Hanson : Shout It Out

<img src="http://www.qromag.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/hansonshoutitout.jpg" alt=" " />New Hanson may just be okay, but it's at the highest tier of okay. ...
6.1 3CG
2010 

Hanson : Shout It Out Some may find it a surprise to learn that Hanson, the boy band pop trio consisting of brothers Isaac, Taylor, and Zac Hanson, are still in fact releasing albums and touring on a regular basis.  After their wildly successful and Grammy-nominated major label debut Middle of Nowhere back in 1997, which included the infectious, lyrically challenged hit “MMMBop”, the brothers Hanson simply fizzled away from the bright limelight.  That’s not to say this disappearance was well deserved.  On the contrary, unlike many of the other boy band hacks of the 1990s, these three proved they had impeccable talent with both their singing and instrumental abilities.  Some would even argue this talent managed to keep them just barely on the radar through the years, best shown with their superbly harmonized, though slightly out of place cover of Radiohead’s “Optimistic” on their 2005 compilation, The Best of Hanson: Live and Electric.

Now, thirteen years after Middle of Nowhere, the band still has just as much talent as ever with their latest release Shout It Out.  While managing to craft some of the catchiest pop songs since The Monkees, Hanson still made an album that is what it is: a pop record full of all the clichés typically associated with the genre.  The opening anthem “Waiting For This” does its usual job of managing to immediately grab the listeners’ attentions, but that attention slowly dwindles as the subsequent tracks delve deeper into a bland, albeit jolly fanfare of blasting trumpets and basic rock riffs.

Two piano ballads dot the middle and end of the album (“Use Me Up” and “Me Myself and I”, respectively), but they’re far from memorable and compete with rather than balance out the rest of the absurdly cheerful songs.  In fact, individually, none of the songs on this record really stick out, and yet there’s something oddly memorable about them as a whole that somehow manages to bring the audience back for just one more listen through their outright positive and uplifting quality.

Shout It Out is one of the most upbeat rock record released within at least the past year.  If that comment is at all interesting in the slightest, then by all means pick this one up.  It’s a Hanson album through and through, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.  As mentioned earlier, the trio still has plenty of talent, and they play to their niche with all the vigor a radio-friendly pop fan could ask for to the very last note.  This latest release may just be okay, but it’s at the highest tier of okay.  It’s not a great album, but it’s not trying to be either; it plays to its audience, and it does it well.

Hey, at least it’ll keep the kids from listening to Justin Bieber for a while, right?

MP3 Stream: “Waiting For This”

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