O-Town: O-Town : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

O-town don't have it easy. Whereas most boy bands present the finished, glossy recorded product first, these stars of the ABC reality-based TV show Making the Band need us to forget the sweat and fumbling we witnessed on the series, as we watched them individually audition for the band and formulate their plan for world pop domination. There is the real danger that O-Town would pale next to the Real World-like backstage drama of the show. Addressing that concern, former Backstreet-'N Sync Svengali Lou Pearlman, record-label kingpin Clive Davis and the usual army of producer-songwriters try much too hard to prove their hitmaking powers. O-Town feels strained and desperate, from the absurdly blunt ode to nocturnal emissions, "Liquid Dreams," to the rash of boy-band cliches that surround the song (secondhand R&B slang, inordinate use of the word girl, ample innuendo to prove they're not wimps). The least formulaic track, "Love Should Be a Crime," suggests an unholy alliance of Oasis and new-school Bon Jovi. Other boy bands also have people guiding their careers; the strings just aren't in plain view. (RS 863)

BARRY WALTERS