People are suckers when it comes to the 'little guy' - and they don't come much smaller than Paul Potts. (Not literally - he's a bit of a Welsh Don Corleone lookalike, cotton-wool-stuffed cheeks included).If you watched the televisual atrocity that was Britain's Got Talent a couple of months ago, you'll be aware that Potts was the Carphone Warehouse employee from South Wales who blew the competition away with his out-of-nowhere tenor voice, winning the competition and even making one of the judges cry with a powerful rendition of Nessum Dorma. (It wasn't Simon Cowell, before you ask). However, what was striking about Potts' demeanour and performances was his humility; having sung in an amateur capacity for many years, his triumph on BGT has now made him more successful than he himself could ever have thought. Subsequently snapped up by Cowell and promptly signed to SonyBMG, it's glaringly obvious that Potts is already having his strings pulled left, right and centre. Despite his impressive, if unrefined vocals, the choice of songs here are as tacky and embarrassingly obvious as you would expect from a reality TV show winner, who has no choice. Time To Say Goodbye, You Raise Me Up, My Way, even an excruciating version of REM's banal blip Everybody Hurts - they're all here, and even the English language songs have inexplicably been translated into Italian. Potts admirably makes the most of what he's got, though; while the antiquated numbers are as bad and hollow as you'd expect (he simply can't match Andrea Bocelli for passion on Time To Say Goodbye, nor does he have the cool to pull off My Way with aplomb, while Nessum Dorma and Nella Fantasia have just forever been ruined by various ads for butter and the likes), the lesser-known Amapola, Caruso and Catavina are nicely-delivered and showcase his voice prudently. Those who fell for the phone-selling underdog on TV will undoubtedly think that this is the business; in truth, though, this is music for people who think they are cultured for listening to an average opera singer sing tacky novelty showtunes.
