Never Gone

by Backstreet Boys

Overview

It's been nearly five years since the Backstreet Boys have released a new album, but as the all-too-literal title of 2005's Never Gone makes clear, they don't want you to call their fourth LP a comeback -- in their mind, they've been here for years. That's not strictly true, since all five members have disappeared from the charts, if not the tabloid headlines, since their 2000 flop, Black & Blue. While fellow teen pop icons like Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera had successful transitions into adulthood, while Jessica Simpson turned reality TV star and Mandy Moore turned genuine actress (for pity's sake, we will ignore Britney Spears' horrifying descent into white trash abyss), Kevin Richardson, Howie Dorough, and Brian Littrell all faded away as A.J. McLean suffered a very public addiction to various substances. Nick Carter also suffered at the hands of the tabloids, in large part due to a very stormy relationship with Paris Hilton, but he also had the distinction of being the only Backstreet Boy to deliver a solo album -- Now or Never in 2002 -- which meant that he was the only BSB with an ignoble flop to his credit, as well. Now or Never had the distinction of being an old-school teen pop album being delivered too far after the craze. Carter's peers were changing their stripes, but he stuck to the tried and true BSB formula and was punished by the fickle public accordingly. Given that public humiliation, it shouldn't come as a surprise that Carter and the other Boys are wise enough to try something new on Never Gone: they've abandoned the teen pop of the late '90s for anthemic adult contemporary that sounds a bit like Bryan Adams circa 1990. It's not a reinvention as much as a lateral move, shifting from one kind of pop that's not selling to another that's not selling, but to their credit, Backstreet Boys acquit themselves reasonably well here. First of all, there's a bit of pleasure in hearing a group throw itself into the big, resolutely square sound of '90s adult contemporary, since nobody else is doing this sound in 2005, but also it fits the group well, particularly Carter, with his newly raspy lead vocals. Second, this is by and large a well-made record, with a handful of standout tracks, notably the first single "Incomplete," the John Ondrasik-written "Weird World," which is a lot more fun than any Five for Fighting tune, the Max Martin-helmed "Just Want You to Know," and "Lose It All," which bizarrely and appealingly sounds like an MOR version of an Oasis ballad. Although the rest of the record is essentially well-made filler, it does sound good; this is one time that a pop record benefits by having a different production team for nearly every one of the album's tracks, since the sound of each tune is just different enough to keep things interesting yet unified enough to make it pleasant background music. This is all enough to make Never Gone a solid adult contemporary album, which will please both BSB diehards and the dwindling ranks who wish that the glory days of Jon Secada never ended, but its relative strength does highlight one problem with the album: this kind of music doesn't sound quite as convincing when delivered by a group of guys as it does by one singer. If Never Gone had been released as Nick Carter's second solo album or A.J. McLean's first, it would have felt more genuine, since these (marginally) more mature songs of love and relationships would have more resonance sung by a solo singer instead of a pack of guys. But that's nitpicking, because even if it never sells as well as Millennium did at the turn of the century, Never Gone is at the very least a successful musical makeover from the onetime teen pop kings. [Never Gone was released in several editions, including a copy-protected CD that will not play on your computer without installing a separate media player, and a DualDisc, containing a CD on one side and a DVD on the other. The DualDisc has a 5.1 mix version of the album on the DVD side, along with the video for "Incomplete" as well as a brief documentary about the making of the video for "Incomplete." The CD side of the DualDisc may not register on some computers.] ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Product Details

Release Date:	06/14/2005
Label:	Bmg / Sony Music / Sony Music Entertainment
UPC:	0886979103726
Rank:	59528

Tracks

1. Incomplete
2. Just Want You to Know
3. Crawling Back to You
4. Weird World
5. I Still-
6. Poster Girl
7. Lose It All
8. Climbing the Walls
9. My Beautiful Woman
10. Safest Place to Hide
11. Siberia
12. Never Gone

