When last we saw James Blunt, he was diving stark naked into what looked like a freezing cold ocean. He’d just dropped You’re Beautiful on an unsuspecting world and, sensing that there’d be an all-male lynch mob out to get him for releasing such muck, he’s laid low for a respectable amount of time.

Which brings us to his latest single, 1973.

Ask anyone, and they’ll grudgingly agree that this is Blunt’s best track to date. It’s certainly a welcome break from those painfully contrived ballads he was pumping out a few years ago.

1973 is a fine example of a mellow, modern love song. Co-written with Mark Batson, it’s got immediate appeal and doesn’t make you want to kill Blunt after a few listens. That’s got to be good, right?

Seriously though, there’s something beautiful about having a memory of someone rooted in a single moment: that lyric “and though time goes by I will always be/in a club with you in 1973..” is probably the best bit of the whole song.

The video’s pretty neat too, employing that age-old technique of alternating between the present and…er….1973. And who the hell’s Simona?

So, startlingly, Blunt’s latest single gets a thumbs up…

1973 is the first single from James Blunt’s new album All The Lost Souls.