Boyz II Men - Cooleyhighharmony

It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that new jack swing

Word has it that Boyz II Men remain the highest-selling male R&B vocal group of all time. We know that mega-sales don’t always equal collectability but, in 1991, Cooleyhighharmony proved that Motown could find at least one more hit decades after its heyday. Lead single Motownphilly – a thumping slice of the new jack swing that powered BIIM’s earlier works, recounting the four-piece’s rise from high school vocal group to sudden megastars – went platinum. It may not be too far off the mark to suggest that Prince had this in mind when he embarked on his hip-hop forays in the early 90s.

So popular was Cooleyhigharmony that it was almost immediately reissued in 1993 with bonuses – and that’s the problem with this revisit, since the only extras left to pad Disc Two out are a bunch of remixes, each more repetitive than the last. Pretty dull. The album proper, however, remains a stone cold classic; close harmonies, quiet storm, touches of doo wop on Side One, NJS on Side Two, which is well overdue a revival. Sexy, seductive and, despite the technical brilliance, full of feeling you never found in contemporaries such as Whitney Houston. Do yourself a favour and take a chance on something you probably think is bullshit.

Hip-O Select/Motown | B 0010737-02 (2-CD)

Reviewed by Jason Draper
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