TORONTO STAR
Cutting up the Orlando magic is like shooting fish in a tiny barrel. So, dear Backstreet Boys' fans, I'll state my bias up front: I don't share your teen-dream fantasy. But I will give the fantastically fit five marks for staying power. On Tuesday, they're releasing another critic-proof album 18 months after the multi-platinum Backstreet's Back. That's notable, considering the boys' template, New Kids On the Block, sputtered a decade ago after just one album.
Anyway, there's nothing here to alienate you diehards - a modest smattering of hipper and harder grooves, especially album opener "Larger Than Life" and the more aggressive, dance-pop of "It's Gotta Be You" co-written by Mr. Shania Twain, Robert John "Mutt" Lange. Elsewhere, it's business as usual. The 12 songs include an abundance of sappy, bland ballads and choruses designed to push all the right buttons. Other points of interest include the Spanish-guitar flavoured "Show Me the Meaning Of Being Lonely and the orchestrated closer, "The Perfect Fan", a love letter to "mom...the perfect fan" (groan). Not my bag, but that won't matter one iota.
