Poor old James Blunt. This time last year, a promising new songwriter with an interesting back story - now, in December 2005, held up by some arbiters of taste as all that's wrong with modern music, thanks to the residency of You're Beautiful at number one throughout most of the summer. Not that the former soldier will care, as Back To Bedlam has been one of the year's big success stories.
So why does Blunt receive so much critical bile? He's a fine songwriter, with an uncanny knack for writing pretty tunes that appeal to the masses. Goodbye My Lover is an emotional ballad addressing the end of a relationship, with lyrics sure to be lapped up by the broken-hearted. Yet there's just one problem - that voice.
It's an acquired taste at the best of times, but on other occasions the lushness of the melody has hidden Blunt's vocal deficiencies. Here though, the stripped down backing means that his voice is revealed in all its nasal ignominy. Sadly, it proves to be rather irritating, which is a bit of a shame as underneath the overwrought emotion is actually a rather affecting song.
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