Listen to me: Chan, the critic, gives his slant on this week's new releases

Chan Tran

Backstreet Boys: Black and Blue (Jive)

The key to the Boys' success has been their songwriters and producers. Behind every technically perfect vocal delivery and the choreography are the songs: tightly written, childish lyrics, three-minute pop music perfection designed to fit upbeat pre-programmed beats.

Max Martin, the Swedish version of Diane Warren ("I Don't Want To Miss A Thing," "How Do I Live"), returns for his third production job.

Most casual listeners, and surprisingly the fans, do not know that the reason why the Boys, Britney Spears and 'Nsync are still around is because of this man.

Martin's songs have a signature style: Europop dance beats, staccato vocal breaths and growls, short instrumental breaks between the verses and the occasional no-beat opening filled with strumming guitars. Martin is from the same school of songwriting as Maurice Starr who wrote 90 percent of the "New Kids On The Block" songs.

Hearing the first single, "Shape Of My Heart," is no different than listening to the group's last five singles. The beat is the same as songs such as "I Want It That Way," "Quit Playing Games With My Heart" and "As Long As You Love Me." The nonsensical words are only chosen because they fit into the melody and the structure is the exact duplicate of the ones mentioned.

Elsewhere on the album, "The Call" and "Everyone" are duplicates of past concert-opening hits "Larger Than Life," and "Everybody." They have not gone too far from tried-and-true formulaic upbeat sound, including the walls of harmony that fill the albums elementary-lovesick ballads.

Boy bands come and go because of prolific pop writers like Martin, who are in demand when there is an opening for teenybopper music – a five-year cycle it seems. As soon as Martin's muse runs low, the recent waves of teen artists will be left in non-credibility hell.

The Boys gave their alter-egos the Meaty Cheesy Boys a jab with the Burger King-exclusive release "It's True," which was available for several months.

Maybe they did not get the intended joke about their career.
 

Oasis: Familiar to Millions (Epic)

The Gallagher brothers, who seem to quit and rejoin the band on a daily basis, are continuing their non-traditional road to obscurity with a double-disc set that was recorded over a two-day event at London's Wembley Stadium. Perhaps they think that having 70,000 fans for each night deserves a global release.

However, Oasis' strength does not lie in its live concerts.

In the studio, songs such as "Wonderwall" and "Supersonic" thrive because of the production skills of Owen Morris, who knew how to tame Liam's snarl and compensated for Noel's lack of guitar skills with careful mixing.

Live versions of Oasis songs sound murky and lazy, except for the occasional bright spots when Noel, the only talented member, is alone on stage with his acoustic guitar.

Familiar to millions proves that the band's concerts are nothing more than a bunch of guys trying to sound important. Noel deserves praises for subjecting his melodic songs to lackluster performances from his band.

Maybe the band does not want to live forever.

Chan Tran is a print journalism major at Cal State Long Beach.