Three pop idols and a Backstreet Boy — no, not the title of a sensational porn video. Four debut albums by squeaky-clean white boys have seen the light — but it’s not all good news.
When comparing What My Heart Wants to Say (BMG) by British Pop Idol runner-up Gareth Gates to winner Will Young’s From Now On (BMG), it’s clear why Young came out on top. Gates whines his way through terrible cover songs (the world really did not need yet more versions of Unchained Melody and Suspicious Minds), cloyingly sweet pop ditties and ballads like Anyone of Us (Stupid Mistake) and some R&B-inflected tracks (Downtown) that just don’t leave an impression. He tries hard, but fails to sound like a big-name pop star. Young’s album is noticeably better. Apart from the spineless cover of Light My Fire (Jim Morrison must be spinning in his grave) and the melodramatic Evergreen, it’s passable lounge-pop with Young’s textured voice swinging almost Sinatra-like over the melodies. It drags a bit in places and Young could sometimes do with more feeling in his delivery, but it’s a worthy debut.
Nick Carter of the Backstreet Boys has brought out Now or Never (Zomba), riding high on catchy pop single Help Me. It’s got more rock substance than the music of the Boys: Girls in the USA could easily have been a Def Leppard track, and Carter often sounds like a young Bryan Adams. His voice is strong enough to carry the ballads, too. Not that much substance here, but it’s easy listening.
Lastly, our own Idols winner, Heinz Winckler with One Step Closer (BMG) — which, unfortunately, just doesn’t cut it. It’s plastic pop of the worst kind, with bland ballads and terrible lyrics (“Whether we pop like a morning toaster, or whether we rock like a roller coaster, I’m never gonna drop, I’m never gonna stop”) abounding. Yes, he is a hunk and he is not all that bad at singing. But that should just have qualified him as a member of some boy band. Solo his voice rarely sounds strong enough and simply fades into the instrumental background.
That said, the album will probably still sell extremely well — after all, even though critics hate this kind of manufactured pop, the public happily gobbles it up.
Lasgo: Some Things (Antler-Subway)
Trance-house favourite Something stormed up the charts; the rest of the dance tunes by this Belgian act is very similar. It serves well as upbeat background beats. — Riaan Wolmarans
Various artists: Absolute Club Classics Volume 3 (Gallo)
Do the time warp to past days on sweaty dance floors. There’s Brother Brown, Nalin and Kane, Ce Ce Peniston, Danny Tenaglia and Junior Vasquez. Fun and funky stuff. — Riaan Wolmarans
Various: Bump 11 (Gallo)
DJ Costa mixes two CDs of commercial dance-floor beats. Fun in an undiscerning way; the good tracks, such as The Beginnerz’ Reckless Girl, are overshadowed by a few too many remixes of pop ditties. The second CD is much easier on the ear than the first. — Riaan Wolmarans