James Morrison
Undiscovered
Polydor

You might think that you don't really know any James Morrison songs but you'd be quite wrong. Unless of course you never listen to anything other than Radio 4 and y'know, even too much of a good thing can be bad for your health. You may also have heard Morrison's husky, soulful vocals during episodes of TV shows like Grey's Anatomy, One Tree Hill and Ugly Betty. You'll know these songs, what'll surprise you is that they're all by the same guy and on the one album.

Under The Influence gets us in the mood and is infectiously catchy. Following straight up with the equally brilliant You Give Me Something keeps you in that breezy summer mood (even if you're currently living in a local community hall because you're house is 4ft under water. We may be here in dry & sunny Osterley but we're thinking of you all). You will be humming this tune, that's a promise.

Going for a triple-whammy of back-to-back pop hits Wonderful World is a timeless classic in the making. You're gonna hear this in years to come behind adverts selling products to you that will be trying to convince you that yours will be a wonderful world with addition of X product in your life. Oh the pain that must cause the songwriter, healed no doubt by the royalty cheque for said exploitation.

Undiscovered's 'I'm not lost, just undiscovered' lyric makes you smile to think of the irony of when it was written and Morrison's current very much discovered status in the music world. Call The Police, Letter and This Boy are songs that could all make it as stand-alone single releases and yet there they are, well down the track listing, in the slots usually referred to as the album fillers. This album is like a ready-make Best Of release for later in his career. Trouble is, with an album this outstanding the pressure to make a follow-up as good must be pretty daunting for this BRIT award-winning 22 year old from Rugby, Warwickshire who started out busking with his guitar in Newquay, Cornwall. And the pub quiz fact? His full name is James Morrison Catchpole.

So is this the best album released in the past year? I think anyone who's given it a fair listen would have a hard time saying no.

Sinéad Hughes
July '07