He may have been dubbed "the people's tenor", but Watson is at his best--and most comfortable--at the lighter end of the repertory. He sings the lilting "That's Amore" with charm and humour, a smooth performance which compares to Robbie Williams on Swing When You're Winning.

Nicholas Dodd's swooning orchestrations give Reprise a grandiose feel. Sadly, Watson's voice cannot match their intensity; his version of the famous duet from The Pearl Fishers (yes, he sings both parts) sounds strangled and his performance of "Core 'ngrato" is distinctly unmemorable.

Watson is credited as Reprise's producer. If he maintains that role on album number four, he should concentrate on the light songs and ballads, which he performs so well, in this instance not just "That's Amore" but also "...
Russell Watson, 3rd Album (Reprise), 2008-08-15

This is an Australian import version, with unspecified bonus track, of Russell Watson's Reprise album released in 2002. Reprise I think represents a more confident and self assured singer than on his previous `The Voice' and `Encore'albums, thanks to his increasingly successful concert touring and life in the limelight.

But it was also a worrying time during which he suffered a throat polyp, threatening to end his singing career, which was thankfully removed without causing long term problems to his voice.

The songs are a mix of classical, opera and popular, with a distinctly more dramatic feel to those opera choices, the best example being the version of `Granada' which takes on epic proportions with the orchestral score and an individual vocal interpretation which, while straying from the conventional, certainly works.

Notable also are Ave Maria (Schubert's version) and a lovely performance of `The Pearl Fisher's duet (oddly no mention of who the duet was with, I suspect both voices are Russell Watson's!)

Bohemian Rhapsody is a bold choice let down by lame electronic backing, which is a shame for it represents one of Russell's best recorded examples of his talent for singing rock music. Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash offered Watson the job of Velvet Revolver frontman, which he declined, but I'm sure he could handle `Sweet Child o' Mine'.

In fact, on the strength of this album's wide ranging style of music, he can probably make a good job of almost everything.