Hanson

HANSON
"SHOUT IT OUT"
(3CG, 2010)


Hanson really had me worried with this one. Everything I'd read about "Shout It Out" suggested I'd love it, so I hurriedly bought it when it was released a few months back, eagerly popped it in and listened ... and for the first time, I came away from a Hanson album underwhelmed. Did the purely incidental fact that they're married and are starting families (consequently bringing attention to the fact that they're getting older) make the album's sound -- decidedly of a more youthful pop bent than pretty much every album since their debut -- seem forced? Because of my nonplused reaction the album went unheard, sitting on my shelf, for several weeks ... until a few days ago. What a difference a month or so makes!

Apparently it just needed time to sink in ... not just the album's subtle charms, but also the realization that musicians don't always need to act their age. Indeed, with the weighty themes and moody textures they gravitated toward on "This Time Around" and "The Walk", and even to a lesser degree on "Underneath", one could argue that it's about time they let loose again. But then, this is Hanson we're talking about, and with the sophisticated sense of melody and structure they've always had and have only refined over the years, they can only make themselves sound so young anymore. The liberal use of a horn section helps, and what says "fun" more than adding a cowbell to the percussion? As if to illustrate the two extremes of the album, my favorites happen to be the syncopated pseudo-Motown bouncer "Give a Little" on the youthful side, and the sumptuously gospel-ish love song "Kiss Me When You Come Home" on the grown-up end. And "Voice In The Chorus" is one of the best anthems I've heard in quite a little while.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: if you dismissed Hanson as a bubble-gum pop act with their first album and the ubiquitous single "MMMBop" and haven't given them a second thought, you really don't know what you've been missing in the twelve(!) years since. Hanson have yet to fail in delivering a thoroughly listenable album, or in impressing me with their songwriting skills and musicianship, so take it from me: they deserve a listen.

Buy it digitally on iTunes
Buy it on CD from Amazon