Boyzone: 'Back Again... No Matter What'

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It makes sense that Boyzone, the pop group designed as an "Irish Take That", only reformed after Gary Barlow and co pulled off an impressive comeback. Like their Manchester forebears, Boyzone jump-started their reunion with a big budget arena tour, but they're proceeding rather more cautiously now, releasing an updated greatest hits set before they record their version of Beautiful World.

Back Again... No Matter What isn't quite definitive, omitting a couple of early singles, but the majority of the group's hits are present and correct, alongside a live version of Ronan Keating's 'Life Is A Rollercoaster' and three new songs. In customary fashion, one of the new tracks, a retro-pop nugget called 'Love You Anyway' that shoots for Motown but ends up sounding like
Wizzard, recently became the group's 17th chart single.

The second newbie, a gurgling electropop track called 'Can't Stop Thinking About You', sticks out as conspicuously here as 'Better', the third, neatly fits in. Like many of Boyzone's hits, 'Better' is a pleasant but inconsequential pop ballad with a humdrum melody and lyrics from the Clinton Cards school of songwriting. It's also a cover - of a minor hit by Cornish singer-songwriter Tom Baxter - as are half of Back Again's 18 tracks.

Those covers tend to be unadventurous in both choice and execution - evergreens from the Bee Gees, Cat Stevens and Tracy Chapman all get the Magic Radio treatment - but at least they have choruses you remember after the song ends. Would that the same could always be said of Boyzone's originals. For every fun, catchy 'Picture Of You', Back Again features at least two boring, icky ballads like 'Every Day I Love You' and 'All That I Need'.

But it won't do to be too harsh, because Back Again offers a nice enough listen if you're in the mood for a bit of nineties nostalgia. Trouble is, only two or three of Boyzone's hits really transcend their era, and none of these is a pop classic to rival 'Pray' or 'Back For Good'. The sad truth about Boyzone is that what began with Take That, a boyband who had personality and plenty of decent tunes, ultimately led to Westlife, one with neither.


> Click here to read our interview with Boyzone's Stephen Gately