The album kicks off with "Honest Lover" a track that may or may not be an intro. However, because it's over 5 minutes long, I'm going to evaluate it as a song. overall, it's not bad. It's not as meaty as a standard track (hence my suspect that it's an intro), but the vocals are nice on it. It just seems to be missing some of the undescribables found on the group's first album.
The second track of the album, "Wanna Do You Right" features a reeled in K-Ci. For much of the song he is relatively calm, allowing his voice to shine. The track sounds nice with K-Ci performing strong on the verses. The song has the usual symptom of ending with the chorus just a few too many times but the beat works nicely as the protagonist apologizes for being a poor partner in the relationship and seeking to redeem himself.
From there, the album hits a rough spot with "Get Back," an uninspired track in which a guy hopes a girl will "get back to him" after he met her. The chorus is clustered and boring, as are the lyrics. As of this point, the album really seems to have lost a lot of the brother's strength.
Finally picking itself up, the album's fourth track is the hit single "Crazy." The song has solid vocals from JoJo and while the chorus is a bit repetitive, it's incredibly catchy and seduces you into singing along. Overall it's a great, highly infectious song that offers some hope for the rest of the album.
Unfortunately, the album wastes no time falling back into the bowels of music as "Game Face" is a terrible song. It starts off with a catchy beat and really, the catchiness of the song is the only redeeming feature. The lyrics are atrocious, for example "I'm about ready to move on/Like Fidel Castro or Al Capone, Jodeci" or a piece of the chorus "Got it goin' on/ When I wrote this song/ Saw it in the mirror with my game face on." The brothers can do up-tempo (as seen on their next album with the solid "It's Me") but what they were thinking with this track is beyond me.
Keeping the trend, "Thug N U Thug N Me" is a vulgar track about sex. While the track censors the curse words in it, there presence is consistent appearing over and over and with the word "nigga" being used several times in the chorus alone. A post mortem 2pac is featured on the track and while his lyrics are where most of the cursing comes in, are the better part of the song. Why the group is trying for a thugged out image on this cd, I don't know but it's not working thus far.
From the ashes, hope arises with the absolutely incredible "If It's Going To Work." In the track, the guys plead with a girl, knowing they were wrong in the past, but if they want the relationship to succeed, she needs to trust them now. The chorus works well and is played just the right amount (though it would have been better to play the chorus again at the end than to have K-Ci's ramblings). The track was perfect, short and sweet.
The album continues with the strong numbers, with the impressive "All the Things I Should Have Known." I feel guilty saying this twice in a row, but the song was arranged perfectly. The guys sound best when they alternate segments in the same verse (see Still Waiting off Love Always) as it really brings out the strong contrasts in their voices. The number works well and is one of the best tracks on the cd.
"I Can't Find The Words" is a nice loving track with K-Ci really shining on the verses. The song is ripe with metaphors, comparing a lover to a variety of things such as "A cool summer breeze." While the chorus might be a little too laid back, it works, and the song is a nice piece throughout.
Closing out the first ten tracks of the cd is "Something Inside of Me." This track is very well done with great vocals by Jojo. It is about loving a girl and finding yourself incomplete without her. Throughout, the track is really well done and continues the trend of quality in the second half of the album.
"One Last Time" has an interesting twist to it. While K-Ci and JoJo typically have a very dominant chorus in their tracks, there isn't really any chorus to speak of here. Yet the song works well because of it. Pleading with a lover to spend just one last time with him, the osng works nicely. The vocals are on point and the song is really well made.
While many people have criticized the song, the best track on the album in my opinion is "Suicide." The song has some truly compelling lines, with the entire second verse being REAL impressive. "When I look down on you I can see that I have made you sad/ It's too late for me to change it/ Only God can explain it" is only a portion of the beautiful verse. The song is well done and truly brings a tear to the eye. Great work.
After finally redeeming itself, the album ends on an awful note with "Ooh Yeah." The song is clustered with a variety of things going on at once and has a similar vive to the earlier "Game Face." The song is about how the brothers were the first of their style and now a lot of people are copying it. But they're telling the people who buy their cds and love their music, we don't need to hear this. A disappointing ending.