Ralphy's C.D. Reviews

Review date 10-02-1999: Another Level - C.D. Another Level

When I first saw and heard Another Level (it was the video of "Freak me") I thought something like: "Oh no, not another boy band". In my humble opinion the world is already way to crowded with the likes of the Backstreet Boys, N'Sync, Five etcetera, but as I heard "Freak me" more often it kinda grew on me (and most people) and it deservedly became a major hit in 1998. Through an internet-contest I won among other things the self-titled debut-album of Another Level and so I got to know more of their music.

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Another Level is an UK based singing quartet. The members are Dane Bowers, Mark Baron, Wayne Williams and Bobak Kianoush. They differ from other boy bands through their choice of musical style. They themselves refer to their music as Rhythm & Blues, but to me it has nothing to do with blues. I would call their music soft romantic soul music. Their biggest break until now was being the opening act for some of Janet Jackson's concerts.

PS Wayne Williams and Bobak Kianoush have left the band and are being replaced. (21/12/1999)

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Their first album contains 11 songs of which already 4 singles have been extracted. The first being a cooperation with rapper Jay-Z called "Be alone no more", the second was the above mentioned hugely successful "Freak me", followed by the moderate success of "Guess I was a fool". The latest and fourth (in january) released single is "I want you for myself", which is besides "Freak me" the best song on the album. The album was put together with help from known artists like Shola Ama and Keith Sweat and on it you can hear that the boys do have vocal qualities and their voices complement each other. The lyrics are very basic and simple and all about the easiest chosen topic of love. What annoys me is that on about every second song somewhere the band name has to be included, but that's a rap thing, I think, and rap in general annoys me. Don't expect great musical highlights on this CD, but it ain't bad for easy listening especially when a girlfriend is near and you are in a romantic mood. The album which is almost 45 minutes long is rated by me with a 6.0 .

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