FROM Factory Records to X-Factor, the Bury songstress has had a long and colourful dalliance with the music industry, but now gets to release her debut solo offering.

Unfortunately it's a badly cobbled-together mix of covers and original material, flooded with dodgy keyboards to the extent that the words "Red-coat" spring to mind.

Her undoubtedly exceptional voice tries, but ultimately fails, to drag the album out from the middle of the road. Even her vocals can't hide the bad production.

The Oasis cover, Stop Crying Your Heart Out, sounds like an Andrew Lloyd-Webber West End musical number, while Under The Boardwalk manages to make a timeless classic sound horrendously out-of-date.

As someone who worked with such interesting acts as The Stereo MCs, the KLF and the Happy Mondays you'd expect something a little more innovative from Rowetta.

In her defence, the songs written by herself, particularly Fly, sound fresher than most of the covers, though her version of Eleanor Rigby is unexpectedly good.

There is enough there to suggest Rowetta deserves yet another bite of the cherry, next time with better backing.

Released October 3, 2005.

Andrew Blackshire