Otway sells himself as a glorious failure, and he's not really got much musical talent (certainly on his chosen instruments of guitar and theramin). However, I think he's written some pretty good songs - Josephine, Cheryl's Going Home, Poetry & Jazz amongst them - which veer on the poigniant. His live set is more full of the crowd pleasers rather than this stuff - though "Cheryl's Going Home" makes it regularly - usually delivered from the top of a step ladder.
Go see him live though - your face will ache from grinning all the way through - particularly if there's a decent bunch of Otway regulars in - all the heckles are well known - and expected.
We went to the warm up gig for this tour earlier in the year, which was in Otway's home town of Aylesbury. Witnessed a great heckle I'd not seen before. Otway was doing "Beware of the Flowers", and when he delivered said line, with immaculate timing, a bunch of carnations came flying from the crowd and hit him square in the face.
I see that someone's selling that Greatest Hits collection for £1.85 plus delivery on the Amazon marketplace - got to be worth it!
