World of their Own

I know what you're thinking! You're thinking he's probably going to mercilessly slag this one off, summarily dismiss it and then go into the usual diatribe on the evils of boy bands and why they should be eliminated from the face of the earth. What? And give Louis Walsh yet another opportunity to go on the radio and rant on about nine number ones in a row, 85 nights at The Point and those hotpress losers in their leather jackets slagging off good "pop" music? Not likely!

OK, so they're not The Temptations or the Four Tops (well, there is five of them) Hell they're not even the Bay City Rollers, who at least gave us a laugh with their tartan baggies and dodgy platforms. But to their credit (God this is hard) Westlife don't promise to save the world, solve third world debt, fill the hole in the ozone layer or cure aids. Pleasing little girls and their mums and their grandmums is what they do. And they do it brilliantly.

There are 19 songs on this album including their current single, 'Queen of My Heart' their radical re-working (!) of the Billy Joel classic 'Uptown Girl' and a not half bad version of a Sara McLachlan song, 'Angel'. Whether you want to or not, you'll hear most of the rest on the radio over the coming months in shops, restaurants, garages -everywhere! Make up you own bloody mind.

Right now I'm going to toss a couples of dice in the air and see what happens. (Well fancy that!)