HAS multi-talented Matthews Scott the lot? Fans would definitely say yes.

The Ivor Novello-winning singer-songwriter is a musical force.

He sings – sometimes sublimely. He writes his own material – lyrically and musically accomplished. He plays a near orchestra of instruments.

Home Part 1 features Matthews on flute and flugelhorn as well as more usual suspects. And there are moments in an album aimed at being ‘more personal’ that dance and delight with originality.

Among several stunning tracks are the first single Sunlight of which the highest compliment I could accord is that it would sit comfortably on the second side of The Beatles’ Abbey Road meister-work.

There’s a mellowness and mellifluousness too drenching The City And The Lie, while The Clearing is cooler than a polar bear wearing a cravat. But for all that excellence there is a niggardly feeling that too often it opts to linger in the predictable and safe. A pity.