Long-awaited, much-hyped, enormously pre-ordered - and reviewed first and in full by NMEPOP.COM... Tell us what you think! popfeedback@nme.com is ready and waiting...

1. The Call (3:24)
Written by: Max Martin/Rami
Produced by: Max Martin/Rami

As any fool knows, pop songs based around telephones - from Take That's 'Babe' to Blondie's 'Call Me' are all brilliant, and the Backstreet Boys were hardly likely to choose a duff number to open the most important album of their career. From the Latiny intro to a stomping, almost military drumbeat - and distorted phone-call over the top - it's evident from the word go that 'The Call' is an album-opener every bit as 'Larger Than Life'. There's much singing about "The call that changed my destiny" and what turns out to be a quite breathtaking chorus: "I will be late, don't stay up and wait for me/My battery's low, just so you know/We're going to a place nearby - gotta go". Yet another phone-call occurs in the middle-eight, there are synthesised stabs reminiscent of the Pet Shop Boys, and the whole thing ends when the caller hangs up.

2. Shape Of My Heart (3:50)
Written by: Max Martin/Rami/Lisa Miskovsky
Produced by: Max Martin/Rami

The single - you'll know this one by now. It follows the same kind of pattern as 'I Want It That Way' (spookily a track-2-after-a-big-old-upbeat-number itself on 'Millennium'): long intro, mid-tempo, bloody ace. Obviously, there's the classic Max Martin key change toward the end, with wailing, overlapping choruses and much a-croonin'.

3 Get Another Boyfriend (3:06)
Written by: Max Martin/Rami
Produced by: Max Martin/Rami

There's quite a dark theme to this one, and the muttering of "Backstreet" in the introduction - sounding for all the world like a Rodney Jerkins-style "Darkchild" - is ominous and scary. Still, upbeat and raucous, 'Get Another Boyfriend' has a killer chorus ("Listen I mean it, there's nothing that he's worthy of/He's just another playa playing in the game of love/This must come to an end... Get another boyfriend"), a scream of "Heyaaahh!", and pulls all the strings you could possibly want pulled.

4 Shining Star (3:22)
Written by: Franciz & LePont/Nick/Howie
Produced by: Rodney Jerkins

This one's the Darkchild production, fairly upbeat but with an R&B edge running through the whole song. Which, apart from an empty refrigerator, is what you expect when you get Rodney in to twiddle your knobs. Also throws up some preposterous lyrics: "You're my shining star that is what you are/There is no-one like you, baby/Angels everywhere, every time you're near". There's the obligatory "Darkchild Backstreet Boys c'mon" bit towards the end, some neat electro-squiggles and an abrupt end.

5 I Promise You (4:22)
Written by: Dan Hill
Produced by: Timmy Allen

"It seems like everyone we know's breaking up/Doesn't anyone stay in love any more?" Oh, it could so easily be about boy-bands. Except, of course, it's not a metaphor at all - it's just about love. The first full-blown ballad on 'Black & Blue' gives us some more heartfelt lyrics. Such as: "I promise you from the bottom of my heart/I will love you 'til death do us part/I promise you as a lover and a friend..." Guitars twinkle and maracas shake, there's a big, flourishing drum roll for the last chorus, and those classic words rear their heads: "What I'm trying to say to you I never said to anyone..." Don't worry, it's not "I've been bonking your dad".

6 The Answer To Our Life (3:17)
Written by: Backstreet Boys
Produced by: Per Magnusson/David Kreuger

Begins with the simple plinking of a piano, but what jumps out immediately from 'The Answer To Our Life' is the synth line, wonderfully evocative of Michael Jackson's 'Billie Jean'. It's the warmest song so far on 'Black & Blue', and follows a tempo along the lines of 'The One' on 'Millennium'. "Show me a reason, give me a sign/Tell me when we fall out of line", we're asked. "Is it today or is it tonight/We'll find the answer to our life?" Well, sometimes that answer never comes. But it's always sensible to ask.

7 Everyone (3:29)
Written by: Kristian Lundin/Andreas Carlsson
Produced by: Kristian Lundin/Andreas Carlsson

Again, there are some military-style drums - and 'Everyone' is a dramatic rallying cry for Backstreet fans around the world. From the opening "Let's get on with the show/Let's get it started/Turn the lights down low..." through to the massive chorus of "This one goes out to... Everyone, everyone/We're standing strong 'cos of what you've done/This one goes out to you". Then there's a brilliant bit where they talk about living "in a circus", and a cool circus-organ sound effect twiddles in out of nowhere. Destined to be performed at the start of concerts. Or the end. Or somewhere in the middle.

