Entertainment | Music
The best life with Westlife
You hear dog owners talking about how old their pet is in canine years. If a dog is 15 years old, they might say he is about 95 in dog years, given that the average lifespan of a dog is much less than that of a person.
- By Daniel Bardsley, Staff Writer
- Published: 00:36 December 23, 2007
- Westlife have managed to carry on successfully without a break for ten years.
- Image Credit:
The Irish boyband makes a comeback with a
ballad-heavy album, Daniel Bardsley writes
You hear dog owners talking about how old their pet is in canine years. If a dog is 15 years old, they might say he is about 95 in dog years, given that the average lifespan of a dog is much less than that of a person.
If a similar principle was applied to boybands, then the Irish group Westlife would be about 350 years old by now.
BOYBAND WAGON
Most boybands - and girlbands too for that matter - last for only two or three albums before they fade from view and another group of smiling fresh-faced enthusiasts takes their place.
Yet, Westlife have managed to carry on successfully without a break for ten years.
DOMINATION
There is no end in sight to their chart domination either, as their eighth studio album, titled Back Home, recently crashed in at number one in the UK album charts.
While Westlife have released two themed albums (a Frank Sinatra album and an album of love song covers), mostly they have stuck to a tried-and-tested formula of two or three cover versions, a few upbeat original tracks and plenty of new ballads.
RECIPE FOR SUCCESS
In Back Home, the band - made up of Shane Filan, Mark Feehily, Nicky Byrne and Kian Egan - have certainly not taken any chances, sticking to their recipe for success down to the note.
The cover versions include an excellent rendition of the Michael Bublé song Home and I'm Already There, a soppy ballad from the country group Lonestar.
Many of the new tracks are written by songwriters, such as Steve Mac and Wayne Hector who have been with them from the very start.
Among the best original songs are Us Against the World, a slow and airy but powerful ballad and Easy Way, a lively track with a Motown feel to it.
As usual, Filan and Feehily do nearly all the vocal work, with Byrne and Egan barely getting a look in.
TOO MANY BALLADS
You cannot help but think that this album would be better with a few more upbeat numbers to counter the many ballads.
But people have been making that complaint about Westlife albums since the group formed. Their dedication to ballads has not done them any harm so far, so the juggernaut looks set to roll on and on.
Hot Seat
WESTERN ROCK LOOKS EASTWARD
More Western rock and pop acts are looking to break into China to help them compensate for falling music sales at home.
At a time when illegal digital downloads are eating into the sales in the US and in Europe, acts such as Eric Clapton, Beyonce and Avril Lavigne have recently visited China on sell-out tours.
Peter Grosslight, head of music for William Morris, said, "China is on the tip of everybody's tongue. There are 1.3 billion people there. It's becoming a wealthier place. How can we ignore that?"
However, music piracy is rampant in China so record companies are hoping for a crackdown by the authorities in the years to come.
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