First let me start by saying that I really like Lee Mead's voice, its such a soulful and tuneful voice that can portray a lot of emotion and depth and as such, it's a voice that is really suited to musical theatre, where Lee started. Next I'll add that I also really liked this album, but strangely not because it was Lee singing!
The album comprises of decent quality pop songs, with a Boyzone-esque feel, so it will certainly appeal to all Boyzone/Ronan/Westlife fans... and this meant it also appealed to me, although Lee soulful voice was missing in parts.
It's a nice easy listening CD, that can happily play in the background and not assault the senses, but for me this isn't what Lee is about. I feel Lee's voice was overproduced on most of the tracks, to create a popstar type production, which isn't needed for Lee's voice as he can actually sing and therefore doesn't need pre/post or in-production tricks to make his voice sound good.
Lee is a musical theatre singer and his voice has to sound wonderful without any production tricks, which it does. The theatre auditorium suits his voice and the songs he sings in such an arena, such as those in Joseph and the ones selected for him to perform on "Any Dream Will Do". Certainly some of the tracks Lee performed on the TV programme suited his vocal talent more than those used on this album.
That said, it's a nice arrangement of tracks; 'Nothing Else Matters' is a good, emotional, tear-jerker of a lead (pop)song and will do well as a stand-alone single. Lee's version of 'Through the Barricades' was definitely the rawest (and, in my opinion, best sounding) track on the album and proved Lee's voice works well without being 'popped'.
'Time to say Goodbye' had hints of Lee's true toneful voice coming through but went on to be overproduced and sound like a 1980s pop song by Modern Talking!
That all said, I am a fan of Boyzone/Westlife...and even Modern Talking!, so I really did like this album, even if it is a departure from the raw and talented Lee Mead I was expecting.