A decade after the manufactured Boston vocal group infected the pop charts with mind-numbing hits like "You Got It (The Right Stuff)" and "Please Don't Go Girl," former members Jordan Knight and Joey McIntyre are both back with solo albums that attempt to make hearts flutter all over again.

While McIntyre resorts back to the mawkish balladry of the New Kids on his debut, Stay the Same, Knight takes a considerably different approach on his self-titled disc. Enlisting Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, the same hit-men that helped bring Janet Jackson out of her shell on Control, as the album’s primary producers, Knight emerges from his years in the wilderness with a sleek and funky new adult identity. On the gorgeously addictive first single, he spells out the transformation in full: "Anyone can make you sweat/ But I can keep you wet."

Knight then proceeds to prove his point, prowling through the sticky guitar grooves of "A Different Party" and falling to his knees for an earnest rewrite of Prince's "I Can Never Take The Place Of Your Man." He then keeps the hair-raising hits coming with "Broken By You" and "Close My Eyes."

What's truly amazing is Knight makes it all seem so effortless. Unlike most artists banking on commercial rebirth, he never sounds cheap or desperate. Instead, he confidently navigates one of the most satisfying comebacks in recent memory, giving up a solid, sophisticated piece of work.