the top 10 by moving up 32 places to #8. The Winks' Birthday Party moves up six spots to #9, and Woodpigeon's Songbook slips three spaces to #10.

The Chart Sizzler Award goes to Johnny Cash's Live From Austin TX, which sits at #20. This live performance album from the Austin City Limits television show heads a long list of debuts. In fact, seven new entries followed Cash into the top 30: The Postmarks' eponymous release at #22; Dead Meadow's self-titled album at #23; Desiderata's We Are Not Convinced There Has Been Any Improvement at #24; The Memories Attack's self-titled album at #26; No Luck Club's Prosperity at #27; Machines' After My Misspent Youth at #28; and Matt Mays' When The Angels Make Contact at #29.

On the specialty tip, outside of Hot Chip's Remixes & Rarities remaining at #1 on the Electronic top 10, there are four new chart-toppers. Omar Faruk Tekbilek's Tree Of Patience jumps from #10 to #1 to take over the top spot on the World/Folk chart and Converge's No Heroes rises up a spot to move into the #1 position on the Metal/Punk chart. The other two charts have new #1s, but in each case both albums occupied those spots two weeks ago. Hi-Tek's Hi-Teknology 2: The Chip returns to #1 on the Hip-Hop top 10 and Drumheller's Wives recaptures #1 on the Jazz/Blues chart.