UNBREAKABLE: GREATEST HITS

Having originally released UNBREAKABLE as a greatest-hits album in the U.K. in 2002, the massively popular Irish boy band Westlife took a little longer to catch on in other markets, waiting until 2008 to hit the New Zealand charts (with an adapted version of the greatest-hits album, no less), but still not getting airplay in the U.S. market. The sounds presented on UNBREAKABLE are undeniably representative of both the band specifically and of the era and style of music more generally -- this is boy band pop as it was popularized and perfected by groups like the Backstreet Boys or Take That, and Westlife is clearly on the same train. The melodies and the harmonization, not to mention the lyrical content, are firmly within the foundations that all of the similar bands were drawing from. There are points of simplicity that seem a bit much even for a boy band ("I don't ever wanna treat you bad, cause I don't ever wanna see you sad"), but there are also interesting little touches from time to time, as in the slightly ethnic elements of "I Have a Dream." Fans of the group should love the album, collecting all of the group's major hits prior to the departure of Bryan McFadden, and fans just itching for a new dose of boy band goodness are unlikely to be disappointed.