In the Beginning [Plus CD ROM]

Blazin' Squad

The garage scene's long obsession with gangsta movies has turned to Austin Powers on the Blazing Squad's new album In The Beginning. Why? Because the Blazin' Squad are the two-step "Mini Me" nestled in the lap of the So Solid Crew's Goldmember. Smaller in size, but with a headcount of ten, they're intent on taking over the (music) world by methods that are not exactly...cricket.

First, with "Crossroads", the North London-estate crew cover a cult US R&B hit to kick start their career (see Another Level, Liberty X) and then onto the hip-hop tinged ballads such as the plodding "Love On The Line". In the Beginning is a very sweet stocking filler of middle of the motorway tracks (check out "The Love Song" and "I Belong To U") and slightly tougher garage-pop such as "All About The Music" where whatever street roughness originally resided in the Blazin' Squad is briefly let out. The clean-cut crew is positive proof that boy bands don't die, they just get bigger. And with these teenagers, we've entered the Jurassic age. They're large, lumbering and bound to be wiped out by smaller, more nimble creatures with bigger brains. Check out Blue's new album One Love or Justin Timberlake's Justified for how it should be done. These Blazin' boys are all smoke and no fire. --Jake Barnes