Rating: Two stars

SORRY Englebert, as an admirer of "proper" songs anyone could sing to their granny, I really wanted to like you and your collection of favourites.

I was looking forward to a change from the noisy mishmash enjoyed by my youngsters, but having listened to Engle, I feel in need of a few bars of Blink 182 or Alien Ant Farm.

There's nothing amiss about his selection - Robbie Williams' Angels, This Guy's in Love with You, and a rather Latin-style How Slow We Go, but his delivery is so nasal that where there should be a soaring tremor, there's a laboured trill.

It's not quite as bad as listening to an old uncle get up at a family wedding, but it's a long way from the gutsy sound of that other old man of music, Tom Jones.

Still, Englebert Humperdinck, who is now just plain Englebert, has legions of fans who will do him proud.

He has brought out more than 60 albums in his career that in 1967 was launched into international orbit when he brought out Release Me - the single that stopped The Beatles from having their 13th consecutive number 1 hit.

Naturally, his version of Penny Lane is included!

SCC