I think it’s fair to say this. I know what types of readers this zone attracts and what sets you off. Before you snarkily comment, waiting for more St. Anger Metallica or headbanging to whatever garbage Slipknot put out, remember that you don’t have a soul enough to complain about Top 40 radio until you give this album a serious listen. So suspend your judgment.
Every generation of ladies out there (and some gay men who detest musicals) has their boy bands that they fawn(ed) over. Girls hang posters over their beds and one day dream of marrying that sexy vocalist that turns into nothing more than a dark room, masturbatory fantasy. The Jonas Brothers are not Hanson; they’re not even N*Sync or the Backstreet Boys, regardless of how many comparisons people will make. This is pop-a-licious boyband craziness infused with the most specific and generic fundamental rock that actually works. With the Jonas Brothers, there is something for every girl to scream over and even the average listener to smile about. The boys and their people know their audience, and they easily do what most pop groups cannot: they play to them all the way through with a legit, heart-felt sincerity.
- BB Good
- Burnin' Up
- Shelf
- One Man Show
- Love Bug
- Tonight
- Can't Have You
- Video Girl
- Pushin' Me Away
- Sorry
- Got Me Going Crazy
- A Little Bit Longer
First thing that came to mind when listening to this disc: it’s easily more fodder for Disney pop radio that follows in the footsteps of Miley Cyrus and the High School Musical cult. The lyrics appeal, easily, to thirteen year old tweeners (that is not meant to be derogatory) who are going to go “Daddy! Daddy! Daddy! Can you download this for me?!” Whatever gap Miley Cyrus didn’t close with Hannah Montana, these barely mostly illegal hotties do and will. Eight of the twelve tracks were penned by the brothers, and they co-wrote the other four. They play their own instruments and they’re actually siblings. This puts them light-years ahead of those 90s boy acts and nearly on par with Hanson.
Regardless, I could almost hear the sounds of cash registers beeping and the sound of the cellophane being ripped off the jewel cases, and I listened. Somewhere, someone is counting their huge pile of money with a big, shit-eating grin on their face. Songs, like “Bb Good” and “Burnin’ Up,” just bleed that polished and produced bubblegum radio hit that is going to just make little girls swoon:
I don’t want to hurt you…/I just wanna kiss you! And Baby/you turn the temperature hotter/And I'm burning up/burning up for you baby, respectively.
Could you get any more “OMG I LOVE YOU JOSH-NICK-WHATEVERYOURNAMEIS!” than that? On the other side of that coin, though, is an almost perfectly tweaked pop-rock disc, sweet enough to make you "a little bit" ill. Parents are going to rip this and put it on their iPod. Moms are going to swoon, just as much as their daughters (or gay sons) and dads are going to snap their fingers to “Lovebug” as they dream about their secretary to that beautiful ukulele-into-guitar moment. (Off the record, I definitely laughed at the closing line “I dropped my pencil.” It’s so random and it fit rather well.)
You’re going to find tracks falling in and out of love all over the place. “Pushin’ Me Away” is one of those that teeters almost on the border of hard rock. I can almost hear where it could have been pushed a lot harder, maybe with a different group. I catch glimpses of where Nick Jonas parallels with Bert McCracken of The Used, vocally.
You can definitely tell this is the Brothers’ third album. There are strong points of maturity between the poppy lyrics. I was shocked by the development apparent in their music (if not always their words). This is evident in songs like “Shelf” and “A Little Bit Longer”, the latter of which is an unemotional and fairly to-the-point track written when Nick was hospitalized with diabetes. I can find the best hints of Fall Out Boy, Backstreet Boys, Maroon 5, and even some Aerosmith. The optimist in me can see where the Brothers can become the next Jimmy Eat World, if they choose that path. I see comparisons to Cheap Trick all over the internet. Yes, the lyrics are elementary, but that’s what I liked. I didn’t have to delve much deeper than what was there.
I have to say, what I like best about the Jonas Brothers (and the rest of the Disney troopers, as of late) is that they’re G-Rated. It’s back to basics, people. There’s no whorishness of Britney Spears. No skank-i-fied Christina Aguilera. Revolt against the vulgarity! My favorite case in point: “Video Girl” easily took me back to middle and high school, and all of those phony and pathetic bitches that fondled those cute, popular, pretty boys with their Catholic shirt collars popped. With this track, the Jonas Brothers promote wholesome women with a personality, leaving out the sex and complicated adolescent emotions. As an adult, it was amiably revitalizing to listen to songs unblemished by experience, disparagement, emptiness and animosity that comes with the end of those teenage years.
That the best thing that can be said about Longer is that it’s shorter. It is just long enough not to overstay the band’s welcome on your personal music player yet it is enough to remain inside your head all day long. By the end of this album, to the very last drop of the title track, you will find yourself a Jonas fan (at least secretly). This CD will sit safely next to
