Their album ‘World of Our Own’is a third collaboration between Westlife and the writing/production teams of Steve Mac/Wayne Hector and Cheiron, cementing already solid- gold partnerships. But nevertheless this time round, Westlife themselves have taken a larger share of the writing duties.

Five tracks Bop Bop Baby, When You Come Around, Don’t Say It’s Too Late, Don’t Let Me Go, Love Crime are Westlife co-writes, while two I Wanna Grow Old With You and Imaginary Diva, are 100% Westlife compositions.

Noteworthy here is the breadth of styles included. Beside the big ballads For All Time, Evergreen and I Wanna Grow Old With You (classic ageless pop from Shane, Bryan and Kian), to the acoustic pop-rock of Bop Bop Baby, Bryan and Shane’s left-hook and sure smash with the fans. Also tucked in unexpectedly is a rendition of Sarah McLachlan’s Angel, a startling study in voice and emotion, unfeasibly simple, and gut-achingly good. All this, certainly is a far cry from the early days and yet it was the learning curve, which shaped the lads, even if it could not better the glorious voices provided to them a birth.

At 17 songs on this album, it could be difficult to pinpoint the good and the bad, but their hardly seems to be anything bad at all. In their heydays, they were all over…… on your TV; in your city and country. Why not invite new songs into your hearts? Cos wherever you are, be it North, South, East… you’ll hear Westlife.

Rating ****

Reviewed by Verus Ferreira