The Self-Proclaimed #1 Group On YouTube

One of the few R&B quartet’s still standing, Ahmir has been slinging doo wop harmonic hits since their 2006 Billboard R&B Top 20 smash “Welcome To My Party,” which was also  nominated for a 2007 SoulTrain Award for Best R&B hit. Still unsigned, the Boston-based group followed “…Party” up with their international release “The Gift.” The album quickly became one of the best-selling indie R&B albums on CD Baby and iTunes. After wooing tens of thousands on YouTube with covers of new pop and soul standards galore, on “The Covers Collection Vol. 1,” the gospel-voiced soulsters decided to give their fans what they’ve been begging for: a kind of greatest hits studio package of their most famous YouTube performances. But how does it fare?

Boston's Bad Boys of Soul

The results are a mixed bag of largely recent hit pop songs, including: Beyonce (“Halo”), Ne-Yo (“Closer”), Owl City (“Fireflies”), Usher (“Moving Mountains”), Britney Spears (“Womanizer”), Alicia Keys (“Doesn’t Mean Anything”), Miley Cyrus (“The Climb”), Mariah Carey (“ByeBye”), James Morrison and Nelly Furtado (“Broken Strings”), among others. Unlike most contemporary covers albums, only The Beatles’ “In My Life” is part of an earlier generation’s soundtrack. Recorded in the production style of an accapella project, these mixes are both a gift and a curse, with the bold, brassy voices of Ahmir given too dutiful a prominence. Absent any musical balance, the boys sometimes overwhelm these songs with big, BIGGER, BIGGEST vocal productions. Thank God on cuts like Lyfe Jennings’ “Goodbye” and the original “Come Home” Ahmir displays such impressive Boyz II Men meets Jagged Edge vocals, because there is so little nuance to be found anywhere else in these underwhelming tracks that the voices are sometimes the only hook.

Last Quartet Standing?

That said; it’s great to hear some of the most tepid pop songs ever recorded granted new heart, energy, and even a previously absent sincerity (“Bye Bye” as a case in point). Sometimes it’s just nice to hear songs like “Doesn’t Mean Anything” sung in tune, something not always assumed on these tunes original jaunts (though Ahmir’s histrionic closer on “Broken Strings” fails on this score). Overall, the nu-school covers fill a niche the most recent Boyz II Men covers album, “Love,” failed to nail. For that alone, we’re grateful for the gifts of Ahmir and the smattering of male soul groups keeping the quartet tradition alive. Even in these financially trying times for soloists, much less groups, hopefully more will follow. In the meantime, taste a sample of Ahmir.

TAGS: Ahmir, Boyz II Men, Jagged Edge, Lyfe Jennings, Ne-Yo