The debut album of "waiter boy," as Canadian Idol's balding and bespectacled winner Ryan Malcolm was dubbed in the press, arrives in stores Tuesday.

And the biggest surprise is that it's not half bad -- in a well-produced, generic pop kind of way.

Helping out Malcolm considerably was the decision to immediately hook him up in a writer's camp with a raft of collaborators including Randy Bachman, The Watchmen's Joey Serlin and Gavin Brown.

Standout tracks -- Malcolm co-wrote three of the 15 -- turn out to be of the more tuneful rock variety, such as Star Of All The Planets, Straight Up The Middle, Crash & Burn, Absolutely Perfect, I Gotta Be Me, Ride and Nothing Left To Say.

The one slower highlight is the rhythmic and atmospheric ballad October Skies.

Meanwhile, Malcolm's clear, strong voice recalls both Blue Rodeo's Jim Cuddy and Bachman's son, Tal.

But not even he can save an inferior rendition of Crowded House's Don't Dream It's Over with Canadian Idol finalist Gary Beals chiming in too. Nobody can match the dulcet tones of Neil Finn so why even bother?

The album's other weakness is the overabundance of such saccharin ballads as You Made This Fool Become A Man, Memory Lane, Home, Something More and Your Heart Will Know.

Malcolm also makes a major mis-step with his sad attempt at hip, sassy R&B on the up-tempo Good Girls.

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[[+3]] Monday, December 8, 2003

Malcolm right at Home