8 More Than That (3:44)
Written by: Franciz & LePont/Adam Anders
Produced by: Franciz & LePont

Shuffling beats which could, at a stretch, be described as Timbaland-esque (but it's a ballad at heart) and a definite Latin feel. 'More Than That' also has an epic string section and the lines, "I could love you more than that/I won't say the words then take them back/Don't give loneliness a chance, baby, listen to what I say/I will love you... More than that".

9 Time (3:54)
Written by: Backstreet Boys
Produced by: Babyface

You can spot Babyface's production a mile off. Obviously, as a result, 'Time' sounds like it was recorded in the '80s - lots of smoochy 'Miami Vice'-type effects abound - as does the observation, "I know we've changed, but a change can be so good". There really is an awful lot of "ooh yeah" stuff going on, as well as the profound comment, "Time goes on and on every day". Very true. As you might expect from an epic BSB song, there's an enormous key change and much wailing towards the end, as well as the assurance that "Time is what it is, come what may". Backstreet Boys wrote this one themselves.

10 Not For Me (3:15)
Written by: Kristian Lundin/Jake/Andreas Carlsson
Produced by: Kristian Lundin/Jake

In which the Boys use the gift of the extended metaphor in a first verse that describes the "scene of the crime". The "crime", it seems, is the Boys' girl CHEATING!!! "I got a feelin' you weren't true to me", it is sung. You see, there's no pulling wool over the eyes of the Backstreet Boys. Indeed, as they say themselves, "I've got eyes to see that you're not the one for me... Now I know what it's coming to". There's a synthy backing and a middle-eight which sounds a bit like the breakdown in Michael Jackson's 'Thriller'. "Justify my reasons to stay!" demand the boys amid breathy "no no, uh uh"s.

11 Yes I Will (3:50)
Written by: AJ/Brian Kierulf/Josh Schwartz
Produced by: Timmy Allen/Larry 'Rock' Campbell

And so we come to the most hilarious lyrics by any pop band ever. The whole song's about wanting to hear your partner say 'Yes I will'. "I'm down on my knees/I'm asking you/Three words", the Boys plead. They just want you to say, "Yes I will... I'll give you everything you need/And sometime start a family... with you". Start a family?!?! There's much guitar plucking and plinking, as well as a massive dramatic swoosh into the final chorus.

12 It's True (4:13)
Written by: Max Martin/Andreas Carlsson/Kevin
Produced by: Per Magnusson/David Kreuger

Oddly begins like East 17's 'Around The World' - 'It's True' is another ballad but it's a bit of a corker. It's also very earnest: "It's true, I mean it/From the bottom of my heart/Yeah, it's true/Without you I would fall apart". Well, there's nothing like laying your cards on the table. By the time the second verse swings around, some drums have kicked in, amid underwater-sounding effects, and the best bit comes towards the end: the line, "It's true..." is left hanging in space before a drum clatter (that puts Phil Collins to shame) slams in, and the chorus peels off into the sky.

13 What Makes You Different (Makes You Beautiful) (3:33)
Written by: Howie/Steve Diamond/Andreas Carlsson
Produced by: Timmy Allen

Possibly the most subtly offensive sentiment since Ronan Keating said, "We're all better off when you keep your mouth shut, love", 'What Makes You Different (Makes You Beautiful)' also has the best use of brackets in recent months. "Material things don't matter to me/Come as you are, you've got nothing to prove!" we're told. This ballad is, presumably, for the Boys' really minging fans. "In your eyes I see all the love I'll ever need". To which NMEPOP.COM has only one response: U.G.L.Y! You ain't got no alibi! You're ugly!

14 How Did I Fall In Love With You (4:04)
Written by: Howie/Calum MacColl/Andrew Fromm
Produced by: Timmy Allen

This one - it's another ballad and it doesn't even have ANY DRUMS AT ALL!!! - is about deciding that you fancy your best friends, and is basically 'Dawson's Creek' squeezed into just over four minutes. It's kinda like "best of friends, like sister and brother" and the way everything changes and the fact that they "never meant to feel this way - don't want to be alone tonight". "With you I want to spend the rest of my life", it seems. "Everything's changed..." Blimey!

15 All I Have To Give (A Capella) (3:48) Written by: Full Force
Produced by: David Thomas/Mar Kibble

How's this for a bizarre end to an album: a two-year-old single (which, let us be honest, in the light of what's come since, really isn't that good) done a capella style - for no reason whatsoever! And here's the interesting bit: it's a very special type of a capella BECAUSE THERE ARE INSTRUMENTS IN IT! Anyway...

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