HAVING taken control of their own releases, Wet Wet Wet have seen fit to visit upon us the first fruits of their endeavours. And it's a stinker!

The cod-raunch rock of opening track Run aside, most of these songs sound like insipid stage show rejects. Marti Pellow has reclaimed control of his voice from his inner demons, but that restrained power of old has deserted him, leaving him warbling into the night on banal material like Real Life and Thru' the Night. The tendency is at its worse on the relentlessly awful Weightless, which sounds like a dodgy musical tune about smack addiction. But I could be wrong.

Once upon a time Wet Wet Wet could call upon strong pop instincts and a winning way with a smile and a tune. Timeless suggests those days are long gone and is anything but.