Hanson

Middle Of Nowhere

Score one for the homeschoolers!

Review Score:

(10/10)
I have definitely developed a taste for boy singers. Five years ago, the sound of one of those boy choirs was almost an offense to my ears. I was practically president of the Absolutely NO Boy Singers! club. But between then and now, one thing after another happened, and here I am with Middle of Nowhere in my hands. I'm actually grinning at the pictures on the front and back of the album (I used to be co-president of the All Boys Should Have Supershort Hair club, too). I've heard that Hanson is thought of as a bubblegum band, but I do not see why. No bubblegum band ever sounded, or sang songs, like this. And (among other things), I'm a connoisseur of blonde teenybopper bubblegum music, so I should know.

Middle of Nowhere starts off with the high-spirited (and high-pitched) Thinkin' Of You.
Something about Hanson is that they make me grin. It is impossible to be sour while listening to Hanson, and this track is especially I-feel-happy, I-sorta-feel-like-dancing. Actually, more like jumping up and down, really enthusiastically. At any rate, that's what Taylor does when they sing this one live. Don't ask me how he can jump and play keyboard at the same time.

Ah yes. The much-loved (and, by some, much-maligned) MMMbop. I don't see what there is to malign. And I am fully qualified to comment on this, as back in '97, I was not a thirteen-year-old with a crush on Taylor. MMMbop was by no means my first Hanson song. Sure, one can decide to dislike it, and make snide comments about the relative high-pitchedness, and slightly juvenile attitude. But whatever slight faults this song may or may not have, they are far outweighed by all the good things about it. This is a great song, it really is. It's one-of-a-kind. I certainly have never heard any songs along similar lines.

Weird-Gotta love the harmonies on this one. Harmonies is one of the things they're best at. `When you live in a cookie-cutter world, being different is a sin/So you don't stand out/and you don't fit in...' Well, what is there to say? I've been there, I know what they mean.

I like `Speechless'. My favourite part of the song is at the end of the first refrain, when Taylor makes this funny little noise. I just discovered this last night, and I grin every time I think of it. Second favourite is the part that goes `I get suspicious when you call me someone else's name'.

`Where's The Love?'-Anything that makes me bounce, with its high level of energy, with a catchy melody and lyrics, and which furthermore has Ike singing in the coolest part of the song, is sure to be ranked high on my list. And it is.

Look At You-I think of this song as `Dancing Queen' from a different perspective.. Another high-energy, enjoyable track. I especially like the bit at the end, when someone who could only be Zac, gets really enthusiastic. He was always good at that.

Another thing about Hanson is that not only is their sound completely unique (who sounds even remotely like Hanson?) they sing songs unlike anything done by anyone else. Case in point: `Yearbook'. This is a very cool and kind of creepy song. `I'm looking through the yearbook, and I find that empty space/There's a name without a picture, but I can't forget his face.....' This song drives me crazy, wondering just where did Johnny go? And the (kind of) school setting makes one forget that the guys in Hanson were homeschooled!

Lucy-Every time I hear this, I go `Awwww!' and it makes me want to pat the lead singer (I think it's Zac in this one) on the head, and tell him it's going to be all right. He sounds all sad and lonely, it is so cute. Maternal instincts, y'know.

Something that sets Hanson apart is that unlike other young singers, they don't shy away from singing songs having to do with love. I like that.

Madeline is a fun track, I only wish it wouldn't skip on my cd player...

A Minute Without You-just leaves me caught up in the infectious melody and high-spirited lyrics. It makes me sort of want to sing along. I usually reserve singing along for female singers, so it's saying a lot, feeling like singing along with them.

I Will Come To You-Lyrics, melody, I love this song. If you listen to this track, and then go back to earlier songs like `MMMbop' or `Thinkin' Of You', you'll notice that Taylor's voice is several notes higher in the beginning of the cd then it is in the later songs, like this one.

With You In Your Dreams-`If I'm gone when you wake up/please don't cry/and if I'm gone when you wake up/it's not goodbye/Don't look back on this time as a time of heartbreak and distress/Remember me/remember me/cause I'm with you in your dreams...' This is a really good track. The backup vocalizations make me think of gospel, or soul.

`It started at a bus stop, in the middle of nowhere/Sitting beside me was a man with no hair/From the look on his face, to the size of his toes/he comes from a place that nobody knows...' Well, what is there to say? Man From Milwaukee is definitely the craziest track on this album. `He says where he's from is called Albertane/There they use more than ten percent of the brain/But you couldn't tell it from the way they behave/They run around in underwear, and they never shave.....' This is just the sort of thing I would expect Zac to come up with. He's a crazy one, is Zac.
Picking favourites was never something I was good at, but if I had to choose one favourite song from this album, Man From Milwaukee would probably be it.

More Reviews: