Westlife // The Love Songs

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Breaking up is so hard to do…but never fear because you’ve now got all those lovely compilations for every occasion to look forward to! And that’s exactly what this is just in time for Valentine’s….awww!

Yes, Westlife parted ways in 2012 & Shane’s gone on to release his solo effort last year and Kian is due to release his in March but in the meantime, we can “enjoy” this. Yes we use the term enjoy loosely seeing as there is nothing here that hasn’t previously been released on their studio albums (although notably, Unbreakable, Swear It Again, My Love & When You’re Looking Like That are the radio/single mixes)

Collectors will probably pick up just for completeness but if you’ve bought their previous works, there’s no need…unless you want to remind yourself why you may actually be the 2nd love of somebody’s life.

Rating: 1/5

Westlife // Lighthouse

 
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With their second Greatest Hits album just around the corner, the first offering comes to us in the form of Lighthouse, written by none other than Take That’s Gary Barlow.

It’s another ballad, which seems to be more and more common for the group. With lines such as “You’re the light in the dark/The seat in the park/You’re the lighthouse that I need” , you can’t help thinking that they could have been lines pulled straight from a Valentine’s card. This is possibly the last single that the lads may release seeing as they have recently announced that they are going to be splitting after 14 years together. So maybe the lyrics are a bit more poignant as in a sense could be seen a thank you type song to the fans as well.

If you like your soppy ballad, this is for you. Probably a perfect bow out tune.

Rating: 3/5

Westlife // Gravity

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Gravity is the brand new studio album from Irish boy band Westlife. The title is taken from a song on the album, apparently chosen by a fan on Twitter. This album is also a first with the boys having much more input into the songwriting side of things plus in the way that the songs were recorded. So what's on it?

The opening track, Beautiful Tonight is a bright upbeat song, not too unsimiliar to the Bruno Mars' track Just The Way You Are. Next it's the first single to be taken from the album and where the name of the album comes from. Safe is just about right for this; it's yet another cover. Chances is a slow ballad, can't say much else about it. It doesn't go anywhere, just seems to droll.

I Will Reach You and The Reason is a bit more of the Westlife standard. An upbeat ballad is more along what you might expect from the boys. Inbetween these is Closer, another slow ballad. Tell Me It's Love could be titled My Love Part II as it's very similar in melody to that.

I Get Weak and Before It's Too Late are another two ballads, the latter picking up in power midway. Finally, we come to another upbeat song, this time in the form of No One's Gonna Sleep Tonight. You could almost imagine a dance remix of this. Difference In Me is a lovely little number, decent little pop ballad. The album is brought to a close by a heart felt song called Too Hard To Say Goodbye, which as you can guess, is a ballad.

This is the first album that the boys have had as much input into the album so maybe it's unfair to judge it against what has come before. However, the way the songs are on the album, their attempt to disregard their image of 'ballad stool singers' fails miserably. There's not enough upbeat material here for them to get rid of that image. It mainly feels miserable with a minor injection of excitement which fades as quickly as it was given. If it was a school report it would read must try harder!

Rating:2/5

Westlife // What About Now

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It’s been 2 years since the Irish boy band released an album and this is the first single to lifted from it.  And if you think it sounds familiar, well here’s at least two reasons why:

• It’s a cover song. It was originally recorded by US band Daughtry.
• It’s was used in parts of the auditions and boot camp results on the current series of X Facto

Coincidence? Probably not. But what better promotion. Sadly though, while the song suits their voices, it’s just a straight cover, nothing done to really make it their own. And it would appear that the boys have fallen into a trend of releasing a cover song as a leading single with the last couple of albums.

But looking at as a single, it’s a great track to come back with. Long term fans will be pleased to see the boys backs and they may even entice a few new ones. Lets see what else the album brings…

Rating: 4/5