Source: Philadelphia Inquirer

Backstreet Boy Nick Carter's Solo Effort is Energetic - and Adequate
By Patrick Berkery

With his Backstreet Boys brethren drying out (A. J. McLean) and mellowing out (father-to-be Brian Littrell), heartthrob Nick Carter is rocking out like it's 1987.

The anthemic pop and goopy balladry of his Now or Never, the first solo album from any Backstreeter, has the DNA of Journey and Bon Jovi. And Sunday night, at the second of two sold-out Theatre of Living Arts shows (he also played there Friday), Carter flung himself across the stage, played guitar as if he still had early-'90s grunge under his fingernails, and sang his heart out like an upstart rock-and-roller hoping to hit big.

If only other upstarts had the privileges of membership in one of music's biggest boy-band franchises. Such as the roomful of young females squealing with delight at your every romantic observation, no matter how trite ("Every time I come around, something's always got you down"), and greeting your solo hit - the B-Boys-esque "Help Me" - as though it were as good a song or as big a smash as Justin Timberlake's "Cry Me a River."

During his energetic 90-minute set, Carter recalled earlier also-ran pinup popsters such as Corey Hart: rough on the outside with a faux-hawk coif, suggestive gyrations, and big rocking odes such as "Girls in the U.S.A." for the ladies, yet soft and chewy on the inside with an acoustic mini-set of Backstreet tearjerkers including "Shape of My Heart." He doesn't have the skill to make the girls forget his main gig, but without his boys and their synchronized arena slickness, Carter was at least adequate. And for this crowd, adequate worked just fine.

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