Boyz II Men

You don't become the most commercially successful R&B act of all time -- resetting the record for most weeks at #1 on the Billboard singles chart a jaw-dropping three times -- by bragging about the size of your dick. Tailoring their advances to the most timid sexual prey, these four nice Philadelphia boyz carefully cushioned a come-on such as "I'll make love to you" with a polite "When you want me to." Their hands-off sensuality made the existence of white idols such as the Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync all but inevitable, while their ladies-first approach offered a triumphant twist on the old adage "Nice guys finish last."

As proteges of Bell Biv Devoe's Michael Bivins, BIIM initially assayed New Jack Swing on their most atypically thumping hit, "Motownphilly." The remainder of Cooleyhighharmony was recklessly unafraid of schmaltz, a counterbalance to the breakbeat swagger of the New Jack era. Though the quartet was ever peering back over its shoulder at doo-wop, its nostalgia sounded contemporary, because rather than attempting to re-create the past, it made it sound, sadly, forever lost.

It's no coincidence that the group named its first album after a flick and that its whopper hit "End of the Road" sprang from the Boomerang soundtrack -- BIIM's sentimentality always emitted overtones of Hollywood. So while Legacy is amazing track by track, it's a disorienting overall listen, like watching the last five minutes of a dozen different romantic comedies spliced together. II is more coherent and no less popwise -- the uptempos benefit from the nuances of Dallas Austin and Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, the ballads ("I'll Make Love to You," "Water Runs Dry") are Babyface at his most romantic.

The rest of the group's output is an increasingly wimpier whimper. Once, the Boyz' harmonies seemed like a collective counterbalance to hip-hop's aggrandizement of the individual. And so the collective anonymity of Full Circle's weak balladry is sadder than any of the group's heartbreak songs. (KEITH HARRIS)

From 2004's The New Rolling Stone Album Guide