Album: Joseph Calleja, Be My Love: A Tribute To Mario Lanza (Decca)

It was a screening of Mario Lanza playing "The Great Caruso", Joseph Calleja claims, that first alerted him that "there was more to music than Metallica and Iron Maiden".

Hence the Maltese tenor's tribute album, faithful to his primary influence's crossover appeal in covering both operatic and popular song, starting with a romantic delivery of Lanza's signature hit "Be My Love". It's an unashamedly populist collection, Calleja rolling the Rs of "Granada" and "Arrivederci, Roma" with obvious relish in arrangements replete with castanets and trilling mandolins, before building to the full football climax with spirited renditions of "Nessun Dorma" and a mighty "You'll Never Walk Alone".

Download: Arrivederci, Roma; Nessun Dorma; You'll Never Walk Alone