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+++ OCTOBER,
2k +++
NME
World Exclusive: Backstreet Boys 'Black & Blue' track-by-track
Source: NME
10-27-00
Long-awaited,
much-hyped, enormously pre-ordered - and reviewed first and in full by
NMEPOP.COM... Tell us what you think! popfeedback@nme.com is ready and
waiting...
1. The Call
(3:24)
Written by:
Max Martin/Rami
Produced by:
Max Martin/Rami
As any fool
knows, pop songs based around telephones - from Take That's 'Babe' to Blondie's
'Call Me' are all brilliant, and the Backstreet Boys were hardly likely
to choose a duff number to open the most important album of their career.
From the Latiny intro to a stomping, almost military drumbeat - and distorted
phone-call over the top - it's evident from the word go that 'The Call'
is an album-opener every bit as 'Larger Than Life'. There's much singing
about "The call that changed my destiny" and what turns out to be a quite
breathtaking chorus: "I will be late, don't stay up and wait for me/My
battery's low, just so you know/We're going to a place nearby - gotta go".
Yet another phone-call occurs in the middle-eight, there are synthesised
stabs reminiscent of the Pet Shop Boys, and the whole thing ends when the
caller hangs up.
2. Shape Of
My Heart (3:50)
Written by:
Max Martin/Rami/Lisa Miskovsky
Produced by:
Max Martin/Rami
The single
- you'll know this one by now. It follows the same kind of pattern as 'I
Want It That Way' (spookily a track-2-after-a-big-old-upbeat-number itself
on 'Millennium'): long intro, mid-tempo, bloody ace. Obviously, there's
the classic Max Martin key change toward the end, with wailing, overlapping
choruses and much a-croonin'.
3 Get Another
Boyfriend (3:06)
Written by:
Max Martin/Rami
Produced by:
Max Martin/Rami
There's quite
a dark theme to this one, and the muttering of "Backstreet" in the introduction
- sounding for all the world like a Rodney Jerkins-style "Darkchild" -
is ominous and scary. Still, upbeat and raucous, 'Get Another Boyfriend'
has a killer chorus ("Listen I mean it, there's nothing that he's worthy
of/He's just another playa playing in the game of love/This must come to
an end... Get another boyfriend"), a scream of "Heyaaahh!", and pulls all
the strings you could possibly want pulled.
4 Shining Star
(3:22)
Written by:
Franciz & LePont/Nick/Howie
Produced by:
Rodney Jerkins
This one's
the Darkchild production, fairly upbeat but with an R&B edge running
through the whole song. Which, apart from an empty refrigerator, is what
you expect when you get Rodney in to twiddle your knobs. Also throws up
some preposterous lyrics: "You're my shining star that is what you are/There
is no-one like you, baby/Angels everywhere, every time you're near". There's
the obligatory "Darkchild Backstreet Boys c'mon" bit towards the end, some
neat electro-squiggles and an abrupt end.
5 I Promise
You (4:22)
Written by:
Dan Hill
Produced by:
Timmy Allen
"It seems like
everyone we know's breaking up/Doesn't anyone stay in love any more?" Oh,
it could so easily be about boy-bands. Except, of course, it's not a metaphor
at all - it's just about love. The first full-blown ballad on 'Black &
Blue' gives us some more heartfelt lyrics. Such as: "I promise you from
the bottom of my heart/I will love you 'til death do us part/I promise
you as a lover and a friend..." Guitars twinkle and maracas shake, there's
a big, flourishing drum roll for the last chorus, and those classic words
rear their heads: "What I'm trying to say to you I never said to anyone..."
Don't worry, it's not "I've been bonking your dad".
6 The Answer
To Our Life (3:17)
Written by:
Backstreet Boys
Produced by:
Per Magnusson/David Kreuger
Begins with
the simple plinking of a piano, but what jumps out immediately from 'The
Answer To Our Life' is the synth line, wonderfully evocative of Michael
Jackson's 'Billie Jean'. It's the warmest song so far on 'Black & Blue',
and follows a tempo along the lines of 'The One' on 'Millennium'. "Show
me a reason, give me a sign/Tell me when we fall out of line", we're asked.
"Is it today or is it tonight/We'll find the answer to our life?" Well,
sometimes that answer never comes. But it's always sensible to ask.
7 Everyone
(3:29)
Written by:
Kristian Lundin/Andreas Carlsson
Produced by:
Kristian Lundin/Andreas Carlsson
Again, there
are some military-style drums - and 'Everyone' is a dramatic rallying cry
for Backstreet fans around the world. From the opening "Let's get on with
the show/Let's get it started/Turn the lights down low..." through to the
massive chorus of "This one goes out to... Everyone, everyone/We're standing
strong 'cos of what you've done/This one goes out to you". Then there's
a brilliant bit where they talk about living "in a circus", and a cool
circus-organ sound effect twiddles in out of nowhere. Destined to be performed
at the start of concerts. Or the end. Or somewhere in the middle.
