Now, we're very sorry, but if you haven't heard of this lot - what planet have you been on for the past few years?? 'Cos it certainly wasn't this one!! :) Anyways, if you're eyes happen to be deceiving you, Boyzone happen to be one of the hottest bands on the face of the Earth. Well, at least as far as we're concerned. All five luscious lads hail from Dublin, Ireland - which is amazing in itself! Not that we've got anything against Ireland, but when you've heard more Irish jokes than you could possibly remember you start wondering.... :) ) Anyhoo, this band was actually conceived by Louis Walsh as Ireland's answer to Take That. No, we don't mean conceived literally!! Sheesh, you lot are in dire need of some help if that's what you thought we meant!! We just meant that the idea for an Irish boyband was conceived by Louis, not that he went around fathering all the sons he could never want.

But, back to the story.

There were originally six members in the band: Ronan, Steve, Keith, Shane, Richie Rock and Mark Walton (thanks to Angharad for the reminder). No, Mikey wasn't there at first - he was bought into the loop when Richie was kicked out and Mark left because the pressure got to him (but apparently he's got his own group now - so good on him!). The really crappy thing [for the two who left] is that the group wangled a record deal within a matter of weeks afterwards. Ah well, you can't win them all... : ) Their first single release was a cute little ditty called "Working My Way Back To You", which they now claim to loathe in the worst possible way (but could be convinced to re-record with French band Alliage - ya gotta love the money thing). Personally, we like this song heaps - it's one of those feel-good, 'jump around the room like a mad thing singing along' songs. Okay, so that won't endear it to everyone, but like we said before - you can't win them all! From then on, the only way they were heading was up!! Yay!! Now, if there was only some way we could convince them to get their rather droolworthy tushies back to Australia... : )

Don't get your hopes up, we're not going to list every release ever made (we're flat out remembering the ones in Australia!)... So you're just gonna have to settle for our miniature reviews on their albums!!

Said & Done

This was their very first album, and you can really tell. No offence, but this sounded like a bit like 'Take That & Party' to me. A good effort, with a few of the Boyz own efforts appearing in the song list! It's rather boppy, and they quite obviously made use of all the equipment available. My fave song would have to be 'Key To My Life', which was apparently written about schoolteachers they'd had crushes on! Wierd.... : ) Clanger - 'Oh Carol'. Not only did I have a heart attack when I first caught sight of this on the track list ("Oh God, Gene Pitney?"), but I also took an instant dislike to it the moment I heard it. Sorry, but it drives me up the wall!

A Different Beat

Their second album definitely sounded more mature than 'Said & Done'. Much less of a reliance on the electric instruments, and more of a lean towards an orchestral sound. Some more of the Boyz's efforts turned up - namely the title track (loved the film clip to pieces). Depending on where you bought it, it may or may not have had 'Picture Of You' and 'Mystical Experience' on it. Oz didn't, so I'm gonna ignore them for now. My fave song is by far 'Melting Pot', even though I couldn't figure out for the life of me who the strange singer was (apparently whoever they were actually sung on the original release of the song back in the 60's). An honourable mention has to go to 'She Moves Through The Fair' - I adore traditional Irish music, so I absolutely fell in love with this one. There's no real clangers on ADB as far as I'm concerned!

Where We Belong

Thanks again to my lovely Welsh friend Angharad, 'cos I got a taste of this album long before the rest of Oz heard about it. The ballads are some of the most touching I've ever heard (and I've heard a few) and the more upbeat songs are just brilliant! The fact that the album was dedicated to Ro's mum was just lovely. The only clanger was 'Good Conversations', Mikey's solo effort. It has the unfortunate affect of getting on my nerves in very short amount of time. I can't decisively pick an absolute favourite out of all 17 songs (I got the Australian release, as well as the European), but if you go on the what the charts are saying, 'No Matter What' is a definite winner. I've actually lost count of how long it's been in the charts, but from memory I think it got up to #5!! YAY!!

Boyzone - By Request [Greatest Hits]

Once again, I jumped the gun a bit with this album with my mate Crazee getting it over in Switzerland. And I reckon they're jumping the gun a bit by releasing a 'greatest hits' as their fourth album - it doesn't bode well with the fact that they're all branching out into solo careers whilst apparently staying with the band. Could've fooled me! Anyways, I always like to have my favourite songs on the one album, so this one is a real boon for me - although I'm not a fan of the different version of 'I Love the Way You Love Me' on it. Even though the original got up my nose (the one on the Oz release of WWB), this one is even worse if that's at all possible! But, my favourite song would have to be a toss-up between 'I'll Never Not Need You' and 'When the Going Gets Tough'. They're just good, boppy, happy songs! See a trend here...?

Any comments or suggestions...?

© Dan 2000