Jonas Brothers

JONAS BROTHERS
"JONAS BROTHERS" (THE BONUS JONAS EDITION)
(Hollywood, 2007)


"Hollywood"


At first, the Jonas Brothers and I -- for lack of a better way to put it -- "agreed to disagree". I had grown (and continue to be) rather bored with the kind of emo-pop made popular by bands like Busted, and when I read the track listing of the Jonas Brothers' now out-of-print debut album, "It's About Time", and saw that three of the first five tracks were covers (two of Busted songs and one of an LFO song), I was completely unimpressed. To be fair, I should point out that my displeasure was directed more at the label and their management, in a "Don't they have enough confidence in these boys' talent to let them do their own songs instead of other people's?" kind of way.

Fast-forward a year and a half: After hearing them on Ellen DeGeneres' talk show and one or two other places, I admitted to myself that their songs didn't seem too bad. I started becoming curious, and began wondering if there wasn't something behind the juggernaut of hysteria about these kids. So finally, in early March of this year, I found myself in Best Buy looking at the track listing of their "Bonus Jonas Edition" CD, and -- thanks to the absence of all but one of the above-mentioned cover songs -- decided to take the plunge and buy it. Now, I can finally say, I get it! I can see what's behind all the Jonas-mania!

To my surprise, I was met with one fun and catchy song after another ... "S.O.S." is a terrific emo-pop single ... "Goodnight And Goodbye" is a bouncy slice of ska ... "Games" shifts effortlessly between its rocking crunchy-guitar chorus and swaying reggae verses ... "Just Friends" is a classic anthem of unrequited teen love ... and "When You Look Me In The Eyes" is the best power-ballad I've heard in a good few years ... and those are just the highlights! I was even more impressed when I found out that the boys did almost all of the songwriting themselves. (That's the one thing I hate about the album's packaging: there are no liner notes, so I had to go online and look up that fact for myself.)

Bottom line: Joe, Kevin, and Nick Jonas are some seriously talented young men, destined to become the next Hanson -- as if they haven't already. Their next album is due out later this year; with a little luck, they'll maintain their popularity while being given the chance to mature as songwriters and performers ... something I look forward to watching. Now, if only I could get my hands on a time machine so I could go back and buy the DualDisc edition of "It's About Time" at retail price....