Reviews in Brief: 98 Degrees' Revelation

More boy band. 98 Degrees is another group I ran across on YouTube -- the song this time was "You Should Be Mine." I picked up the CD and got a pretty much mixed bag.

Their up-tempo songs on this one are superb -- lots of energy, crispness, with a decidedly Latin/hiphop flavor. It opens with "Give Me Just One Night (Una Noche)," with a rhythm I wish I could identify -- it's a dance song, but I can't quite nail it. It could be a very fancy, free-form cha-cha, but it's a good one. The other real winner on this one is "He'll Never Be . . . (What I Used to Be to You)," a really hot tango-based piece -- high drama all around, and I could see a dance floor getting pretty steamy with a couple who knew what they were doing.

The ballads don't fare quite so well. They border on gorp, although if you're in the right mood and out dancing with the guy (or gal, too, I guess) of your dreams, I can see where they'd go down easy -- they're made for holding someone special very close, which I guess is the point. (Although I have to confess that "My Everything" comes close to being the most syrupy song ever -- but if you can last past the intro, it's not unbearable. Just undistinguished.)

What strikes me about these guys is the strength of their vocal arrrangements. They carry a good sense of texture and counterpoint, and they do some wonderful things. Here's the video with "You Should Be Mine" that first caught my attention to give you an idea of where these guys go vocally. (The characters are Gojyo and Hakkai of Saiyuki fame, who seem to be a favorite pairing among the yaoi/slash set at YouTube. The opening sequence is from Death Note, which looks intriguing. I love the little guy who keeps playing with his mouth.)



In the final analysis, 98 Degrees would be fairly generic boy band pop if it weren't for those little vocal treats that they throw in from time to time. (And true to the annoying traditions of boy-band releases, they don't seem to tell you who anyone is or who's doing what on any given track -- I guess you're supposed to know. Well, I don't, and I don't feel like spending an hour on Google finding out. Brickbats for that one.)