FAVOURITE ALBUM OF 2006 #6: Matt Willis - Don't Let It Go To Waste (Universal/Mercury)
When we wrote our review of 2005 this time last year we expressed some concern for the then AWOL Matt Willis (formerly Jay) who we hadn't heard from since the sudden demise of Busted eleven months earlier (except for occasional tabloid reports involving alcohol). A year on, and it's pretty hard to miss Matt at the moment, he being on our screens all the time, eating a crocodile's genitals one minute, dropping giant snakes the next. If anything it's now James Bourne and those Sons Of Dork who should be on the side of our milk cartons. Of course, his victory in the jungle has secured Willis his particularly high media profile, but the jungle isn't really that important because he's been busy doing much more important things in the last year, ie recording and releasing one of the best pop albums of 2006. CMU's love of all things Busted is no secret, but to be honest, we found it hard to get overly passionate about either of the two bands that came out of the defunct boy band - Charlie Simpson's Fightstar or the aforementioned Son Of Dork, even though that was led by Busted's chief songwriter, James Bourne. But 'Don't Let It Go To Waste', the result of a songwriting collaboration between Willis and former A frontman Jason Perry, is an album we can really get excited about. A more mature brand of pop than anything Busted ever created, but at the same time just as infectious, lyrically and musically, it's a great example of guitar-centric pop done right. And Willis is a great performer who, like a certain other former boy band member turned premier league solo pop star, may not have the most brilliant singing voice, but who possesses the kind of charm that means it really it doesn't matter. Given a soft release during his jungle adventure, 'Don't Let It Go To Waste' is yet to make a huge impact on the pop market in terms of album sales, but it deserves to because, like the debut solo album of that aforementioned other-former-boy-band-member-turned-solo-star' (an album which also took a while to gain momentum), give Willis' debut a few listens and you'll find some of the best rock pop songs of the moment on there. Let's hope Matt can use his current media profile to launch a long solo career - with this kind of album, he deserves it.
Read our interview with Matt Willis here:
http://www.thebeatsbar.co.uk/albumsoftheyear