This album has come to haunt me.
In a batch of albums I received over a month ago, it was the first I chose to listen to but I've left it until last to review, hoping that the muse would strike and enable me to say something illuminating about it.
It hasn't.
I confess that I have never been a fan of Pop Idol - living in Italy makes it easier for me to let such family entertainment exist in a twilight zone that I know is out there somewhere. I sleep easy without having to worry of it having an impact on my world.
I am not therefore among those who voted Will Young as UK's favourite artist of all time. This guilt can eat away at the consciences of others. I mean to say - favourite of one week or one month I could forgive but OF ALL TIME?? Give me a break!
Still, I mop my fevered brow and try my best to listen without prejudice. This, after all, was the request of Young's mentor George Michael when he started to try convince us he was all grown up now.
And Young plainly wants to sound mature and deep here. "I really started to feel like a songwriter on this album" he assures us, adding that he finds the weight of responsibility (to who?!) scary.
Less credibly, he is also quoted as saying "I wanted something a bit more rough and ready". If so, he should think about sueing his producers because anything less rough and ready would be hard to imagine. Instead, and predictably, the production values are steeped in the sleak radio friendly modern pop in the Take That mould; full of orchestral sweeps and fake emotional pleas that passes for heartfelt soul music these days.
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And be warned. Like the plague, it is as catchy as hell.
The themes of the songs, if you care, are the longing for change and true love.
In the liner notes Will Young writes (apparently without irony) that "in a world where we can control everything love conquers and overrides, breaks down and gives us ultimate moments. Stand on the edge of a cliff and surrender 'sans peur'....'without fear'"
You may feel the fear and listen anyway and if you are a fan of Will Young's music you'll lap this up.
Me? I'm going to listen to some Jandek!
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