Happy new year and welcome back to our search for the worst album of all time. We’ve got a beauty for you this week as Steve and Remfry wrap their ears around Allow Us To Be Frank, the fifth studio album from Irish boyband sensation Westlife, released on the 8th of November 2004.

At this point in their career, Westlife had become a license to print money, simply from being nice, faceless boys singing balladic cover versions of increasingly dislikeable songs. In early 2004, the band's only recognisable member, Brian McFadden, had left the group, leaving… er… the other four to soldier on regardless. Thanks to the insane success of Robbie Williams' Swing When You’re Winning album, the music world was inundated with any-old-wanker donning a zoot suit and crooning out the hits of The Rat Pack. Some were fair enough; Seal? Sure. Micheal Bolton? Umm…if you like. Some were not; Bobby Davro? Definitely not. RON ATKINSON?! You’ve gone too far now!

Never ones to have an original idea in their collective heads or pass up the opportunity to make a quick buck, Westlife’s team (which included Louis Walsh and Simon Cowell) decided to get in on the swing revival and give the band a set of standards to karaoke their way through. The songs are undeniable and the members of Westlife have perfectly competent (if utterly soulless) singing voices but is that enough to save Allow Us To Be Frank from getting an absolute kicking? 

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