Album review: Backstreet Boys, In a World Like This - Montreal Gazette

Backstreet Boys

In a World Like This

BMG/Sony

Rating: 2.5 stars?out of 5

MONTREAL ? Hard to believe, when we speak glowingly of some rock band?s mega-platinum seller ? back in the day when that happened ? that the Backstreet Boys had a couple of nine-figure blockbusters in a row in the post-Nirvana/GNR era on their way to selling 130 million albums worldwide. It must take an abundance of unique character and personality to become so universally, globally appealing.

Or perhaps the opposite, which isn?t necessarily the insult it may at first appear. Someone has to appeal across all the lines, and for their 20th anniversary, BSB ? now all comfortably in their 30s or even 40s ? return with a slightly topical title, four years after This Is Us, hoping the fan base still has the emotional bra-straps to be gently fumbled with.

While there obviously isn?t much of a problem in holding onto your genre no matter what age you?ve reached, you?ll have to do some tweaking. You?re not 19 anymore. In a World Like This?s title track is built out organically from an acoustic guitar riff, with minimal treatment and a slap beat. Frankly, it?s an impressively mature blend of arena anthemics, boy band vocals and credible hook. Don?t get too used to it.

Because the inherent element that eventually rocketed BSB to global stardom ? after they broke here, by the way ? was a kind of appealing blandness. Not disturbingly sexy, not embarrassingly plangent, not overly melismatic with the vocal calisthenics, they had the pleasingly fused vocals, looks and polite R&B/new-jack chops to offset the putatively more ?street? NKOTB.

Much of this feels somewhat underplayed, which is likely the right way to go. The big Permanent Stain tries too hard with its oscillating strobe-keys, offset by the strikingly breezy and under-everythinged Madeleine. Even Show ?em (What You?re Made Of) is a less than Olympian anthem; then again, it?s dedicated to their own little kids. Love Somebody?s ?when you wake up / with no makeup? is bound to set some no-longer-teen hearts fluttering.

Make Believe is more like it ? a resoundingly epic march right in the middle of the album ? but it is the idly jaunty Trust Me that is the touchstone: an anodyne amalgam of breezy lover-boy vocals, slap beat, horns and throwaway boogie piano buried under it all. As they pull into the clubhouse turn, they lean in with the glistening One Phone Call, the attempted grinding raunch of Feels Like Home and the uplifting ending pledge of Soldier, but it?s Trust Me that remains: not formulaic so much as the perfect low-impact boyfriend you deserve, but probably not the one you need.

Podworthy: In a World Like This

Backstreet Boys perform Aug. 6 at 7 p.m. at the Bell Centre, with Jesse McCartney and DJ Pauly D. Tickets cost $29.50 to $104. Call 514-790-2525 or visit evenko.ca.

Source: http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/music/Album+review+Backstreet+Boys+World+Like+This/8722364/story.html

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