|
Hanson This Time Around (Island Dej Jam) Backstreet Boys, there were the Hanson boys. And without 1997's insanely catchy "MMMBop," the music industry might still be neglecting the clout of its most lucrative sector: teenage girls. But youthful devotion is fleeting. At a time when female adolescent attention is largely focused on manicured and choreographed pin-up boys, can three average-looking brothers with a penchant for garage-inflected pop still make little girls squeal with delight? If the furor surrounding their new album's arena-ready title track is an accurate indicator, the answer is a resounding yes, and for good reason. On This Time Around, Hanson delivers two things that its boy-group competition can't: heart and chops. From the first strains of "You Never Know," it's clear that the Hanson brothers have mastered the art of straddling the line between cotton-candy pop and guitar-charged rock. The hooks are stickier than ever, but they're couched in more mature, impassioned settings. Lyrically, the tales of high-school melodrama that framed their debut, Middle of Nowhere, have been replaced by endearing romantic tunes like "Save Me" and "Hand in Hand." The material is strengthened by the fact that the trio's tweety, boyish harmonies have given way to throaty belting, which allows for more muscular instrumentation and intricate, convincingly aggressive arrangements. Simply put, these kids rock with palpable authority - the kind that should not only recapture the attention of America's youth, but that of their parents. 85 - Larry Flick www.requestmagazine.com/reviews |