CDs of the Week: Human Nature

The "CD of the Week" feature will be taking a rest for a month. No, don't worry, I won't be going anywhere. But there's a month-long special feature in store for January, which you'll find out about when it gets here. So, for its last appearance this year before it disappears for a month, here's a trio of albums for you to seriously consider picking up....


HUMAN NATURE
"REACH OUT:
THE MOTOWN RECORD"
(Columbia/Australia, 2005)




HUMAN NATURE
"DANCING IN THE STREET:
THE SONGS OF MOTOWN II"
(Columbia/Australia, 2006)




HUMAN NATURE
"GET READY"*
(Columbia/Australia, 2007)



Human Nature is a pop vocal group (yes, a "boyband") whose recording career started ten years ago and has amassed a respectable amount of album sales and a number of charting singles in their native Australia. But a few years ago, upon the release of their fourth album (preceded by a greatest hits collection), they were experiencing a significant drop in popularity, due perhaps in part to the waning popularity of the boyband phenomenon, and maybe also to their aging fan base. For their next album, they made a risky but ultimately wise decision: to release an album of Motown covers. As was proven by the fact that "Reach Out: The Motown Record" garnered Human Nature its best-selling album to date (it went six times platinum in Australia), Motown is a sub-genre of music that will always have a big audience and will never go out of style.

Michael Tierney, Andrew Tierney, Toby Allen and Phil Burton acquit themselves admirably with their renditions of many popular Motown hits, including "Baby I Need Your Loving", "I Heard It Through The Grapevine", "My Girl", "Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I'm Yours", and even on the tunes performed more famously by female singers, such as "Stop! In The Name Of Love", "Please Mr. Postman", and "(Love Is Like a) Heatwave". Closing out each album is a beautiful a cappella performance of a different Motown classic, showing off the gents' gift for vocal harmony. Considering they started out as a doo-wop group before scoring a record contract, it should be no surprise that Motown is a natural fit for them.

With their third Motown album, "Get Ready", Human Nature saved the best for last, and recruited a handful of original Motown legends to lend guest vocals to several tracks: Smokey Robinson is still in top form on "Tears Of a Clown" and the title track; The Supremes' Mary Wilson shines on "River Deep, Mountain High" and "It Takes Two"; and Martha Reeves and The Temptations also make memorable appearances on new Human Nature renditions of their original hits.

I personally enjoy Motown songs no matter who's singing them, so I could easily go in for a fourth Motown album, but the lads may be wise in limiting themselves to three. After all, one can only take a trend so far without eventually appearing to ride the coattails of other people's success. As much as I'd love to hear Human Nature sing some of the Motown gems they didn't get to ("I Second That Emotion" being the one that most immediately comes to mind), making it a trilogy feels like a perfectly natural stopping point. I must sheepishly admit that I had, at one time, Human Nature's best-of collection, but ended up trading it in since I was unimpressed. Needless to say, that was before their Motown trilogy ... so now that I'm officially a Human Nature fan, I'm gonna have to go look for it again.

*Yes, on Amazon and other U.S.-based online stores, the title is shown as "Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing", but it's really called "Get Ready". Trust me, it's the same album.