FEATURE:
Vinyl Corner
Boyz II Men - II
ALTHOUGH I have spent a bit of time…
PHOTO CREDIT: American Newspapers/Gado/Getty Images
in the ‘90s for this feature, I am going to divert my attention away from the decade next week. This week, I wanted to recommend Boyz II Men and their third studio album (they released Christmas Interpretations in 1993, though II is the second album of original compositions after the remarkable debut, Cooleyhighharmony), II. Released in 1994, it is a terrific album from one of the greatest vocal groups in history. I guess we do not have acts like Boyz II Men around now. That said, the group is now a trio. Their thirteenth studio album, Under the Streetlight was released in 2017. Although they are not quite up to the level they were in the ‘90s, Nathan Morris, Wanya Morris and Shawn Stockman are keeping the flag flying! Before bringing in an article and review for II, I thought it would be worth dropping in some background information:
“II is the third studio album and second non-Christmas album (hence the title) by American R&B quartet Boyz II Men, released on August 30, 1994 on Motown Records. It contained the No. 1 singles "I'll Make Love to You" and "On Bended Knee", the latter of which replaced the former at the top of the Billboard Hot 100, making the group the third artist to replace themselves at No. 1 in the United States after Elvis Presley and The Beatles and the first to achieve the feat in 30 years.
"I'll Make Love to You" also spent 14 weeks at the top of the Hot 100 making them the first artist to achieve consecutive double digit runs at the top, with their prior single "End of the Road" topping the charts for 13 weeks and also equaled the record set by Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You" for the longest run at the top, a record which they held previously with "End of the Road". Other singles released achieved major success, including "Water Runs Dry", which reached No. 2, and "Thank You", which reached No. 21. "Vibin'", however, only reached No. 52.
The spoken track "Khalil (Interlude)" is a tribute to their road manager Khalil Roundtree who was shot in Chicago, Illinois while the band was opening for MC Hammer's Too Legit to Quit tour.[1] II became the inaugural winner of the Grammy Award for Best R&B Album, first presented at the 37th Grammy Awards in 1995.
According to producer Bob Robinson of the duo Tim & Bob, he and his partner Tim Kelley were asked by Boyz II Men to produce most of II. However, Motown Records then-president Jheryl Busby did not feel comfortable with the idea of two unknown producers dominating a second album from a group that was one of the biggest acts in the world at the time. As a result, Busby brought in Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis and Babyface to deliver hit singles for the project. Busby insisted on "I'll Make Love to You" being the first single, despite objections from the group- who felt there were songs that could have been much stronger singles. The song became one of Boyz II Men's biggest hits”.
If you can pick up II on vinyl then do, as it is not too expensive at all. I’ll Make Love to You is a classic of the period, though there are plenty of awesome songs to keep you invested from start to finish. All Around the World and On Bended Knee are among my other favourite tracks from II.
In their review of the album, this is what AllMusic noted:
“With their second album, II, Boyz II Men assured their place at the top of the charts, as well as history. "I'll Make Love to You," the album's first single, stayed on the top of the charts for over two months, only to be unseated by "On Bended Knee," the album's second single. Not surprisingly, II is a carefully constructed crowd pleaser, accentuating all of the finest moments from their hit debut. While there are some high-energy dance tracks, the album's main strength is its slower numbers, where the group's vocals soar”.
On 30th August, 2019, GRAMMY celebrated twenty-five years of II and spoke with Wanya Morris and Nathan Morris about the time. I have selected some interesting segments:
“As soon as an artist experiences success with their debut album, the shadow of the dreaded "sophomore slump" starts swirling on the horizon. In the 1990s, however, there were quite a few second album smashes that showed just how defiantly that curse can crumble under rarified musical talent, mastercraft songwriting and record-breaking runs at the top of the charts. Throughout the pre-millennium decade, Nirvana and A Tribe Called Quest delivered undeniable game changers with Nevermind and Low End Theory, TLC and Oasis more than doubled the achievements of their multi-platinum debuts with CrazySexyCool and (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?, and Boyz II Men achieved inescapable pop culture ubiquity with their 12x platinum-selling, multiple record-breaking, triple GRAMMY Award-winning album, II, which celebrates its 25th anniversary milestone this month.
Spearheaded by the strength of a pair of Billboard number one singles ("I'll Make Love To You" and "On Bended Knee") and a Billboard number two chaser ("Water Runs Dry"), II debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 album chart, maintained a solid five-week run at the top spot and ended up staying on the charts for just shy of two full years. A couple months before the release of II, the Philly foursome offered up the Babyface-penned "I'll Make Love to You" as the album's lead single and the steamy ballad had radio and MTV on absolute lockdown during the late summer of 1994. "I'll Make Love to You" ended up eventually tying the record for the most weeks at number one by matching Whitney Houston's 14-week stretch of "I Will Always Love You" from The Bodyguard.
