When this album came in the male, my pair of 20 something secretaries looked at it and said, “Are you REALLY going to review Boyz II Men?!? Don’t you need a mullet for that?”OK, so the trio of Nathan Morris, Wanya Morris and Shawn Stockman were big during the Clinton years, but they aren’t exactly living off the past as teen heartthrobs. This latest album as them doing what they should have done years ago, and that is get back on the street corner and do some heavy doo wop. And they do it right, yet with a modern touch.
With a rotating team of Brian Mann- Brian McKnight- Pete Wallace/p-key, Isaiah Sharkey-Craig Sharmat/g, Lance talbert-Christopher Loftlin-Kim Collins-Julio Hernandz/b, Rayford Griffin-Richard Bavo/dr and cameo horns, the team delivers some fun 50s classics like a bluesy “I Only Have Eyes For You” and a fun Memphis soul’d “Tears On My Pillow” while getting churchy on “I’ll Come Running Back to You.”
I’m not sure how they found him, but an original member of The Teenagers, Jimmy Merchant, joins in for a joyful read of his hit “Why Do Fools Fall in Love” and even Take 6 gets into the game with a street corner stomping “A Thousand Miles Away.” Glee star Amber Riley comes on stage for “Anyone Who Knows What Love Is” and Brian McKnight testifies on “A Sunday Kind of Love.” This one’s a HOOT, and you don’t have to be wearing shoulder pads to get into it; more like a white T shirt and dungarees.