His third album Some Kind of Trouble opens strongly with the summery, acoustic Stay the Night. It's the sort of song you imagine playing at the beach on a perfect group holiday. It's followed by the ridiculously 80s-inspired Dangerous (your parents might know Hall & Oates' Maneater, and Maniac from the film Flashdance, which are what this sounds like) which is at least danceable.
Then suddenly it's as if Blunt had tired himself out. Best Laid Plans is a dreary, depressive piano number with a dragging drum beat; his voice is even reedier than usual on So Far Gone; No Tears comes off as a hackneyed whine.
There are a couple more enjoyable moments: Blunt pays melodic and lyrical tribute to Guns 'n' Roses' Sweet Child O' Mine in These are the Words, and I'll be Your Man is another upbeat track, reminiscent of George Michael's Faith. But overall, sadly, like one of the lines in I'll be Your Man, "Everything that [he's] trying to say just sounds like a worn-out clich?.