The Gown – student newspaper at Queen's University Belfast.

REVIEW: Boyzone – Brother

Louis Walsh’s Irish pop sensation Boyzone have been renowned for their cheesy love songs and ballads.  However their new album ‘Brother’ has changed direction.

BY CLAIRE WILLIAMSON

‘Brother’ is a nostalgic, bittersweet sound which generates genuine emotion and rawness that has not been heard before in their music. This is emphasised with the fact that Stephen Gately’s voice appears on the record, where in the hit single, ‘Gave it all away’ he hauntingly sings the line, “I will learn to live before I die”. Although there are quite a few songs in which the lyrics relate to Stephen, there are some more uplifting typically Boyzone sounding songs, for example ‘Love Is A hurricane’ and ‘Too Late for Hallelujah’. Noticeably, there is a definite shift in style, as the song ‘Ruby’ has a certain ‘Take That’ feel to it, keeping them in line with the other bands who have reformed in the last couple of years.

This album is a tribute to Stephen and it is a touching collection with many songs depicting how much he meant to his band mates. It demonstrates growth in their music and an inescapable maturity all emphasising, that whilst Stephen may be gone, he is definitely not forgotten.

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This entry was posted on Saturday, March 6th, 2010 at 4:37 pm and is filed under Arts + Entertainment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.