Good morning, afternoon or evening depending on where you are in the world and what time you are reading this! My good mood is continuing, especially as I got lots of good luck emails today today for my civil partnership on Saturday including one from my good friend Paul and another from my friend Billy who I hadn't heard from for a while, so that was super :)

Barring me waking up in the middle of the night, this will be my last blog til after I have made an honest homo of Darren….. ;) I was thinking yesterday and talking with XO about second album syndrome and there was a really good article in Music Week about this hot political issue too. If an act has had a successful debut album, the follow up is always tricky. Try something to far away from the sound on the debut album and the fans desert you in droves after that initial first week rush. Too similar and the critics slate you. it certainly is a tricky balancing act. Coldplay managed to launch themselves into the stratosphere with A Rush Of Blood… but Daniel Bedwettingfield's sophomore set sold about as many copies as Steve Brookstein comeback single….

Keane clearly have been experimenting on their second album and as one of my fave acts of 2004 I haven't necessarily been overjoyed with the results. Having heard the full album now (review coming next week) I think I am fairly OK with it, but have to say if it wasn't Keane, I probably wouldn't buy it… Scissor Sisters Ta-Dah album is out in September and the new songs aren't a million miles from the old ones (OH GOOD!) but maroon 5 are experimenting with r'n'b (OH GOD!) and the killers are now inspired by Bruce Springsteen (OH GOOD GOD!) So time will tell how those turn out!

And then of course there is the issue of whether a second album does well purely on the back of the first one – do people rush out and buy it the first week guaranteeing a great chart placing and huge sales? Will keane be number one next week – almost undoubtedly! Will fans love it more than Hopes and Fears in years to come? Unlikely….

And of course we all know the greatest second album of all time is Electric Youth ;)

See you when I'm hitched dudes!