Dropping in on Far Away Places, Let It Be Me or Moonglow, the new listener would hear a soaring tenor voice supported by just the right amount of reverb, bringing a fresh interpretation to familiar material. Let It Be Me, in particular, is bestowed with a slow, anthem-like quality, Tom’s voice coming in dreamily from one of those far away places and growing increasingly resonant and strong as the song continues.

Sampling I Will Wait For You or I’ll Be There With You would introduce the listener to Tom Andersen and Tim DiPasqua, writers of poignant, heartfelt lyrics and sublimely wistful melodies. The latter song reflects Andersen’s ability to tackle a painfully sad story without mawkish sentimentality, mostly by endowing the subject of the lyrics with a resolve and strength that transcends their tragedy. This same quality pervades his Yard Sale which features on the follow-up album. All I Do Is Dream Of You and So Long I’m Gone would convey Andersen’s sense of fun and love of a rollicking good tune, though perhaps they sit less comfortably amidst the weightier material elsewhere on this album.

And then imagine selecting as your introduction to his work Tom’s rendition of his own favourite, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Ten Minutes Ago, surely the highlight not only of this album but also deserving of consideration as one of the loveliest recordings of all time. Changing the third person of the original to a more universal ‘you’ and using rubato to caress the melody and coax greatness from the lyric, Andersen achieves a sublime effect that builds and builds to a wonderful climactic moment on the word ‘skies’ before gently lowering us to earth with a quiet ending that exemplifies his mastery of vocal technique and sensitivity to the mood created.

All in all, a masterful debut album that had the critics in raptures. Those of you, in one sense lucky enough not to have heard Tom yet, please don’t rely on a random sampling of tracks, but set aside just a bit of the too little time to listen to the whole of this album before becoming lifelong fans.