Westlife

Westlife weigh in with a seventeen track debut that varies from the sublime to the ridiculous, but ultimately proves that the Sligo rovers are going to be around for quite a while. The unprecedented success of the band’s single releases, all of which are included here, looks set to be matched by this album; it’s got Christmas Number 1 written all over it.

Okay, okay, so I get invited to Ronan and Louis’ Yuletide shindig this year, but is this album any good? Actually, it is. Slightly groovier than anything Boyzone have ever done, Westlife seem a lot more comfortable with the dancier element of the boy band genre, not merely having to rely on knicker wetting ballads, but occasionally coming up with a toe tapper, a là Take That.

Lyrically the songs are polished if puzzling: I counted ten dittys about lost love and broken hearts.

The inclusion of ‘Seasons In The Sun’ is a gamble that doesn’t pay off, and the boy’s version of ‘More Than Words’ is almost identical to the orignal, except for the obligatory mornful fiddle bit at the start. I think someone’s thinking about America.

Their treatment of Ministry’s ‘Jesus Built My Hotrod’ is an intriguing one though . . . Nah, you’re right, I made that last bit up.