8 More Than
That (3:44)
Written by:
Franciz & LePont/Adam Anders
Produced by:
Franciz & LePont
Shuffling beats
which could, at a stretch, be described as Timbaland-esque (but it's a
ballad at heart) and a definite Latin feel. 'More Than That' also has an
epic string section and the lines, "I could love you more than that/I won't
say the words then take them back/Don't give loneliness a chance, baby,
listen to what I say/I will love you... More than that".
9 Time (3:54)
Written by:
Backstreet Boys
Produced by:
Babyface
You can spot
Babyface's production a mile off. Obviously, as a result, 'Time' sounds
like it was recorded in the '80s - lots of smoochy 'Miami Vice'-type effects
abound - as does the observation, "I know we've changed, but a change can
be so good". There really is an awful lot of "ooh yeah" stuff going on,
as well as the profound comment, "Time goes on and on every day". Very
true. As you might expect from an epic BSB song, there's an enormous key
change and much wailing towards the end, as well as the assurance that
"Time is what it is, come what may". Backstreet Boys wrote this one themselves.
10 Not For
Me (3:15)
Written by:
Kristian Lundin/Jake/Andreas Carlsson
Produced by:
Kristian Lundin/Jake
In which the
Boys use the gift of the extended metaphor in a first verse that describes
the "scene of the crime". The "crime", it seems, is the Boys' girl CHEATING!!!
"I got a feelin' you weren't true to me", it is sung. You see, there's
no pulling wool over the eyes of the Backstreet Boys. Indeed, as they say
themselves, "I've got eyes to see that you're not the one for me... Now
I know what it's coming to". There's a synthy backing and a middle-eight
which sounds a bit like the breakdown in Michael Jackson's 'Thriller'.
"Justify my reasons to stay!" demand the boys amid breathy "no no, uh uh"s.
11 Yes I Will
(3:50)
Written by:
AJ/Brian Kierulf/Josh Schwartz
Produced by:
Timmy Allen/Larry 'Rock' Campbell
And so we come
to the most hilarious lyrics by any pop band ever. The whole song's about
wanting to hear your partner say 'Yes I will'. "I'm down on my knees/I'm
asking you/Three words", the Boys plead. They just want you to say, "Yes
I will... I'll give you everything you need/And sometime start a family...
with you". Start a family?!?! There's much guitar plucking and plinking,
as well as a massive dramatic swoosh into the final chorus.
12 It's True
(4:13)
Written by:
Max Martin/Andreas Carlsson/Kevin
Produced by:
Per Magnusson/David Kreuger
Oddly begins
like East 17's 'Around The World' - 'It's True' is another ballad but it's
a bit of a corker. It's also very earnest: "It's true, I mean it/From the
bottom of my heart/Yeah, it's true/Without you I would fall apart". Well,
there's nothing like laying your cards on the table. By the time the second
verse swings around, some drums have kicked in, amid underwater-sounding
effects, and the best bit comes towards the end: the line, "It's true..."
is left hanging in space before a drum clatter (that puts Phil Collins
to shame) slams in, and the chorus peels off into the sky.
13 What Makes
You Different (Makes You Beautiful) (3:33)
Written by:
Howie/Steve Diamond/Andreas Carlsson
Produced by:
Timmy Allen
Possibly the
most subtly offensive sentiment since Ronan Keating said, "We're all better
off when you keep your mouth shut, love", 'What Makes You Different (Makes
You Beautiful)' also has the best use of brackets in recent months. "Material
things don't matter to me/Come as you are, you've got nothing to prove!"
we're told. This ballad is, presumably, for the Boys' really minging fans.
"In your eyes I see all the love I'll ever need". To which NMEPOP.COM has
only one response: U.G.L.Y! You ain't got no alibi! You're ugly!
14 How Did
I Fall In Love With You (4:04)
Written by:
Howie/Calum MacColl/Andrew Fromm
Produced by:
Timmy Allen
This one -
it's another ballad and it doesn't even have ANY DRUMS AT ALL!!! - is about
deciding that you fancy your best friends, and is basically 'Dawson's Creek'
squeezed into just over four minutes. It's kinda like "best of friends,
like sister and brother" and the way everything changes and the fact that
they "never meant to feel this way - don't want to be alone tonight". "With
you I want to spend the rest of my life", it seems. "Everything's changed..."
Blimey!
15 All I Have
To Give (A Capella) (3:48) Written by: Full Force
Produced by:
David Thomas/Mar Kibble
How's this
for a bizarre end to an album: a two-year-old single (which, let us be
honest, in the light of what's come since, really isn't that good) done
a capella style - for no reason whatsoever! And here's the interesting
bit: it's a very special type of a capella BECAUSE THERE ARE INSTRUMENTS
IN IT! Anyway...
Any opinions?
Let NME know! popfeedback@nme.com is open for business...
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