The harmonizers in Boyz II Men have a new all-covers album, Love, due out just in time for the holiday season, and the first single from it leaked over the weekend: It’s a super-syrupy take on “Open Arms,” the lighter-worthy ballad from arena-rockers Journey. You may notice that it sounds kind of like an American Idol audition, what with its melismas and straining and all, and there’s a good reason why: It was produced by former Journey member Randy “Dawg” Jackson, who somehow managed to modernize the circa-1982 sound of the original track, yet still make this new take on it sound as dated as a February 1998 Reader’s Digest in a dentist’s waiting room. Ah, the Idol magic is always working! Clip after the jump. More »
Hicksville is hardly the only New York City suburb riding out the dog days of summer with free concerts featuring “big” names: Stamford, Conn., uses its satellite city’s economic base to handily outdo the Long Island town’s Spin Doctors show with a free Boyz II Men concert this Thursday. More »
Hicksville is hardly the only New York City suburb riding out the dog days of summer with free concerts featuring “big” names: Stamford, Conn., uses its satellite city’s economic base to handily outdo the Long Island town’s Spin Doctors show with a free Boyz II Men concert this Thursday. More »
Those of you who enjoyed the snippet of Soulja Boyz II Men that was in the Real’s “Failed Ideas In Hip-Hop” video earlier this week may be thrilled to know that the comedy duo has come up with a puppetry-employing video for the track–and while, like many mashups, the song falls apart a bit on the… More »
This video of “failed ideas in hip-hop” has its moments–the RickRossRoll being one that some enterprising YouTuber should seize upon immediately–but the last 30 seconds, which are taken over by an unholy wedding between “Crank That” and “End Of The Road,” may be the most sublime sound-collision… More »
The top tier of this week’s album chart was pretty grim, thanks to a post-Grammy hangover that resulted in people promptly forgetting that they could easily buy albums by the likes of Jack Johnson (No. 1, off 42%), Alicia Keys (No. 2, off 51%) and Amy Winehouse (No. 3, off 55%). But lurking in its middle reaches was yet another testament to the power of televised music: Boyz II Men’s Motown: A Journey Through Hitsville USA shot up from No. 182 to No. 62 on a 157-percent sales gain, one derived in large part from the group’s appearance Thursday night on the Fox game show Don’t Forget The Lyrics, which featured them performing songs from the new album. Oh, if only music programming wasn’t such a ratings disaster, the music industry would be able to fix itself but good!
