HinweiseAre G4 pop, are they opera or are they indeterminately heterogeneous enough to be identified as a new species called popera? Runners-up in the compellingly addictive television talent show X-Factor, this young and classically-trained male vocal quartet were arguably the only act distinctive enough to fulfil the incomparability criterion alluded to in the contest's title. When it came to the judges' evaluation, even the normally forthright and disputatious Simon Cowell found himself floundering between dumbstruck reticence and fence-straddling equivocation. What is clear, however, from G4's debut album is the populist supermarket direction they've been prodded in. In mitigation, perhaps this is understandable. Despite the bravery and accomplishment of applying operatic blossom to REM's "Everybody Hurts" and Radiohead's "Creep"- and let's hear some more of this emotive excellence, please--Trevor Horns' fail-safe production and the steadfastly predictable musical arrangements on the pop numbers enforces the sort of backdrop karaoke conservatism which distracts from G4's more interesting vocal work, which, after all, is this ensemble's very raison d'etre. So, there's no sign of G4's daft rendition of Britney's "Baby One More Time" but "Bohemian Rhapsody" is present in all its pleasantly pompous glory (a whole orchestra stands in for the Brian May guitar solo) while a hearty "Jerusalem" is likely to out belt the Welsh in any international rugger match singing showdown. And for tearful followers of the round ball game? "Nessum Dorma" and "You'll Never Walk Alone".