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: they're no longer kids but don't quite know how to be adults. Now that all the members save Joey McIntyre are pushing 40, the group abandons sprightly bubblegum for youthful rhythm-driven club music. At their peak, NKOTB sang about puppy love, since their fans were almost entirely preteens too young to hear sticky songs of seduction, the kind that comprise the entirety of The Block. ...
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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: they're no longer kids but don't quite know how to be adults. Now that all the members save Joey McIntyre are pushing 40, the group abandons sprightly bubblegum for youthful rhythm-driven club music. At their peak, NKOTB sang about puppy love, since their fans were almost entirely preteens too young to hear sticky songs of seduction, the kind that comprise the entirety of The Block. Draped in washes of chilly analog synths, chanting choruses, and brittle, skittish rhythms, The Block is a modernized New Kids. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi
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