GenQ - For the not so straight individual

Depending on how you feel about boy bands like N*Sync, 98 Degrees, and the Backstreet Boys, you can either thank or blame Boyz II Men. The quartet’s clean-cut image and soulful harmonies are often considered to have been the inspiration for the manufactured boy band craze that dominated the charts at the end of the 1990s, not to mention the R&B acts like Az Yet, All 4 One and Dru Hill that followed. Producers picked a few good-looking white boys, (so they wouldn’t only be considered R&B), threw them together in a studio and gave them dance routines. But unlike most of the ‘boy bands’ that followed them, there was never anything contrived about Boyz II Men. They went on to become the most successful R&B male vocal group of all time, selling more than 60 million albums. Now a trio, the group once thought of as the modern day Temptations, return with their new album, ‘Motown: Hitsville USA’, covering a selection of Motown classics.

Covering classics is a well trodden path for artists who want to kick-start or re-start their music career. Joss Stone hit the bit time covering soul classics, Rod Stewart redefined his career covering the old standards, ensuring he could still be in the charts when he’s 80, and even Human Nature got in on the act, as a pigment challenged, white suited version of the old Motown groups. Now, after a few lean years for Boyz II Men in which their wholesome image has been overshadowed by the sex and violence of hip-hop and rap, they’ve taken a different tack, cashing in on their sharp, clean image and covering tracks made famous by the Motown artists.

The group enlisted the help of Grammy Award winning producer Randy Jackson, (you may remember him from American Idol), who put together a house band, much like Motown’s original label house band, to duplicate the authentic sound and feel of Motown. There aren’t any drum machines, samples or synthesizers here. What is present are the hypnotizing harmonies and astounding a capella’s from Shawn Stockman, Wanya Morris and Nathan Morris.

Stand-out tracks are an a capella version of Stevie Wonder’s, ‘Ribbon in the Sky’, and a very funky ‘I Was Made to Love Her’, but let’s face it, that song is a stand out because it’s just such a damn good song. Nicky Webster could cover that song and it wouldn’t suck… well maybe, but you get the point. A soulful version of Edwin Starr’s, ‘War’, stretches their usually honey smooth vocals but works, and ‘Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing’ features Patti LaBelle, and manages to capture the Motown sound perfectly. Ironically the absolute highlight of the album isn’t a classic Motown track, but a cover of their own smash hit, ‘End of the Road’, featuring their good friend Brian McKnight. The vocals on this a capella version are astounding and a pleasure to listen to.

Album opener, ‘Just My Imagination’, as well as songs like ‘The Tracks of My Tears’, and ‘It's The Same Old Song/Reach Out I'll Be There’, are fairly standard and we’ve all heard covered a million times, but it’s the vocals that stand-out. Individually they are all brilliant and all three of them get a chance to shine, but their pitch perfect harmonies make the songs memorable.

I often wonder why artists remake classics. If they remain faithful to the original I wonder why they bothered, (it’s called a classic for a reason), and if they change the arrangement there’s a massive chance that they’ll destroy it and the world will collectively hate them. Motown classics have proven to be pretty difficult to ruin, but most of the time it’s a case of the original being the best. With ‘Motown: Hitsville USA’, Boyz II Men have delivered a fine collection of covers and even managed to make a couple of them feel like their own.