Word: backstreets
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...been more focus on quality and not just quantity, on changing the substance of the Boys' sound and not just making slight alterations in their style. The Boys' vocals remain both wispy and overdone - kind of like their facial hair - and none of the songs seem deeply felt. Backstreet's doing nothing that other contemporary vocal groups haven't done better: Jodeci had more personality, Blackstreet had better material, Boyz II Men are better singers. And, going back a bit, Backstreet has never recorded a song as soulful as the Doobie Brothers' "What a Fool Believes" or as instantly adorable...
...Backstreet Boys isn't ready for the wine cellar yet. But the group seems tired of being the liquid refreshment of choice on schoolkids' lunch trays. The Boys' new CD, "Black & Blu"e (Jive), is a half-hearted attempt to leave the never-never land of teen pop for the always-always land of established pop icons. Two of the boys (Brian Littrell and Kevin Richardson) are married, and the entire group (rounded out by Nick Carter, A.J. McLean and Howie Dorough) seems to have more than puppy love in mind. You get the sense that, like most teen bands...
...Black & Blue" does not break new musical ground for pop, and it doesn't break much new ground for Backstreet Boys either. From its debut with a self-titled album in 1997, Backstreet's music has always been a blend of cooing ballads designed for slow dancing at school proms, and springy anthems that bounce and tumble like beach balls on a hardwood floor. "Black & Blue" offers only a slight variation on that very successful approach: the beats aren't quite so rubbery and the melodies are a trifle more subtle than they've been on past Backstreet releases...
...Boys are changing, however slightly. The real stars of this album, however, are the marketers involved in pushing it. Besides Backstreet Boys, Jive Records has an all-star roster of pop performers including 'N Sync, Britney Spears and R. Kelly. All these acts have posted huge, headline-grabbing first-week sales this year. 'N Sync's album "No Strings Attached," despite pans from the critics, sold 2.4 million copies in a single week, more than doubling the old industry benchmark. Now the folks at Jive are looking to top that with Backstreet...
Unfortunately, on the 15 tracks of his new album Sound Loaded, Martin achieves little in the way of validating himself as anything beyond vocal accompaniment for snazzy Latin dance rhythms. Countless tracks of smooth-wannabe-Backstreet Boys/'NSync fall short of any distinctive melody or rhythm that marks classics of the same genre. Perhaps it's a case of too many people wanting in on a piece of the Martin action: a quick glance at the credits shows each song to have been engineered by around 10 people, which may have contributed to the generic quality of the songs...