Sunday, May 11, 1997

Brotherly trio is paper thin but incessant

The song you'll soon hear blasting from every car slow-rolling through the Market is Hanson's indelible blast of sunshine, MMMBop. Okay, it's paper-thin and nonsensical, but in the hands of masters, a hook as catchy as this will penetrate your defences and make you smile when you catch it on an oldies radio show 10 years from now.

The strange part is it's the product of three teen brothers from Tulsa -- guitarist Isaac, keyboardist Taylor and drummer Zac Hanson -- who wouldn't look out of place sucking a Big Gulp in front of your neighborhood 7-Eleven. If only the street-corner lurkers in my neighborhood could sing like a slacker Al Green.

Unlike, say, the Backstreet Boys or Spice Girls, Hanson actually write their own songs and play their instruments. But they do get some heavy-duty production and songwriting help from Beck-and-Beastie Boys' collaborators The Dust Brothers, as well as Brill Building songwriting legends Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil and Aerosmith's songwriter for hire, Desmond Child.

It's a slick package, but there's a guilelessness and innocence to tracks like Where Is The Love that reminds me of the early Jackson 5 singles. Somewhere in the middle of Middle Of Nowhere it starts to sag, but you'd have to be a real curmudgeon to resist Hanson's charms.

Track Listing 1. MMMBop 2. Thinking of you 3. Weird 4. Speechless 5. Where's the love 6. Yearbook song 7. Look at you 8. Lucy 9. I will come to you 10. A minute without you 11. Madeline 12. With you in your dreams		Album rating