WHO can resist Michael Ball, the big old cuddly uncrowned king of the British musical?

With this new collection he has gone through his record rack to come up with a selection of tracks by his heroes. There’s Billy Joel’s New York State Of Mind, Frank Sinatra’s Summer Wind, Scott Walker’s Joanna, Johnny Mathis’s Misty…

They are beautiful songs and even if Michael wouldn’t pretend to come up to the high standards of the originals he’s done them proud with arrangements that are classic and classy and heavy on strings and brass.

Verdict: 3/5