Boyzone's fourth album "Brother" is an instant bittersweet success - number one in the UK and Ireland on debut - but for the first time, there are only four band members to celebrate. With the well publicised death of Stephen Gately, "Brother" was always going to generate a lot of media attention. Ronan Keating told me that losing "Steo" is getting harder everyday, but that they carry on for him. This album is the band's first in many years (though does follow a reunion "Greatest Hits" that featured a new song "Love You Anyway") and while Ronan has become a solo superstar in his own right, Stephen was less successful as a soloist. That made the reconciliation a couple of years ago all the more exciting for Stephen in particular - he desperately wanted his band back together and to scale the heights of the charts again.
Ronan said that Stephen was so excited about the album and about the band's new sound. And that "new sound" is a more grown-up and mature Boyzone than it was first time around. The band members were determined to do adult pop /rock with no covers and a minimum of ballads that could be dismissed as mawkish or cheesy. With that said, track one "Gave It All Away" is unquestionably a ballad and it's opening lyric (sung by Stephen) is "I will learn to live before I die." But what initially sounds like another saccharine piece of lightweight pop (albeit one with a heartbreakingly poignant first line) evolves into one of the most memorable songs Boyzone have ever recorded. The harmonies are impeccable, but what sets the song apart is that its singalong chorus is in between a genuine reggae beat for the verses. And while the song structure is strictly pop, the hint of reggae and the nonsensical lyrics of the bridge (adlibbing in the style of Lionel Richie's "All Night Long" where he sings "tamba lina sed tee moy ya - hey jumbo jumbo!") add up to a compelling song that should give them another number one hit.
Elsewhere, Ronan delivers a minor key musical cousin to "Life Is A Rollercoaster" on the standout "Love Is Hurricane" and he and Stephen again trade lead vocals on the album's melancholic closer "Stronger." In between the two Ronan / Stephen duets Ronan handles most of the leads, but does allow solo spots for the other members Keith Duffy, Mikey Graham and Shane Lynch. Their vocals are good, but the best thing about them is the reminder that for whatever criticism Ronan gets for being middle of the road, his voice has a gruffness and lived-in emotion that most boyband singers don't come close to having.
"Brother" is packaged with photos of the band as a four-some with framed pictures of Stephen on the wall looking over them. There are also individual liner notes from each of the four talking about what Stephen meant to them. The album is dedicated to him and he would be proud as it is head and shoulders above their previous three efforts. The only surprise is that with all that raw emotion swirling around, none of the songs are written by the band themselves. Depsite their past reliance on covers, some of their biggest hits were self-written, so perhaps next time we'll hear what they would've said and not what their ace songwriters chose for them. Regardless, they chose well.
**** (4 stars out of 5)
Tim Roxborogh
