All-4-One – All-4-One

Peaking at #10 the eponymous debut album for the male R&B group represents their zenith of popularity. This band is close enough to a one-hit wonder that the individual members of the band have not been deemed important enough by Wikipedia editors to warrant pages of their own.

The early to mid-90s was a fertile time for boy bands, examples include Boys II Men, NSYNC, and Backstreet Boys. Many of them can trace their success to The New Kids on the Block who were successful in the mid to late-80s.

I have to admit that one of the hits off this album, I Swear, I always though was an NSYNC or Backstreet Boys song. In fact it was originally by none of them and was a John Michael Montgonery country song. The only other song off the album I recall hearing 30ish years ago is So Much in Love which is also a cover. I'm often against covers of songs especially when the cover doesn't bring a new style or perspective to the song. I Swear translated a country song to R&B which makes it somewhat interesting, but the cover So Much in Love is very similar to the original keeping the doo-wop style.

In summary, this album will not be included in my future playlists. I was never into boy bands (*) when they were popular, and 30 years of my changing musical tastes (and they have changed, I swear!) has not broadened enough to include this album.

(*) There are some songs that are exceptions…