Backstreet Boys (Jive)
Somewhat to this reviewer’s surprise, This Is Us isn’t a comeback album.
It turns out that the old kids on the block never split up, and have been chucking out albums regularly throughout the decade.
This Is Us sounds like most other mainstream pop albums emerging from the US about now: clean, tidy and unthreatening, layered with anonymous-sounding vocals that might as well
have been computer-generated for all the charisma they impart.
WILL FULFORD-JONES
