This month's competition on Ciao is for album reviews, so my wife and I have resurrected a challenge we set each other last year of reviewing albums we would not consider to be the 'norm' for us. I have to admit, I have been quite timid with my choices for her, but she has gone to town on me, and this time is no exception. She has chosen 'Millennium' by The Backstreet Boys. Now I am familiar with the group and their music, as my daughter and wife are listeners of their music, but I would not go as far as call them fans, but having to listen to a full CD of their stuff is not the way I like to spend my afternoons!
The group were brought together (I will not use the word manufactured) in the early 1990's, by a man called Lou Pearlman, who later went on to be the head honcho on 'Making The Band' on MTV which brought us the completely forgettable 'O-Town'. See....I know my stuff! After endless auditions I am sure, the band consisted of teenagers AJ McLean, Howie Dorough, Nick Carter, Kevin Richardson and his cousin Brian Littrell. Their debut single 'We've Got It Goin On' was released in 1995, and did not really set the charts alight, but they were not disheartened and kept plugging away, and they became another in the long line of successful boy bands to enter the charts.
'Millennium' is their third album, and was released when their fame and popularity was as it's peak in 1998. There were 4 hit singles released from the album, but for some reason, they do not seem to have been able to hang onto the levels of fame they had at this time, and they have been absent from the music scene for quite a while. Anyway, onto the tracks....
A big track to start off the album, and there was no bigger at the time than
'Larger Than Life'. It was the second single released from the album, and it never fails to get my wife and her friends onto a dancefloor, which I can assure you is sometimes a sight to behold! It is okay as pop songs go. It is upbeat, dancy and has a pretty catchy chorus. Brian had a hand in writing the lyrics to the song, and they are ok. It is an inoffensive song, which I can imagine the fans lapped up happily.
The debut single from this album (and entered the charts at number 1) was ' I Want It That Way'. It is a slower tempo track in comparison to the opener. I am starting to wonder why my dislike for this group has grown so much, as although I will never be a fan, and want to listen to their music out of choice, they really are not as bad as I have lead myself to believe. This track is nice enough, the lyrics are not challenging, but them I am not so much of a music snob to demand ground breaking lyrics on every song I listen to.
Now if I had to choose my favourite track on the album, then it would be 'Show Me The Meaning Of Being Lonely'. It was the third single released from the album, and I can remember quite liking it, but then I saw the video, and it was so cheesy it put me off the song. It is a ballad, but it has a lot of soul with a slight Mediterranean influence, and the lyrics do touch a nerve. The vocal harmonies are more apparent here than on most of the other tracks, but they do work well, but whether the studio improved their voices is something that sticks in the back of my mind.
I have been quite kind and complimentary so far, but from here, we pretty much go downhill at a rapid speed. 'It's Gotta Be You' is the kind of song that has seen the band mocked by the likes of Blink 182. It is worse than average, and it is the reason I keep clear of these types of bands if I can help it. Their voices are altered (think 'Believe' by Cher), but it still does make this mediocre dance tune anything worth listening to. My 3 year old likes it though, but even Nic hates it, so I will say it must be crap!!!!
Back to a ballad with 'I Need You Tonight', and please do not let the title confuse you, as this band are no INXS. Nick Carter is the lead vocalist on this track, and his voice could not show less emotion if his heart was removed I am sure. It is the standard 'I need you, please don't leave me' pleading ballad, but I can assure you no girl will come running back if you sing this dross to her, she will run a mile! It is painfully bad, I cannot even think of a word that will express how bad this song is.......oh I can.....but I can't use it here!
The boys try to get tough with their woman on 'Don't Want You Back', which is one of the many tracks on this album written by Max Martin. Here we hear the boys given a woman the brush off after they 'became victims of her sexuality'. Oh please!!! It is a song which cannot seem to decide whether it wants to be an uptempo ballad, or a watered down dance track, and it fails to be either, flailing somewhere in the middle. It is boring, and the band sound bored when they singing it. They should be spitting the words out with the venom that the situation deserves, but I don't think they have it in them!
A complete about turn with 'Don't Wanna Lose You Now', and we are firmly back in whine/ballad mode. It is a bog standard, 'don't leave me, we can win, we can work this out' kind of track which I have heard a thousand times before, and frankly a lot better than this. These type of songs just fail to make any impact on me, and are little more than lift music. It just proves than anyone can sell millions of albums on the back of a couple of decent hit singles, whilst other more credible and talented artists just fail to get a lucky break.
The last track from the album to be released as a single is 'The One'. It is ok, nothing groundbreaking, but then I have come to expect such average, middle of the road stuff from the band it does not surprise me. Brian also had a hand in writing this track, and towards the end there is a section which is almost acoustic, and for a moment, there was light at the end of the tunnel, it sounded really good, but as quickly as I had heard it, the band were back to singing their hearts out, and really getting nowhere.
Most of the titles are too cheesy for my liking, and 'Back To Your Heart' certainly falls into that category. Here we hear the evidence of Kevin's songwriting (although he did not work alone I might add), and Brian, who is probably the most talented singer on lead vocals. There is a more mature feel about this song, and I am sure their younger fans will hate it, because it will appeal more to their mum and dad than it will to them! There are signs that the band could develop more than they are allowed to.
'Spanish Eyes' is another ballad full of longing, and for once they actually manage to pull it off, and the vocals show great emotion. It is not good enough to hack it in the charts if it was released as a single, but I can imagine it going down quite well as background music at a dinner party, or a similar sort of gathering. Brian is the most prominent vocalist, and I quite like the tones of his voice on this track, but once again it is the lyrics which do not really cut the mustard, as there is nothing truly original about them, and the same goes for the penultimate track 'No One Comes Close'. The desire is there, but the spirit is lacking!
Final track 'The Perfect Fan' is the one that Brian had the most influence on. He was the main writer, with assistance from Thomas L Smith. I should not really criticise his writing too much because at least he has given it a go, which the majority of the band have not done. The song is all about Brian's mother, and how much he loves and respects her, and how nobody supports him like she does. I am sure his mother is over the moon at having such a public tribute from her son, but it just finishes the album off as cheesy as ever.
Not my cup of tea for certain. There are a couple of tracks, which if they were on a compilation album I would enjoy them, but having to listen to their whiney voices track after track takes away any enjoyment I had at the start of the album. They are successful without a doubt, but I think now their fans are growing up, they are finding that this music is not to their taste anymore, and I think that the band have hit their peak, and as with this album, it will be downhill from now on without a doubt.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
For their hard-core under-18 fans, of course, the Backstreet Boys are all that, and a bag ... more
of chips and free soda to boot.Millennium, the follow-up to the quintet's umpteen-million-selling debut, offers more reasons why so many of the rest of us have fo...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
For their hard-core under-18 fans, of course, the Backstreet Boys are all that and a bag ... more
of chips and free soda to boot.Millennium, the follow-up to the quintet's umpteen-million-selling debut, offers more reasons why so many of the rest of us have fou...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Sep 8th, 2003
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