Ronan Keating & LeAnn Rimes - Last Thing On My Mind (Polydor)
release date: 3 May 2004
Former Boyzone crooner Ronan Keating specialises in middle of the road dirges, so much so you cruelly find yourself praying for that juggernaut to swerve wildly towards the central reservation. But even by those standards his latest offering, a duet with American songstress LeAnn Rimes, is aurally offensive.
No doubt this is a "You scratch my back..." bid for Keating to break the US and the moderately successful Rimes to build her British fan base, but it backfires. Teamed with Rimes' valiant attempt at ballsy American gusto, Keating's hollow, strained, bland and brittle voice is all the more painfully evident.
If you think a Keating/Rimes pairing is a musical match made in heaven, then buy it. For all others: it should be the Last Thing On Your Mind.