Welcome Back to 98° for Phase ‘2.0’

They’re back for the first time in over 10 years!  98° – Nick, Justin, Drew and Jeff – makes a timely return with a new album, the independently released 2.0 (available in Canada by eOne Entertainment), and a May-to-August North American tour in support of New Kids On The Block.  And I say timely for multiple reasons, one being a return in pop music to an appreciation of very fine voices which are a prime reason these days why records are being bought.

I first heard 98° on the radio back in 1997, when a local Top 40/Dance station interviewed them on air.  With being newly signed to Motown Records and a flavour at the time that skewed more R&B than pop, they sounded like a pretty laid back but eager-to-please quartet from Ohio, and they ended up with a huge single out of the box with “Invisible Man”.  I was definitely impressed.  They left Motown as it was being absorbed into the Universal Music fold at the time and moved on to Universal proper where their biggest hits awaited them – “Because Of You”, “The Hardest Thing”, “Give Me Just One Night (Una Noche)”, and the Grammy-nominated #1 “Thank God I Found You” with Mariah Carey and Joe.  And like some groups caught up in the boy band era of 1997-2003 (most of whom split up), the guys went on indefinite hiatus, while Nick Lachey of course got a solo hit in 2006 with “What’s Left Of Me” and recorded two albums, and brother Drew won on (and later co-hosted a season of) “Dancing With The Stars”.

So as I say, the key selling feature of 2.0 is the guys’ voices, which have never sounded better.  First single “Microphone” (below) takes square aim at drawing in the younger audience with a peppy pop number that in a most complimentary way wouldn’t sound out of place on a Jonas Brothers album.  The best songs are the slower ones.  “Take The Long Way Home” is the album’s true stunner that takes its time to enthrall you.  Other stand out songs are “Agree On Goodbye”, “Lonely”, and “Hush Hush”.  The album only stumbles when it veers into dated Timbaland/will.i.am kind of territory with “AYO” , and “Impossible Things”, which treads unevenly on Jason Mraz acoustics.

But they have timed it right, given the recent new releases by singers like Justin Timberlake and Robin Thicke, and I think through exposure and pop radio play 98° will earn back their place on the charts while still keeping their fans from their heyday.