Bruce Forsyth - These Are My Favourites

Of all the TV presenters I wanted to turn to singing, I was hoping for Ant and Dec to bring back PJ & Duncan the most. It'll happen someday, but in the meantime we've got a Bruce Forysth album, where the TV legend covers thirteen big band classics. What's next, Vernon Kay doing speed metal? Adrian Chiles' tribute to West Coast hip hop?

Brucie's album isn't actually as ridiculous as it sounds. Whilst known these days as a TV presenter, his early work during the Second World War included stints as a singer-songwriter and dancer in venues across the country. It's the post-war period that My Favourites taps into: a collection of jazzy, swinging covers in the vein of Frank Sinatra.

Sinatra's voice invokes smoky bars in night-time Chicago. Forysth's voice invokes bad fish and chips in a working man's club. It's not awful, but it can't shake that all too familiar Brucie twang that reminds you of Saturday night TV - cheap, trashy and cheesy, more Blackpool than New York.

The rest of the album is business as usual. The songs are safe and slickly arranged classics that'll make a decent(ish) stocking-filler for mums and grandmothers. As a (Brucie) bonus, there's a duet with Bruce's granddaughter on the song Smile, and she's not half bad. Less sweet is a duet with Nat King Cole, where one of his performances of 'It's Only A Paper Moon' from the 60s is mixed with one of Bruce's from the present. Considering Cole's been dead for nearly 50 years, it's a little sinister.

I don't think anybody has been crying out for a Bruce Forsyth covers album. Singers like Susan Boyle and Rod Stewart have already cornered this market, and there are thousands of Sinatra best-ofs if you want the real thing. The only thing you'll get out of this album is the look of disappointment on your mother's face as she unwraps it on Christmas Day.

Add Comment

You must log in to submit a comment.