Boyz II Men Cooleyhighharmony CD

Boyz II Men's debut contains all the seeds that helped the vocal quartet blossom into one of the most popular and best-selling R&B acts of all time. Released in 1991, and quite unlike anything else in the mainstream at the time, COOLEYHIGHHARMONY ushered in an era of retro-leaning new jack soul that referenced doo-wop, vintage Motown, seductive R&B bedroom balladry, and dance-influenced grooves all at once. While aided greatly by polished, contemporary production, the center of Boyz II Men's success was their phenomenal, complex harmonies, which sounded so old-school they were newly hip.

The album's artistic success was reflected commercially. Both of the album's singles made significant chart inroads, with the elegant "It's So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday" and the smoothly grooving theme song "Motown Philly" becoming radio and MTV staples. Yet even the deeper cuts stand up, making for a thoroughly solid album that ranks as one of the best R&B releases of the '90s. And while the group's harmony-heavy R&B may have become a bit formulaic with future releases, it sounds plenty fresh and vibrant on COOLEYHIGHHARMONY.

No mere breakthrough, 1991's Cooleyhighharmony was one of the decade's biggest debuts, setting Boyz II Men well on their path to becoming what the RIAA certified the most successful R&B group of all time. Their sound, dubbed "hip-hop doo-wop" and aided in large part by the productions and arrangements of Dallas Austin, was a shrewd and flexible mix of contemporary and throwback elements. Fully exploiting the members' stunning vocal chops on ballads as a close harmony group, while hardly washed out when matched with densely layered upbeat material (new jack swing was still in full flight), the group put a mature collegiate spin on what were, at the time, the last two New Edition albums, updating the techniques reminiscent of the doo wop covered on Under the Blue Moon within a set that was as modern-sounding as the singles off Heart Break. It contains that rare mix of hot singles with several album cuts that could have just as easily been hits, the ultimate measure of a release that is both commercially and creatively successful. While the album was carried by four Top Ten R&B singles, two of which -- the swinging, anthemic "Motownphilly" and an a cappella version of the Cooley ...