Album Review: Boyzone – BZ20
3 min read
Boy bands come, and boy bands go. They are one form of music group that never seems to age, in fact year-by-year we see them revolutionize and explore, trying to outdo the previous cluster of males before them. As much as it kills me to admit, Boyzone have a legacy not many other artists or groups combined could try and reach.
What I was surprised to discover is that BZ20 is only their sixth album over a twenty year period (hence the album title), but then of course there was a seven year hiatus between 2001 and 2007, where each member had differing levels of success as solo artists.
Ronan Keating, arguably their most notable member, starts us off with the cheesy yet powerful ballad Love Will Save The Day, and you can picture every girl, woman and grandmother have a tear in their eye and a melted heart in their hands. To Boyzone’s advantage, their longevity has not only seen themselves grow as artists but also their fans grow with them, so their mass market is exactly that; to the masses that be, and have been for some time.
Everything I Own, Centre Of Gravity and Heaven Is, continues the notion of soppy sweetness and screaming women from afar. Of course I can’t take anything away from Boyzone, this is what they’ve built their success on and for the most part it’s worked, so I congratulate each and every one of them. To take a look at the titles of all eleven tracks on the album, you know before you listen exactly what you’re going to get, if you didn’t know by now. If We Try continues in the same vein, but switches it up a bit with a heavier rock sound to start, which then leads into an enduring chorus with all four singers together as one.
The opposing sound is short lived however; as Ronan is back on the seventh track that is Nobody Knows, a very quiet and almost timid personal piece that connotes butter wouldn’t melt, but we all now know that isn’t true, ironically. BZ20 is a solid album, Boyzone do sound as good as ever. They don’t appear to of sold out and cashed in on a novelty album, like many other boy bands have done time and again. They stay consistent, sound very strong and coherent musically, and have produced and album that will keep everyone happy.
Ronan Keating’s vocals don’t go unnoticed. To have beyond twenty years in the music industry and sound as good as he still does is nothing short of amazing. The majority of the songs do belong to Keating, and to almost remind us all that out of the four existing members, only one is only forty. For all the adoring women out there, they’re hoping the legacy long may continue.
[CBC country=”us” show=”y”]Click here to buy this release from Amazon
[CBC country=”uk” show=”y”]Click here to buy this release from Amazon
[CBC country=”au” show=”y”][/CBC]
