WHETHER the 10 steps include marrying an excruciatingly irritating blonde you met on a TV gameshow, which then revitalised your music career, is unclear. But what you do get is Boys Will Be Boys, the chart-topping single re-released after Preston s exit f

WHETHER the 10 steps include marrying an excruciatingly irritating blonde you met on a TV gameshow, which then revitalised your music career, is unclear.

But what you do get is Boys Will Be Boys, the chart-topping single re-released after Preston's exit from Big Brother, poppy-but-plodding current single Lonely At The Top and a clutch of tracks that further cement the move away from ska-tinged indie pop that marked previous works.

Never at guitar-pop's vanguard, the Boys have shifted their sound forward a few years, smooth synths poking their keys above the parapet to little discernable effect.

Preston might want this album, but will anyone else? 2/5