The Block

by New Kids on the Block

Overview

The problem facing New Kids on the Block on their 2008 reunion The Block is the same one they had on their last album, 1994's Face the Music: the quintet are no longer kids and don't quite know how to be adults. That dilemma drove them apart back in 1994, as the group stumbled away from their clumsy stab at hip-hop on Face the Music, remembered chiefly for embarrassments like "Dirty Dawg" where the boys tried to be gangsta, as that was the style of the time. Fourteen years later, NKOTB are none the wiser, restyling themselves to fit into current trends and piling on guest artists by the dozens. Coming off the heels of the astounding multi-platinum success of Hangin' Tough and Step by Step, such desperate attempts to hang onto stardom made sense in 1994, but now that all the members save Joey McIntyre are pushing 40, it's awkward to hear the group abandon sprightly bubblegum for youthful rhythm-driven club music. At their peak, NKOTB only sang about puppy love -- how could they not, as their fans were almost entirely preteens too young to hear sticky songs of seduction, the kind that comprise the entirety of The Block. Two of these are pitched directly at those older fans -- "Big Girl Now," where the Kids sing to Lady GaGa about what they can finally do now that they're all growed up, and "Grown Man," where they sing pretty much the same thing with the Pussycat Dolls. They also turn an homage to "Dirty Dancing" into a bump and grind that is far, far from the innocence of the Patrick Swayze original, or the New Kids music, for that matter. Draped in washes of chilly analog synths straight out of Justin Timberlake's FutureSex/LoveSounds, Autotune inspired by Akon (who appears on the barroom pickup anthem "Put It on My Tab"), chanting choruses, and brittle, skittish rhythms, The Block sounds nothing like the New Kids, nor does it feel like them, either. [The CD was also released with bonus tracks.] ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Product Details

Release Date:	09/02/2008
Label:	Interscope
UPC:	0602517814035

Tracks

1. Click Click Click
2. Single
3. Big Girl Now
4. Summertime
5. 2 in the Morning
6. Grown Man
7. Dirty Dancing
8. Sexify My Love
9. Twisted
10. Full Service
11. Lights, Camera, Action
12. Put It on My Tab
13. Stare at You
14. One Song
15. Don't Cry
16. Officially Over
17. Looking Like Danger

Album Credits

Performance Credits

New Kids on the Block   Primary Artist,Vocals (Background)
Tom McIntyre   Primary Artist
Alma Wahlberg   Primary Artist
The Pussycat Dolls   Primary Artist,Featured Artist,Vocals (Background)
New Edition   Primary Artist,Featured Artist,Vocals (Background)
Akon   Primary Artist,Vocals,Featured Artist,Vocals (Background)
Lady Gaga   Primary Artist,Featured Artist,Vocals (Background)
Teddy Riley   Primary Artist,Featured Artist,Vocals (Background)
Seventeen   Primary Artist,Featured Artist
Ne-Yo   Primary Artist,Guest Artist,Featured Artist
Adam Messinger   Various Instruments
Joe Wolfe   Keyboards
Hakim Abdulsamad   Various Instruments
Joaquin Bynum   Vocals (Background)
Nasri Atweh   Vocals (Background)
Emanuel Kiriakou   Keyboards
NKOTB   Vocals (Background)
Jerome Harmon   Various Instruments
Joshua   Featured Artist
Dino   Featured Artist
DK   Featured Artist
RedOne   Various Instruments,Vocals (Background)

Technical Credits

Teddy Riley   Engineer,Producer,Audio Production
B. Kennedy   Composer
Julian Vasquez   Assistant Engineer
Chris Billias   Assistant Engineer
Aliaume Thiam   Composer,Producer
J. Knight   Composer
Adam Messinger   Instrumentation,Audio Production,Mixing,Composer,Engineer,Producer,Vocal Producer
Claude Kelly   Composer
Dan Tracy   Assistant Engineer
Jamal Jones   Composer
Richard "Biff" Stannard   Composer
Fareed Salamah   Assistant Engineer
Timothy Mosley   Composer
Timbaland   Producer,Audio Production
Gene Grimaldi   Mastering
Tom Syrowski   Engineer
Fernando Garibay   Arranger,Composer,Engineer,Producer,Programming,Instrumentation
Bryan-Michael Cox   Composer,Producer
Donnie Wahlberg   Composer,Producer,Programming,Group Member,Executive Producer
Space Cowboy   Producer,Remix Engineer
Chris Godbey   Mixing,Engineer
Vincent Herbert   A&R Assistance
Hakim Abdulsamad   Composer,Engineer,Producer,Instrumentation,Audio Production
Joaquin Bynum   Composer
Nasri Atweh   Composer,Producer,Vocal Producer,Audio Production
Tyler Thurmond   Composer,Programming
Tony Terrebonne   Engineer
Shaffer Smith   Composer
Chris Kasych   Assistant Engineer
A. Pearce   Composer
Pearce   Composer
Olaf Heine   Photography
Ben Chang   Engineer
Perry Geyer   Engineer
Paul Orescan   Marketing
Benjamin Chang   Engineer
Jasper Cameron   Composer
Cornell Haynes   Composer
RedOne   Mixing,Composer,Engineer,Producer,Programming,Remix Engineer,Remix Producer,Vocal Producer,Instrumentation,Audio Production
D. Riley   Composer
Pat Thrall   Editing
Emanuel Kiriakou   Composer,Engineer,Producer,Programming,Audio Production
Jean-Marie Horvat   Mixing
Joey McIntyre   Composer,Group Member
Martin Kierszenbaum   A&R,Executive Producer
Robert Orton   Mixing
K. Livingston   Composer
Richard Stanard   Composer
Jerome Harmon   Composer,Producer,Instrumentation
Jimmy Iovine   Executive Producer
Rick Rock   Producer,Instrumentation
Kasia Livingston   Composer
Phantogram   Remix Engineer
Julian Peploe   Art Direction
Polow da Don   Producer,Audio Production
C. Haynes   Composer
F. Garibay   Composer
Ricardo Thomas   Composer
Lloyd Polite   Composer
Steve Rice   Assistant Engineer
H. Abdoulsamad   Composer
L. Politte   Composer
Hakeem Abdulsamad   Composer
Don Covay   Composer
Dejanee Riley   Composer
Hakim Abdoulsamad   Composer
Richardo Thomas   Composer
Jordan Knight   Composer,Group Member
Ne-Yo   Producer,Audio Production
Aaron Pearce   Composer,Engineer,Producer,Instrumentation
Keith Gretlein   Engineer
Allen Toussaint   Composer
Akon   Audio Production
Brian Kennedy   Composer,Composer
StoneBridge   Producer,Remix Engineer
Zukhan Bey   Composer,Drum Programming
James Fauntleroy   Composer
Matty Green   Editing,Engineer
Lady Gaga   Composer,Producer
Jeremy Page   Engineer
Atozzio Towns   Composer,Vocal Producer
Skye Lewin   Engineer
Adida Kavarro   Composer,Producer
Andrea Ruffalo   Artist Coordination
Danny Wood   Group Member
Jeanne Venton   A&R
Mark "Exit" Goodchild   Mixing,Engineer
Gary Ng   A&R
Kristen Foster   Publicity
Kendrick Dean   Composer
Jared Paul   Management
Dem Jointz   Producer,Remix Engineer,Remix Producer,Vocal Producer,Instrumentation
Scott Enright   Artist Coordination
Janelle Lopez   Management