One really has to wonder sometimes.

Manakin is the vehicle and pet project of Sheikh Hassan Bin Rashid Al Khalifa of Bahrain. Enamoured of the likes of Aerosmith and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Shake (as he prefers to be called) overcame parental objection (But Father! I don’t want to be an oil mogul! I want to SING!) in order to produce this debut which self-consciously emulates such sterling examples of stadium rock.

While Shake doesn’t have a bad voice, apart from a somewhat unfortunate similarity to Seal, his songs are the kind of hackneyed, insipid drivel that makes easy-listening radio so poisonous. This is rock by numbers and is not just devoid of originality but worse, mimics groups that are themselves simulacra of superior bands repackaged for maximum commercial appeal.

Appallingly misconceived, In The Desert serves as a warning of what happens when someone who knows nothing about music enjoys all the resources in the world to indulge his delusions of grandeur.