You never know what a quarter will get you. I mean, I picked up this CD So Together by the girl group Innosense for that low, low price thinking it would be just some cutesy bubblegum from a quintet of attractive females, but I had no idea of the band's credentials. Why, not only was Britney Spears slated to be a member in 1997 before deciding on a solo career, but the band was co-managed by Justin Timberlake's mother Lynn Harless and Lou Pearlman, the convicted Ponzi-schemer who also maintained the careers of the Backstreet Boys and 'NSYNC. Unfortunately, by the time this CD was released in 2000, the Spice Girls, Britney, Christina, and the whole boy-band parade had already grabbed the golden (and platinum) rings and run away with them, leaving Innosense looking like losers. Neither the album nor its lone US single "Say No More" charted, and even opening for Spears on tour couldn't stop their eventual 2003 dissolution. It's unfortunate, because the music isn't bad. A lot of it is unremarkable copies of the era's sound, but many of the tracks deserve a listen. The best one, "A Hundred Oceans," had the credential of being composed by pop pro Diane Warren, but a close second is "Beep Beep," an ultra-catchy tune with a swagger that predates both the Pussycat Dolls and Christina's brassy big-band efforts on her 2006 Back To Basics album. Other slow tunes like "I Wish" and fast catchy songs like "Rain Rain" have atmosphere lacking from the offerings of their competition that left them in the dust. Grade: B- Here's the band with Britney (gotta love the "Excuse me, perverts!") and here's the band's website, still holding on after all these years.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Walburgh's BlogMostly retro, mainly music, but generally whatever's on my mind. Archives
June 2017
Categories
All
|