Print-friendly Version
Album Review: Backstreet Boys, "Never Gone" (Jive)
After five years away from the music business, Backstreet Boys have returned with a light, pop-based effort that eschews their previous bouncy, teen-pop personality. It may alienate fans who blared songs like "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)" on their bedroom jam boxes, but the more mature effort could very well expand their fan base.
"Never Gone" kicks off with the underrated and underplayed first single, "Incomplete," a break-up song in which Nick Carter begs, "I pray for this heart to be unbroken / but without you all I'm going to be is / incomplete." A beautiful arrangement of weeping strings emphasizes Carter's desperate pleas.
The ballad "Crawling Back to You" is just as urgent, featuring the lyrics "Here I am banging on your front door / My pride's spilled on the floor / My hands and knees are bruised / And now I'm crawling back to you / begging for a second chance."
Despite the strong openers, the rest of the album feels a tad--well, incomplete. "Just Want You to Know" reunites the Boys with songwriter Max Martin, who penned the previous Backstreet Boys hits "Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)," "As Long as You Love Me," and "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)." The staccato instruments on "Just Want to Know" give way to a power chorus that will surely lend itself to screaming girls in arenas and amphitheaters, but the song otherwise doesn't live up to the group's heyday.
The uplifting "Weird World"--written by Five for Fighting's John Ondrasik and laced with bouncy piano--proves ill-fitted for the Backstreets.
The somber "Safest Place to Hide" belies the break-up theme of the album, and instead relies on thoughts of a positive relationship. Carter's gritty vocals recall Bryan Adams, a move that likely will appeal to older listeners.
Though anyone who has recently been dumped will find solace in this album, "Incomplete," for the most part, lacks the dynamics of earlier Backstreet Boys efforts.
