Boyzone belts out a different beat in winning fans
By Yogita Tahil Ramani
JAKARTA (JP): Take a few unpardonably cute chorus boys. Pick from a musical array of peppy-rap-jazz sounds, but be sure there are enough pledges of undying love to send teenage listeners swooning.
Garnish with excellent marketing strategies, and a delectable, thoroughly kissable (it pays to be pasted on walls and kissed) boy band is created.
This could be the formula for five lads from Dublin, Ireland, who boast of a different beat even as they garnish original compositions and sounds -- Words (Bee Gees) and My Way Back To You (The Four Seasons). The surprising catch is they more or less live up to their claims.
Ronan Keating, Stephen Gately, Mikey Graham, Keith Duffy and Shane Lynch of Boyzone marry good voices, simple themes and a couple of easy-on-the-ear songs to a commercial arrangement which is all refreshingly pleasant and entertaining.
Fronted by local band, Potret, they performed in Jakarta and Surabaya recently, and will take the stage in Bali today.
Produced by Ray Hedges with some help from famous producer Rick Wake, their songs balance the two styles in their second and latest album, a different beat, although comparisons to compatriots U2 and The Cranberries are still not in order. One of the boys admitted at a recent press conference here that their debut Said and Done, which sold close to 1.5 million copies, did churn out banal love themes.
"The first was definitely about it (romantic love), but this one is different. It's got a more mature sound," said Lynch, 21. A mix of chewing-pen-cap-attitude and candor, he sports a nose ring and is undoubtedly the most photogenic of the group.
Some of their songs -- A Different Beat, Melting Pot, Isn't it a wonder -- have the soft textures of easy-listening pop music. The boys wear their hears on their sleeves in their new album, which has already sold 750,000 copies. However, unlike other boy bands, they claim to wear it for differing kinds of love.
"It is not only romantic. There are so many other kinds of love we delve into," said 21-year-old Gately. (sample lyric: How far we've come and how far to go/Rain does not fall on one roof alone/So let's take a stand/And look around us now, people).
Gately's nasal voice is laden with emotion, giving songs like Don't Stop Looking For Love their due.
Voices emote, and songs are romantic, vulnerable, more meaningful. Fast ones are not as bland, the delightful foil for those of their first album.
Duffy, 23, and Graham, 25, support the group with vocals and songwriting.
The eye-and-voice catcher is, surprisingly, the youngest of the lot. Blond, blue-eyed lead vocalist Ronan Keating, 20, does not have extraordinary looks. But he has a beautiful voice, which is disciplined enough to come off as gospel, but with enough strength to conjure up dreamy thoughts.
Whether rendering an upbeat or slow tune, he gives it its captivating mood. Having cowritten almost all the songs, Ronan sings with a hint of an Irish accent. His voice and his singing style immediately brings Billy Joel to mind, particularly on Melting Pot.
The upbeat Picture of You, more famous as the song from Mr. Bean soundtrack, was catchy and eclectically enjoyed. But the song that could have supported their claims of embracing differing themes, Melting Pot, was sadly missed at the concert.
Boyzone may still have to trudge their way into musical maturity, but if nothing else, they have "turned out coffee- colored people by the score" (as the lyric from Melting Pot goes) as fans of their music. Keith Duffy could not have put it better when he screamed to enchanted audiences: "You guys have heard about girl power, right? Well, we are about the love power."