As soon as I heard that there would be a new *NSync album, a little pessimistic voice inside me groaned: "more awful pop music everywhere?!", and a slightly more optimistic voice inside me cheered: "wh00t! more kickin' remixes of awful pop music!".  So, what's the verdict? The second voice won out during this review, as the whole album is full of juicy, danceable background beats.

   The album comes in with a bang and its first single, "Bye Bye Bye" (apparently the boys don't want you to wait too long for the singles).  Those thinking that the whole album can't keep up the pace of these beats are totally wrong, or at least it would seem.  The hip-hop backing continues up until track 6 ("This I Promise You"), which slows down for a more traditional R&B/pop sound.  However, this slow-down is short, for the hip-pop returns one track later with "No Strings Attached", but degrades again to sampled R&B for tracks 10-12.  For those keeping track, that's 8 tracks with a strong funky backing, and 4 tracks with a more R&B-ish backing.

   Now, although I might not be too big a fan of R&B, the R&B/pop tracks ("This I Promise You", "That's When I'll Stop Loving You", "I'll Be Good For You", and "I Thought She Knew") aren't all bad.  Although the least inspired of the tracks, "I'll Be Good For You" has a great bassline, and for those who are more into the traditional "pre-remixed" pop, these 4 tracks merit purchase, I suppose.

   One might stop to ask this far into the review why I'm only talking about the beats.  Surely the lyrics have something to them, right? Well... not really.  Surely those who are heavy into pop-tart music and are still hoping to score a date with Justin or Lance will claim some deep meaning, but the content of pop music lyrics has stayed the same since the beginning of music.  Most of these songs are about relationships, from breaking up ("Bye Bye Bye"), to dissing an ex's new beau ("It Makes Me Ill"), to "Digital Getdown", the cyber-sex ballad, complete with sampling of a modem.  "Space Cowboy (Yippie-Yi-Yay)" is best described as a post-apocalyptic party jam (it's an all right track, but it is VERY campy, with a bass-drowned verse from the wanna-be diva of the moment, TLC's Lisa Left-Eye Lopez, who can't rap, no matter what she says).  The other non-relationship song, "Just Got Paid", is included, perhaps to try and convince us that the boys once had day jobs and went clubbing (whereas if they went today they'd be killed in the mob that followed); it's got another good bassline, and is pretty catchy, but like in the case of "Space Cowboy", it's not a bad song, but it seems out of place.

   While these guys are constantly fighting with Backstreet Boys for top bill on MTV, those of us who aren't 12-year old screaming fans still have a lot to enjoy with this album.  It's not really revolutionary, but the hip-hop influence is crafted so well its worth looking into.  If you've somehow not heard any of the single(s) yet, imagine a full album of songs like Backstreet Boys' "Larger Than Life" (which is undoubtedly the best song off Millennium).  The lyrics are typically mushy, but can be forgiven (I mean its pop... we're not looking for deep meaning here).  And for those of you who just want this 'cuz Joey or whoever is hot, fear not... for there are full color photos of your boys on the insert.  And for those of you who refuse to have your masculinity questioned by buying a boy band album, perhaps if we write Jive, they'll put out a No Strings Attached Instrumentals & Remixes LP :-).