Top man sings for the Topshop girls

The best British male award at the Brits, traditionally Robbie's by ancient decree, has latterly been taken by Jameses Blunt and Morrison, both steeped in ordinariness but possessed of an enviable talent for making girls scream.

Morrison, clearly feeling like an interloper when he picked up his trophy last month, dedicated the award to "all the singer-songwriters still playing in pubs". He has not forgotten that not long ago he was trudging around the working men's clubs, and his debut album, Undiscovered, has become enormously popular so rapidly that he still looks a bit stunned.

Yet British males don't seem to think Morrison is the best British male. The queue snaking down Fulham Palace Road to see him looked like the line outside Topshop's January sale. When he asked "Where are the guys?" during his biggest London show to date, he was met with almost complete silence.

The voices almost drowning him out during hit singles such as You Give Me Something were high and hormonal, melted easily by the gruff tones and scruffy looks of the lad from Rugby. He had barely anything to say between songs, seeming overwhelmed that David Bowie has played here, but when he opened his mouth to sing he filled the room.

With little charisma and a backing band generating a grey soup of sound, it was his voice and only his voice that took the evening somewhere special. A warm, toasted rasp that had soul on tracks such as The Pieces Don't Fit Anymore, when he let it fly and improvised the evening gained real spirit. With only one album under his belt, he had to employ a couple of covers but chose well with And It Stoned Me by his namesake Van, plus a lost classic in The Seed by Atlanta soul singer Cody Chesnutt.

His own hit, Wonderful World, moved the masses. Its soaring chorus perfectly explained his mainstream appeal. If he can come up with a few more like that, he could be top man for a while yet.

James Morrison, Rushmore, Newton Faulkner
HMV Apollo
Queen Caroline Street, W6 9QH