First things first, as far as I am concerned I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker is perhaps the worst number one in quite some time (yes, even worse than It's Chico Time) and has perhaps some of the worst, most cringeworthy lyrics this side of a Katie Melua b-side. So really, I'm not coming at this album from the best of places am I?
But to be fair, there's nothing quite as bad as that effort on this debut album but that's not to say that this is anywhere near approaching anything other than mediocre.
When Horsepower Meant What It Said repeats the Black Horse & Cherry Tree trick of the lead single, to slightly better effect, even if the lyrics still are terrible. Lonely Girl is the kind of ballad that wouldn't be out of place as the "mum and dad" track on a Sugababes album and is then followed by Sunset Borderline, which isn't even that good and is hamstrung by yet more pitible lyrics.
But then, at track 5 a change comes over me. Ok, it's hardly the best song ever but it has one of the catchiest radio-friendly choruses I've heard in quite some time...sadly however it's the lone high spot. In fact most of the rest sounds no better than what you might expect from any tom, dick or harry in your local pub on Acoustic night (a fact that Sandi could almost be seen to acknowledge on the 30 years behind the times The Human Jukebox).
And therein lies the rub. To come anywhere near justifying the PR hype, this would have to be something special, or at least aspire to that. This doesn't. This is music by the numbers. Someone, somewhere has seen the success of a KT Tunstall and decided to replicate it, albeit minus any of the heart, soul and genuine emotion that makes Tunstall a star.
Still, the Radio 2 audience will love it, and I suspect that that's the only bottom line that matters at this moment in time.
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