Hopes were high for the debut solo album by
Duncan James, former member of multi-platinum selling boy band
Blue, especially after fellow bandmembers
Simon Webbe and
Lee Ryan's debut albums both hit the Top Ten, and
James had one successful single already behind him, the song "I Believe My Heart" from the show The Woman in White. The omens were not looking good when the first single and opening track "Sooner or Later" just scraped into the Top 40 and the second single, the piano backed ballad "Can't Stop a River," failed to even achieve that, even backed by the writing talents of
Seal.
Future Past was not a bad album, but every single one of the 12 songs, even the cover of
Lonestar's "Amazed" was a mid-tempo ballad, the sort that
Blue specialized in, with only a break for the song "Letter to God" breaking the tempo with an out and out slow ballad. There was definitely a need for greater contrast and more imagination and when the album peaked at a miserable number 55,
James was promptly dropped from his record contract and concentrated on other areas of interest like reality TV and his new family. ~ Sharon Mawer