plorentz's Full Review: Unbreakable by Backstreet Boys
Dig if you will this picture: You've got a birthday coming up. A big one. Like, you 21st, or you 30th, or something like that. A milestone birthday. But you don't really have any big plans for it, it's not really that big a deal. And then, one day, at work, someone comes up to you, and asks what time they're supposed to be at the Nitty Gritty for your birthday party on Saturday, and you're like, uhhh. And they're all, ooops. And the cat's out of the bag. Your crazy brother, or your "work wife" Kelly, or your ex-girlfriend Tanya (the one you're still really good friends with, and still hit Target with every Sunday afternoon), are organizing a surprise birthday party for you. Great.
And now as the day gets closer and closer, and as Kelly tells you about going out to watch the Badgers game (wink, wink) on Saturday, a sense of dread falls over you - your obligation to appear, like, holy-wow-super-surprised and have, like, a totally tubular rockin' good time so that your friends will know that they did something totally wonderful and nice for you - and weighs heavily on your shoulders. This isn't going to fun. And then you go to the party. And it's surprising anyway, because you really do have a sincerely totally tubular rockin' good time in spite of all that. And they hired your absolute favorite karaoke DJ (who knew?) for it, and boy, it's been years since you've seen Kyle and Alicia and Ben. How did Tanya track them down?
That's the new Backstreet Boys album in a nutshell.
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This is sort of a milestone year for them as well. It was ten years ago this year that they finally broke through with American audiences. And Unbreakable is their first album following the departure of Kevin Richardson (who, at 36 years old, is now focusing on other pursuits such as a budding career as a stage actor, most notably in Chicago on Broadway). And the surprise behind their new record? Well, it's that, after their somewhat abortive comeback attempt in 2005 with Never Gone, a stodgy adult pop record if ever there was one, the Backstreet Boys have returned with an album that sounds like they recorded it in a collective dreaming-state where it's still the year 2000, they're still on top of the world, and Justin and Britney are still together.
I knew this was coming two months ago when I bumped into the album's lead single, "Inconsolable" on iTunes a couple months ago. It's one of their signature ballads, each of the guys tag-teaming on verses, trading Nick Carter's adolescent preening (although not nearly as nasally these days) for the damaged, approximately soulful yearning of A.J. McLean and the handsomely plain emotings of Brian Littrell and Howie Dorough, leading to a point where the music all stops, and the four voices unite in harmonies as shiny and antiseptic as a white Corelle plate fresh out of the dishwasher to sing the word Ba-by, before falling into the contrived urgencies of a chorus - I don't wanna waste another day! - that leaves us helpless and vulnerable, once again, to their cheekbones and design headwear, their vague hand gestures and awkward facial hair. It's textbook Backstreet Boys. And while as a song, it's nowhere near the magnificent enigma that was "I Want It That Way", it's almost enough in itself - especially compared with the trash-heap robotics of Britney's new album (released the same day) - to inspire a VH-1 Classic series called "I Love the (Early) Oughties".
The Backstreet Boys clearly stand to benefit from lowered expectations, but the thing about Unbreakable is that, with the qualified exception of Treat Me Right - actually a very good song, but also the subject of some uncharacteristically daring production (by former NSYNC-er JC Chassez!) that doesn't really fit in with its surroundings - there's not a track here that's not, at the very least, really pretty darn good. And while the Backstreet Boys do toy with those Pro-Tools that are all the rage with the kids these days, they never feel less than present as singers - and they are all in remarkably good voice these days - even Nick.
This is immediately evident on the "Intro", a gorgeously hushed, a capella prelude based on the album's atmospheric closer "Unsuspecting Sunday Afternoon" (co-written by the Boys), whose undeniable beauty disarms us for the easy charms of upbeat songs like the instantly catchy "Anything But Mine", "Helpless When She Smiles" and the mild Latin grooves of "Any Other Way" and "One in a Million" (which could have been a Rob Thomas solo hit), all boasting understated and tasteful arrangements which deftly marry snazzy electronics to a live rhythm section for a sound that is simultaneously contemporary and so seven years ago.
It's true, it is completely possible to have too much of a good thing, especially when that good thing involves a boy band whose ages range from first marriage to second child, and as the album approaches the 40 minute mark with songs like "Love Will Keep You Up All Night" - no way that's not an out-take from Chicago 21 - all the cool people have left the "surprise party" and it all starts to look and sound a little stale, if not downright pathetic. It's also true, however, that I could hear any one of these songs on the radio, and not only not change the station, but also want to hear the song again. None of this is challenging music. None of it is terribly exciting or groundbreaking. There are no, as Mike would so eloquently put it, WTF moments. But, hey, so what? It's Backstreet Boys, bitc- err- yeah. If there's anything mindblowing about this record (and "mindblowing" is, admittedly, a stretch), it's that it exists at all. And that it has the guts to be nothing more than what it is. No crazy guest spots. No desperate pleas for commercial acceptance. No undue or misguided assertions of artistic legitimacy. Just... y'know. Another Backstreet Boys album, and a pretty good one at that.
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BECAUSE YOU NEED TO KNOW:
"Unbreakable" by Backstreet Boys
Jive Records
Released 10/30/07
Producers: Dan Muckala, JC Chassez, John Shanks, Emanuel Kiriakou, Billy Mann
48 min.
SONGS: Intro - Everything But Mine - Inconsolable - Something That I Already Know - Helpless When She Smiles - Any Other Way - One in a Million - Panic - You Can Let Go - Trouble Is - Treat Me Right - Love Will Keep You Up All Night - Unmistakable - Unsuspecting Sunday Afternoon
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