Another festive season approaches, and Santa's sack is bursting with reality TV-related albums from artists seeking to cash in on the lazy-pressie market.
Matt Cardle, One Direction, JLS, SuBo, Little Mix ... that performing dog is the only one missing a trick.
Olly Murs is in there too, with his third album in a two-year spread. But although he sets the teeth of some musos on edge, I reckon he's got a bit more personality and a better set of songs than most of his telly-launched chart competitors.
Right Place, Right Time suffers an unavoidable slump halfway through its running time as the bland but inoffensive Hand On Heart and Hey You Beautiful follow the dull dancefloor thumper of a title track. The mood eventually lifts with the cheeky, chirpy What A Buzz, but it's on the first half of the album that Murs gives tiny hints that he might one day be ready to reach out to a more mature audience. Granted, on current evidence that's through the Coldplay-style oh-oh-overkill of Loud & Clear's stadium chorus and the blatant male Adele-isms of Dear Darlin'. But it's a start.
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