Boyz II Men: Evolution : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

The moniker Boyz II Men is a freeze frame of the process of transition, implying both a state of perpetual growth and a kind of fence straddling: one foot snagged on adolescence, the other stepping with certainty into adulthood. The title of the quartet's latest album, Evolution, brushes away that ambiguity, making the claim that the group has finally jumped the fence and landed firmly on the side of manhood. The record advertises growth. What is amazing, then – but not surprising – is how much the men still sound like boys.

Boyz II Men haven't tampered with an iota of their formula: Scan the charts for today's hot R&B producers, snag them, cram the album with sappy, sound-alike ballads and lyrics that read like a printout from some computer program that's stuck on banal – "Girl, please ..." (1) "go away"; (2) "come back"; or (3) "stay." Babyface (who should really consider working in a different tempo or at least learning some new chord progressions) contributes the forced wistfulness of "Girl in the Life Magazine," an acoustic soul track, as well as the syrupy, almost unlistenable "A Song for Mama" ("You will always be the girl in my life"). Sean "Puffy" Combs sparks a semblance of libido on the midtempo grooves "Can't Let Her Go" and "Come On," but the clichés being sung ("The way you move your body looks so fine/Fine, you got me hypnotized/The way you look into my eyes") douse that flame quickly.

Yes, the Boyz can sing, and they are icons of '90s R&B, but so what? No matter how much they twist, torture and torment their notes (it doesn't matter which member is singing lead; the vocals have precisely two tones: clenched and tremulous), they can't hide the fact that there's no soul in their soul music.