Scott Kara: The Boyle that grew and grew

Susan Boyle's album arrived in the mail for me last week. I gave it - actually, I fobbed it off - to another work colleague in a different department, who in turn gave it to another colleague who thought it would make a perfect present for someone for Christmas. Yeah, right.

Then, earlier this week the proud new temporary owner of Susan's I Dreamed A Dream said to me, "You've got to listen to Wild Horses. It's a hit."

She reckons she was being sarcastic and denies being a Susan fan. Nevertheless, I said I'd rather have a boil on my bum and be forced to sit down for a week than listen to any of the album.

An hour later, curiosity got the better of me. I had to hear how the Britain's Got Talent runner-up had fared with her debut album. Her performance of I Dreamed A Dream on the show made for jaw-droppingly good television. There she was: shy, slightly unkempt Susan, from the little Scottish village of Blackburn, standing on stage with everyone thinking "what horrendous noise is about to come out of that mouth" when she nailed a heartwarming rendition of the song from Les Miserables.

Views of that performance online - more than 100 million times in the nine days following her performance - set internet records, and made Susan an overnight phenomenon.

And that's the thing you've got to keep in mind when it comes to listening to I Dreamed A Dream. As one overseas reviewer put it: "When is a record not a record? When it is a souvenir of a phenomenon."

For some, like me, I have to say, it will forever be a souvenir beer coaster. But for millions of others the album is a must have.

I Dreamed A Dream was the best-selling debut album in its first week in Britain when it was released last week; it is likely to be the best-selling debut album of the year in the US; and this week in New Zealand it debuted at No 1 with more than 45,000 copies sold (that's the highest sales of an album in its first week in recent memory).

Our Susan is a worldwide phenomenon. As a colleague noted, the scary thing about those statistics is that it will be the last big album of the decade. Who says the music industry is devoid of any surprises these days?

And as an aside, this same colleague also pointed out that if you can remember all the words to all those songs then you're obviously not retarded.

Still, the album doesn't do justice to the Susan Boyle phenomenon. The best bits are the high notes of Wild Horses where Susan sounds youthful, beautiful and saucy, even. She's also almost as passionate as that other handsome devil, Mick Jagger, who sang the song first time round.

Probably one of the most interesting things about it is the track listing. It's all over the place - everything from traditional songs (Amazing Grace, which nearly stutters to a halt); past and modern-day pop (The Monkees, Madonna); and, of course, musical and show tunes (like the overwrought Proud). So one minute she's singing How Great Thou Art (although give me Sir Howard's version any day), and the next she's into Madonna's You'll See (which unfortunately she dumbs down into a forlorn stupor).

It's surprising that the album doesn't have more guts because this lovely lady has shown a fair bit of mettle already this year. She went through the tabloid media mill and ended up in London's private psychiatric hospital the Priory when her new-found fame got too overwhelming, yet bounced back.

Nevertheless, the Susan phenomenon remains far more intriguing than the ineffectual musical theatre she performs on her album.

In saying that, I have no doubt this time next year we can look forward to Susan's Christmas album.