On their fourth album in four years, the Jonas Brothers seem to be trying to become kings of the entire pop spectrum, not just the upbeat power-pop that’s been the hallmark of their sound up to now. The Jonases have proven themselves to be capable pop songwriters, and they’ve come up with a number of catchy, memorable tunes for Lines, Vines and Trying Times.
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The best musical exploration here is the group’s deep debt to bright 1980s pop; horn sections punctuate energetic album bookends “World War III” and “Keep It Real,” and the lush ballad “Much Better” sounds a lot like a Hall and Oates song (complete with sax solo). That peppy guitar-based sound is the band’s sweet spot, and the deviations from it are less successful. It makes sense for fellow Disney star Miley Cyrus to show up for a duet, but the pop-country ballad “Before the Storm” is mostly insipid. For some reason, the Jonases go country on a couple more tunes, the livelier “What Did I Do to Your Heart” and another ballad, “Turn Right,” both of which sound awkward.
But those tunes are great compared to the awful “Don’t Charge Me for the Crime,” an extremely ill-advised gangsta-rap number with a guest appearance by Common. It’s admirable that the Jonases want to reach out of the teen-pop ghetto, and they’ve clearly got the songwriting chops to extend their careers beyond the Disney machine, but Lines proves they’re better off sticking to what they know.
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