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Backstreet Boys   Primary Artist
Nick Carter   Vocals
Kevin Richardson   Vocals,Piano
Howie Dorough   Vocals
Brian Littrell   Vocals
AJ McLean   Vocals
Johan Reiven   Drums
Alex Mifolng   Guitar (Electric)
Chris McMurtry   Guitar (Electric)
Johan "Brorsan" Brorsson   Bass,Guitar
Rene Tromberg   Drums,Percussion
John Shanks   Drums
Robin Smith   Conductor
Jerry Barnes   Bass
Max Martin   Guitar
Michael Bland   Drums
Joe Porter   Drums
Dan Muckala   Piano,Keyboards
Greg Suran   Guitar
Jamie Muhoberac   Keyboards
Adam Phillips   Guitar
Shawn Pelton   Drums
London Session Orchestra   Strings
Alex Acuna   Percussion
Brandon Heath   Guitar (Acoustic)
Vinnie Colaiuta   Drums
Paul Buckmaster   Sequencing
Paul Bushnell   Bass
Wil Malone   Conductor
Gregg Wattenberg   Sequencing,Guitar
John Fields   Bass,Piano,Guitar,Fx Vocals,Keyboards
Tommy Barbarella   Keyboards
Brent Milligan   Bass
Billy Mann   Guitar (Acoustic),Guitar (Electric)
Ken Chastain   Fx Vocals,Percussion

Technical Credits

Ren Swan   Audio Engineer,Mixing,Engineer
John Fields   Audio Production,Mixing,Engineer,Producer
Max Martin   Audio Production,Mixing,Composer,Engineer,Producer,Instrumentation
Dan Muckala   Audio Production,Composer,Engineer,Producer,String Arrangements
Ken Takahashi   Assistant
Lana Israel   Production Coordination
John Silas   Engineer
David Stamm   A&R
Johan "Brorsan" Brorsson   Engineer,Producer
Paul L. Wiltshire   Arranger,Engineer,Producer
Lukasz Gottwald   Producer,Instrumentation,Composer,Engineer
James Stone   Assistant
John Hanes   Digital Editing
John Shanks   Mixing,Producer
Wally Gagel   Composer
Michael Ilbert   Engineer,Digital Editing
Lindy Robbins   Composer
Robin Smith   String Arrangements
Robin Lerner   Composer
Mark Taylor   Mixing,Engineer,Producer,String Arrangements
Mark Valentine   Engineer
Lasse Marten   Drum Engineering
Tom Leonard   Composer
Chris Testa   Engineer
Isobel Griffiths   String Contractor
Jeff Rothschild   Engineer,Mixing
Frank Wolf   Bass Engineer
Lee Bridges   Assistant Engineer
Brian Scheuble   Engineer
Theresa LaBarbera Whites   A&R
Tom Coyne   Mastering
Jess Cates   Composer
Shari Sutcliffe   Contractor,Production Coordination
Alex Smith   Assistant
Keith B. Armstrong   Assistant
Bryan Pugh   Assistant
Victoria Wu   Composer,Producer
Chris Haggerty   Digital Editing
Steve Price   String Engineer
Aaron Fessel   Assistant Engineer
Seth Waldmann   Engineer
Steve Lunt   A&R
Mark Kiczula   Assistant,Assistant Engineer
Gary Baker   Composer
Backstreet Boys   Vocal Arrangement
Chris Lord-Alge   Mixing
Chris Farren   Composer
Serban Ghenea   Mixing
Pablo Munguia   Engineer,Vocal Engineer
Paul Buckmaster   String Arrangements
Shelly Peiken   Composer
Skye McCaskey   Engineer
Andy Zulla   Mixing
Steve Diamond   Composer
Blair Daly   Composer
Billy Mann   Arranger,Composer,Producer,Programming,Vocal Arrangement
Anthony Carlucci   Design
Jackie Murphy   Design,Art Direction
Alan Mason   Assistant Engineer
Steve Miller   Engineer
Yuri Elizondo   Photography
Wil Malone   String Arrangements
Gregg Wattenberg   Programming,String Arrangements,Producer
John Ondrasik   Composer,Executive Producer
Dave Dillbeck   Engineer
Adam Brown   Engineer
Tim Roberts   Assistant
Tom Lord-Alge   Mixing
Tommy Barbarella   String Arrangements
Gavyn Wright   Leader
Matt Beckley   Assistant,Assistant Engineer
F. Reid Shippen   Engineer