To hear some people talk, you'd think that poor old Will Young was guilty of single-handedly destroying pop music. It seems a bit harsh, considering that the Pop Idol winner is no better or worse than a dozen other industry puppets currently doing the rounds - not to mention the fact that his debut album is one of the most innocuous, lightweight and downright harmless you're likely to hear all year. It's also just a little sad, because Young seems like a genuinely decent guy and From Now On is the unmistakable sound of him fluffing the biggest opportunity of his life. The main problem is that even though he co-wrote many of the songs here, he just never sounds emotionally engaged with his material - while the covers (Light My Fire, The Long And Winding Road) are as criminally soulless as the cynics might have expected. Young will be around for some time yet, of course, bandied about the airwaves as the piece of media merchandise he essentially is. But when he looks at the recent demise of Hear'Say, it would be hard to blame him for giving a little inward shudder.
