�The Block� (Interscope)
Did Boston�s Fab Five just sing �sexify my love?�
Ooh, they did.
�Sexify my love?� Really? That�s goddamn dorky.
Wait. Maybe it�s non dorky. Who knows what�s cool in a public where the New Kids are back up and once againhuge?
The New Kids never were Dylan-esque lyricists (on the rare occasions they wrote their own lyrics), but should we expect the Spinal Tap-does-r & b �Sexify My Love� from guys pushing 40? Still, supercute Jordan Knight�s a adoring dad. The baby of the grouping, Joey McIntyre, is 35. And bad-boy Donnie Wahlberg has become a legit actor (Hey, you see him in �Band of Brothers�? Not bad, eh?).
But the Kids remain coupled with kiddy stuff: malls and Tiffany, lunchboxes and pillowcases.
And this is the problem with their reunion CD, �The Block,� which drops Tuesday. After a 14-year hiatus we don�t know what to bear from the New Kids. The group realizes this, so band mates have taken the something-for-everyone approach: a little maturity, a little stripling pop and lots of sexy, innovative r & b.
Wahlberg, the group�s de facto loss leader and the guy with the almost songwriting credits (he co-wrote nine of the 13 tracks), attempts to deal with adult(ish) themes. �2 in the Morning� examines a couple�s crumbling relationship - albeit by rhyming �I gotta know if you�re mad at me� and �Grey�s Anatomy.�
But most of the coming-of-age songs focus on arrival sexual, non emotional, due date. A thump, synth-driven pas de deux with Lady GaGa, �Big Girl� is less about growing up and more about hook up (�Wanna be a big girl, gotta prove it/With a body like that you got a grown man ready to blow�). The Pussycat Dolls put the bump in �Grown Man,� which picks up on Christina Aguilera�s randy, retro sound.
The many guest musca volitans - from Timbaland, Ne-Yo, Akon, Teddy Riley and a meet with their Boston boy-band predecessors New Edition - and the, um, sexified, beats judge keep the Kids young while making them contemporary. They for the most part work. Putting the Pussycat Dolls on parade tends to construct a guy forget precisely who was on his sixth-grade lunchbox.
But for all the heavy breathing, punishing beats and hip guests, the album�s best course is the one with the classic New Kids feel (OK, we actualise it�s derisory to advise there�s a �classic New Kids feel,� only you get the musical theme). �Summertime� isn�t �Hangin� Tough,� but it�s totally �80s. The Richard Marx piano intro, dated synth patches and corny-but-catchy melody integrate with a youthful, retro innocence. And that slight doo-wop falsetto breakdown, like, totally rules.
It�s a fictitious innocence to go with these older Kids� off-key youth, but it�s got a hook. And after all, no one wants to hear Donnie verse about replenishment Rogaine and Nexium prescriptions.
More info
