If there was one thing unavoidable this summer, it was regressing to pre-teen status. I guess the Backstreet Boys just have that effect on women, no matter their age. From the minute “Incomplete” made its way onto mainstream radio and iPods everywhere, the Backstreet Boys began their full-blown assault of a comeback. Critics were dumbstruck at the success of Never Gone, and for many fans it was as if they had never left. With a sold-out summer tour and incessant airplay, the Backstreet Boys made twenty-something women with careers and fiancés act just like they did during the Boys’ heyday, shrieking their heads off and shelling out money left and right for merchandise and tickets.
Their return to the music industry is not without merit. Never Gone is actually a decent album. Well, at least for a singing group of five grown men who don’t play their own instruments or write their own music-most of the time anyway. Kevin Richardson, the oldest of the group, actually plays the piano introduction to “Incomplete,” the first single and first track on the album. This serves as a gateway to the rest of the album, which ranges greatly from beginning to end. Never before have the “Boys” sounded as musically sophisticated as they do on Never Gone.
The second single off the album, “Just Want You To Know,” could have possibly been the best song released by a pop artist this summer. Its insanely catchy tune combined with classic end of summer heartache lyrics, drive fans wild. When Nick Carter sings, “I just want you to know / That I’ve been fighting to let you go / Some days I make it through / But then there’s nights that never end / I wish that I could believe / That there’s a day you’ll come back to me / But still I have to say / That I would do it all again / I just want you to know,” its impossible not to swoon at least a little, even if he did give Paris a shiner.
Things only got better in August when the accompanying video, which featured the “Boys” dressed in their best ’80s getups, hit the MTV circuit.
Of course, there’s the beautifully generic boy band cheese-fest, “Poster Girl.” But hey, some people are into that-whatever floats your boat, right? Other quality tracks include “I Still…” and “Crawling Back To You.” It’s uncertain what can be attributed to this newly amassed sense of musical ability, but it’s better to not look the gift horse in the mouth. Besides, anything is better than an *NSYNC reunion.
The Chronicle gives “How To Save A Life” by The Fray four out of five stars.