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Nathan, Michael, Shawn, Wanya [ECD]
12/05/2000 1:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
Dan Leroy
When Boyz II Men debuted in 1992, a teen singing group was quite a novelty. But in the three years since the Boyz' last album, Evolution, a few truckloads of well-scrubbed young vocal groups have bum-rushed the pop charts. The big question for this Philly quartet, then, was how to respond to the kids who were milking their old formula for success. On a couple of frothy tracks here, like disc-opener "Beautiful Women," it sounds like their answer is to copy the copycats, which raises another question: does the world really need an æN Sync who can really sing? Happily, elsewhere on this effort, the group adopts an attitude that's at least PG-13 rated--they're Men instead of Boyz now, after all. And the positively horny outlook of ace cuts like the techno-fied "Bounce, Shake, Move, Swing" and the stunning "Lovely" (which marries a gorgeous melody to perhaps the smoothest-ever Dirty South rhythm track) suits them to a T. Meanwhile, first single "Pass You By" and "I Do" show the Boyz haven't abandoned the four-part harmonies and chivalrous romance they brought back into vogue. A little more time on the wild side would actually have been welcome, but this disc easily proves that today's pop youngsters still have a lot of growing up to do.
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