There are few albums produced as a result of a TV reality show that aren’t finely polished and targeted at the seasonal CD-buying market. Only Men Aloud, the winners of the BBC’s recent Saturday night “Last Choir Standing,” can’t quite boast the same. It’s polished, it’s tweaked, it’s produced…and that’s where it’s problems lie.

For those who didn’t catch the series, Only Men Aloud are (obviously) an all-male choir from Wales and their self-titled debut album is one of the quickest turnarounds in music-based reality-TV of recent years (after all, fans were waiting nearly a year for Leona Lewis and Leon Jackson’s albums.)

Listening to “Only Men Aloud,” you can see how the choir won the series: the sound of the twenty-man choir is impressive to say the least, with powerful voices throughout. Yet albums are about a lot more than vocals, and while Only Men Aloud may have won “Last Choir Standing,” it’s unfortunately clear that the production team involved in the album have received no such honours. The piano throughout has the same amateurish quality we’ve all heard at so many school concerts, and to add an ‘epic’ feel to some of the songs, we’re treated to some swelling orchestration that does little to enhance the choir’s voices. Throwaway string introductions and codas, especially coming at key changes or other pivotal points in songs, are too flippantly included, instead recalling so many Disney-musical style string sequences, connoting a dream-like quality to our trip under the sea, a quality that just doesn’t sit right with the deep, hearty performances of the choir.

Thankfully, there are some songs on the album where the music remains in the background and you can focus on the vocals, although these tracks are mostly kept to the album’s close. “One Voice” and the cover of Seal’s “Kiss From A Rose” contain magnificent multi-layered vocals which prove the best of the choir’s ability, able to crescendo and rein in their talents as needed. “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” is a beautiful song as always, and easily the high-point of the album, not least because ‘tis the season after all. Yet the awkward covers of “Angels,” “Bridge Over Troubled Water” and “All By Myself” don’t do much to encourage further listens, retaining too much of the original songs to bring anything truly new to them.

VERDICT:

A vocally brilliant album, but the musical accompaniment lets it down so very much, and a real disservice to some great singers.

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