The Latest Edition

It’s a feverish afternoon as Ralph Tresvant, Johnny Gill, Ricky Bell, Michael Bivins and Ronnie DeVoe--five of the six members of the reunited New Edition--go through an energetic dance routine in a small Hollywood rehearsal studio.

But the performers--who in the ‘80s were part of the hottest teen-based group in R&B; since the Jackson 5--are interrupted by the shout of manager Brooke Payne.

“No, no, no! That’s not it!” declares Payne, who is also the group’s longtime choreographer and DeVoe’s uncle. A short, muscular man with a stocky build and purposeful manner, he demonstrates an intricate series of steps that he wants them to use when performing their reunion single, “Hit Me Off,” for a British TV program.

When he’s finished, the singers try to duplicate his steps and when it begins to come together you can picture them years ago as fiery teenagers back in the basement of South End Boys Club in Roxbury, Mass. That’s where the core of New Edition practiced with Payne.

Signed by Maurice Starr’s tiny Streetwise Records in 1983, the group caused such a stir in the R&B; world that it soon stepped up to MCA Records, where it ran off a string of nine Top 10 R&B; singles and six Top 40 pop singles, including the puppy-love anthem “Mr. Telephone Man.”

The group’s success was so striking that its members couldn’t resist breaking away to pursue solo careers, led in 1985 by Bobby Brown, whose hugely successful “Don’t Be Cruel” album in 1988 introduced the New Jack Swing era in pop. Subsequently, everyone else in the group also had successful spinoff projects.

Though all the members continued to speak fondly of reuniting New Edition, the name collected dust until this summer.

As the group continues to rehearse, the door suddenly opens and Brown enters, munching on a cheeseburger. He eyes the dancers for an instant and then joins them in perfect unison, even though he has missed rehearsals all week.

“Damn,” Payne says, watching them proudly, “I finally feel like I’m watching New Edition.”

Brown, Bell, Bivins, DeVoe, Gill and Tresvant may have recaptured their dance steps, but there’s a lot of record industry debate over their prospects of heating up the charts once more. Ten years is a long time in pop, and a whole new generation of R&B; stars has come and gone since the days of “Mr. Telephone Man” and “Candy Girl.”

Even the solo careers, after a fast start, have cooled considerably. “Bobby,” Brown’s 1992 formal follow-up to “Don’t Be Cruel,” was a major disappointment.

So there will be a lot of industry attention directed at how well “Home Again,” the reunion album, does when it hits the stores on Tuesday. (See accompanying review.)

One good sign: The “Hit Me Off” single is off to a fast start. The record, an up-tempo dance tune that combines trademark New Edition singing and rapping with some contemporary hip-hop bounce, entered the national pop charts in late August at No. 2.

“It’s better late than never,” Brown, the most high-profile and outspoken of the New Edition team, says during a rehearsal break.

“Of course everybody wants some more money,” he says when asked whether the reunion was financially motivated. “I’m the last person to say I couldn’t use a few more million.”

But Brown, who is married to Whitney Houston, says there’s also pride at stake in the comeback. He and his colleagues want more hits and renewed respect.

“All the male R&B; singers better watch out--we’re the kings, and we’ve come back for our crowns,” he says. “Our heads are getting cold.”

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New Edition was formed in 1981 by Brown, Bivins, Bell and Tresvant, and the pubescent quartet performed in local talent shows, where they were discovered by Payne, who added DeVoe to the group. He still marvels when he recalls the youngsters’ raw talent.

“They had this magic, this chemistry, even as little kids,” Payne remembers. “When I saw how driven they were, I spent all of my time grooming them and shaping them into who they wanted to be.”

It seemed just a quick step until they were signed by Streetwise and were in the studio recording “Candy Girl.”

“That record was so hot, we ended up recording the rest of the songs in two weeks,” recalls Bivins during the rehearsal break. “The next thing I know, we were performing at New York’s Roseland Theatre, and Kurtis Blow and some local girl named Madonna were opening for us.”

After Brown left for a solo career, New Edition added Johnny Gill for its 1988 “Heart Break” album, which was only modestly successful measured against Brown’s monster hit. By 1989, Bell, Bivins and DeVoe had formed a successful hip-hop trio. And soon after, Gill and Tresvant released successful solo albums. New Edition seemed very much like old news.

As their various members’ careers languished in recent years, however, there was continuing speculation that they would eventually re-form New Edition. One reason for the long delay, according to Brown, was bad feelings between he and Bell, Bivins and DeVoe. Brown would not elaborate, but the road back began when Tresvant, who had stayed in constant touch with Brown, suggested that the members patch up their differences and work toward reuniting the group.

“Ralph finally sat all of us down and said, ‘We’ve known each other too long to have this beef,’ ” Brown said. “We’re all a lot more mature now and know exactly how to get what we want.”

It’s been a slow process, however. The group spent two years, off and on, working on the reunion album.

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It’s two days after the rehearsal at Universal Studios and dozens of people in line for the Jurassic Park ride get a bonus. They get to see the rebirth of R&B; dinosaurs. TV cameras and cranes move into place as New Edition prepares to film a segment for Britain’s “Top of the Pops.”

“Being together feels much better than before,” DeVoe says. “When Bobby left, he was the first to see that our music wasn’t growing with us, and he got fed up. This time around we control our destiny. We’re not the same puppets on a string as we were when we were kids. We have creative control now. Our success, [or] our failure, will be a direct result of what we do.”

Stepping into the sun, he adds: “I’m ready to rip it. I’ve waited years for this.”

But there is a Catch-22 in the game plan. Brown and Gill are expected to release solo albums over the next few months, which means the New Edition album could just be helping to reposition them for solo careers--meaning the group could be left in the dust again.

For now, however, they plan to tour and hope the album catches fire. Gill downplays the idea that the group could be shattered all over again. He thinks there will always be a place for New Edition.

“Everybody needs that chance to have their moment in the sun and have all the attention,” he says, explaining his desire for solo projects. “But it’s even better to have the supporting cast and let someone else take center stage. That’s why no one is making us do this. We are only doing this because we want to do it.”