If you were one of 15,000 people in attendance at Boyz II Men's attempt at a 90-minute orgasm last night at the Molson Amphitheatre, you were either blissfully caught up in the mindnumbling rapture of the occasion, or you wanted to run screaming from the venue.
For Boyz II Men, like Michael Bolton and that other currently popular hip-hop, doo-wop group, All-4-One, pop songs have ceased to be merley engaging diversions or pleasantly innocuous art forms.
Instead, they've become a kind of sexually tinged Olympics, not so much for the content of the songs, but for the manner in which those songs are excecuted.
No one could accuse Boyz II Men of being lewd or lascivious. They're a mild-to-moderately funky barbershop quartet for the '90s with lyrics that embrace themes of old-fashioned romance, devotion, and commitment.
So far, so good. What was so incongrous about the quartet's show, however, was the way in which they tried so hard to transform their tunes from lightweight, fizzy pop confections into iconic anthems.
Opening number "U Know," complete with exploding flashpots and fireworks, was overwrought, yet underwhelming, full of gold-medal vocal hugh jumps and suggestive, athletically gyrating pelvises. But the Olympian exercise, while topnotch in terms of technical merit was a flop in the all-important department of artistic expression, the sole purpose of the song being to whip thousands of young ladies into feverish heat.
To its credit, the band acheived this dubious distinction. Still, a steady stream of hip-hopping dance tracks and swoon tunes such as "Please Don't Go" and "50 Candles," were invariably crushed by the quartet's uncheked and ridiculously frenzined vocal deliveries.
On a more positive note, renditions of "I'll Make Love to You" and "On Bended Knee" were performed with significant less vocal bump-and-grind, the simpler, more romantic treatments allowing the songs to emerge with a greater spirit of honesty and intimacy.
In the end, both tracks suggested that, for Boyz II Men, less isn't more, it could mean everything to career longevity.