It Won't Be The Last

WITH 'ACHY Breaky Heart', Billy Ray Cyrus managed to conquer the world and really get on its tits at the same time. You didn't hum that song, that song hummed you. Once the chorus had insinuated its way into your brain there was no option but to take a small hammer and chisel to your skull in the hope that, at the very least, the sound of banging would drown it out.

The good news is that nothing on It Won't Be The Last even approaches the sheer rinky dink dementia of 'Achy Breaky'. The bad news is that everything on it desperately tries to. Musically, the style can be most easily likened to a bored man standing at a bus stop idly jingling change in his pocket. The only variation is whether he jingles the change slowly (the ballads) or very, very quickly (the fast tracks). For lyrics, he simply reads the bus timetable aloud in a Nashville accent.

Apart from the inherent blandness of the songwriting, the real problem is that Billy Ray himself has all the personality of an oak wardrobe. The guy seems thoroughly oblivious to any sense of the warmth, pathos or laconic humour of which country music at its sharpest is capable. He just changes key every few minutes, growls a bit and sorta hopes for the best.

Even the presence of The Jordanaires on the closing number, 'When I'm Gone', adds little to the proceedings and serves only to provide Mr. Cyrus with a chance to show off his totally pointless Elvis impersonation.

Billy Ray Cyrus' debut album, Some Gave All, sold nine million copies. The follow-up is clearly an attempt to shake off such underground cult status and to go commercial. Nothing else could explain this milk pudding of cut-price common denominators. The title It Won't Be The Last isn't a promise, it's a threat.

• Liam Fay