De-Lovely, the soundtrack album from a forthcoming biopic of the songwriter Cole Porter, is a truly terrible recording made all the more awful by the good things that are on it. There is, for example, nothing better calculated to prove what a bad idea getting Elvis Costello to sing the jaunty 'Let's Misbehave' was, than the presence a few tracks further on of his wife, Diana Krall, languorously pursuing the great 'Just One of Those Things' to its maudlin conclusion.

The truth is it doesn't matter how many albums you've sold, how many stadiums you've filled, how many teenagers have your posters on their walls. You need to understand Cole Porter, and the emotional narrative at the heart of his lyrics, to get the songs right.

So for all the gems here - Robbie Williams making 'De-Lovely' look easy, Lemar on 'What is This Thing Called Love?', Natalie Cole negotiating the switch-back changes on 'Every Time we say Goodbye' - there are some true nightmares: Mick Hucknall murdering 'I Love you'; Alanis Morissette torturing 'Let's do it'; Sheryl Crow performing unnatural acts upon 'Begin the Beguine'. It is a relief when Kevin Kline, who plays Porter in the film, gives voice to the songs his character has written, which is all the more remarkable because, on the evidence of this album, Kline can't actually sing. But he can emote and that's what counts.

Burn it: ... no, literally , burn it