II Bad Boyz Aren’t More Innovative

BOYZ II MEN

“II”

Motown

* 1/2

It’s no secret that songwriting has taken a back seat in contemporary R&B;, resulting in adept harmonizing wasted on cliched, banal material. A good example is this Philadelphia quartet’s third album. The production credits read like a who’s who of R&B; songwriters/ producers--Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis, Dallas Austin, Babyface and L.A. Reid. But the album consists of limp ballads with unchallenging lyrics, which the Boyz sing effusively.

In an apparent attempt to duplicate the mondo-success of “End of the Road,” producer/writer Babyface came up with an equally uninspired song and presto--another No. 1 single. The hit, “I’ll Make Love to You,” includes such by-the-book lyrics as: I’ll make love to you / Like you want me to / And I’ll hold you tight / Baby all through the night.

Boyz II Men might be tempted to work with more innovative writers if sales didn’t indicate the fans’ desire to live vicariously through the dull romanticism of songs such as these. Only “I Sit Away,” an unpredictable track about loneliness, and the near-folky “Water Runs Dry” hint at what the Boyz might be if they worked with more inventive material.

New albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor) to four (excellent).