The group’s unparalleled vocal harmonies and the impossible-not-to-sing-along-with chorus of "I'll Make Love To You" might’ve been enough to surpass Houston's record if only they hadn’t been knocked out of the top spot by… the album's second single, "On Bended Knee." By December, the summer sizzler handed the crown over to the winter weeper as Boyz II Men became only the third musical act of all-time to replace themselves at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 (only Elvis Presley and The Beatles had achieved it before them). To look back on these astounding achievements and to commemorate 25 years of II, The Recording Academy spoke with Boyz II Men's Wanya Morris and Nathan Morris about what all went into making their second album such an immediate and long-lasting success.
Wanya Morris: After the success of our first album, it felt like a lot of people were starting to realize that Boyz II Men was a force to be reckoned with. Our voices and our harmonies were evolving and becoming more mature. That allowed us to try new things and people were really receptive to our creativity. It seemed like we couldn’t go anywhere without being recognized. I remember walking down the street near Yodoyabashi Station in Osaka and people would run up to us and yell out our names. It felt so huge because in our minds, we were just four dudes from Philly.
Nathan Morris: For me, it was all a whirlwind because singing wasn’t really my first choice for a career. I grew up wanting to play professional football, but my mom pushed me into going to a performing arts school. That’s actually the whole reason why there’s even a Boyz II Men at all. I got bored at school, so I just started a singing group in my spare time. Everything that was happening for us as Boyz II Men wasn’t really anything that I had ever dreamed of or expected. So, I was just taking everything in as it came, enjoying it, and trying to soak it all up.
Following the massive success of their debut album, Cooleyhighharmony, and its pair of Top 5 singles ("Motownphilly" and their cover of G. C. Cameron's "It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday"), Boyz II Men's doo-wop-meets-New Jack Swing-meets-hip-hop musical hybrid and their relentless work ethic were all on full display during a frenzied pop culture blitz that included opening for M.C. Hammer's 2 Legit 2 Quit tour, filming an episode of MTV Unplugged with Joe Public and Shanice, earning a Top 5 standalone single with their cover of "In the Still of the Night (I Remember)," appearing in the holiday episode "Twas the Night Before Christening" on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and recording the double-platinum holiday album Christmas Interpretations (featuring the seasonal radio hit "Let It Snow" with Brian McKnight). During this crucial between-albums timeframe, they also scored their first number one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 with "End Of The Road" from the Boomerang soundtrack. At the time, "End of the Road" broke the record for longevity at the top of the charts with its impressive 13-week run. It would be the first of three times that Boyz II Men were a part of achieving this notable accolade.
IN THIS PHOTO: Nathan Morris
Nathan Morris: Going into the second album, our confidence level was pretty high. Motown didn't really know what to do with us when they signed us, so we got to write almost the whole first album by ourselves. Since that album went nine times platinum, that gave us a lot of confidence as writers and producers going into the second album.
Wanya Morris: Honestly, it was a pretty hectic time. Things had gotten so big with the first album and then "End Of The Road" came out and blew up. We were really feeling the pressure, but the process had to start somewhere. So, we just did what we always do, which is get in the studio and start writing songs and recording demos.
Nathan Morris: Dallas Austin had produced most of our first album, but he wasn’t available for the second album. So, he recommended we try working with Tim & Bob, who were kind of his B-team. We got in the studio with them and started working on a bunch of the songs that we felt good about. We clicked really well, so Tim & Bob ended up producing most of the songs on the second album.
Wanya Morris: We actually fought really hard against having "I'll Make Love to You" be the lead single. We had just come off of "End Of The Road" and we didn’t want to come back with a song that had the same sound. Our label was adamant about it though. They did all this market research and we were just researching our hearts, so we were told to deal with it. Clearly, they were right on that one!
After the release of II, Boyz II Men became certified global superstars. The album achieved multi-platinum sales in Canada and Australia, and it hit the top of the album charts in France and New Zealand. In fact, international demand was so high for the blockbuster album that the gifted vocalists upped their game by rerecording the album’s three big hits and their acapella cover of The Beatles' "Yesterday" in Spanish for a special version of the album called II: Yo Te Voy a Amar. As had become their signature move, the guys had no problem rising to the challenge and possibly even outdoing themselves in the process”.
I think that Boyz II Men are one of those groups that don’t get mentioned and played as much as they should. I think their catalogue is brilliant, and II is an album that showcases their amazing chemistry and vocal blends! Go and get a phenomenal album on vinyl and experience the smooth, sexy vibes only they can deliver! I remember II coming out in 1994 and there being a lot of heat around Boyz II Men. It is true that one cannot really compare them with anyone of today. One could forgive them for feeling expectation following the success of their debut, Cooleyhighharmony. Instead, they released II with…
NO nerves or weak moments.