Deciding whether Hanson still counts as teen pop depends in large part on how you define the genre.
If you think "teen pop" is simply pop music made by teen-agers, then the brothers Hanson clearly qualify. Even though three years have passed since "Mmm-bop" put these young Okies on the map, the members of Hanson remain in their teens. (Isaac is 19, Taylor 17, and Zac is 14, in case you're keeping score at home.)
If, on the other hand, you believe that the phrase "teen pop" connotes a style more than a demographic, you may want to find a different pigeonhole for Hanson. Because the brothers' newest album, "This Time Around" (Island 314 542 383, arriving in stores today) sounds nothing like the music made by such boy bands as 'N Sync, 98 Degrees and the Backstreet Boys.
There are no soul harmony ballads, no pneumatic dance tunes, no white-boy rap. None of Hanson's songs were recorded in Sweden, nor do any feature cameos by Lisa "Left-Eye" Lopes. There are no shout-outs anywhere, to anyone.
Instead, what we get is driving, blues-edged, Latin-tinged rock and roll -- a sound associated more with Steve Winwood than with anyone currently seen on MTV's "Total Request Live." (It's worth noting, by the way, that when Winwood was a teen he sang and played keyboards, just like Taylor Hanson, in a band led by his older brother.)
This is not to say Hanson has dropped pop from its musical vocabulary. There's plenty of infectious cheer in the harmonica-spiked chorus to "If Only," while "I Wish I Was There" is packed with major key uplift. Nor has the band gone retro, as the incessant turntable scratching of DJ Swamp makes annoyingly clear.
But there's no mistaking the fact that Hanson is following its own musical path. Unlike the other boy bands, these guys are players as well as singers, and "This Time Around" makes sure to exploit the brothers' instrumental ability.
The album's title track makes that much plain. An ambitious, elegiac rocker, it sounds more like the Black Crowes than the Backstreet Boys with its sumptuous gospel harmonies and snarling guitar solo (provided by guest prodigy Johnny Lang). But it isn't just the classic rock touches that make the song seem a step beyond typical Top-40 fare; Hanson has worked so much drama into its whisper-to-a-scream arrangement that it's obvious the song was intended as a Major Statement.
Unfortunately, it's difficult to say what, exactly, that statement is.
