Boyz II Men - Cooleyhighharmony

With a musical ethos that retooled a rich history of doo-wop harmonies and soulful ballads into a remarkably consistent hit-making machine, Boyz II Men quickly became not only the most popular R&B band of the '90s, but of all time. Powered by a savvy fusion of the quartet's '60s soul roots and shrewd New Jack production conceits, their 1991 Motown debut found instant success via its infectious debut single, the dance-oriented R&B chart-topper "Motownphilly." The follow-up, an emotive, a cappella cover of "It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday" (from the '70s film Cooley High, to which the album's title paid tribute), was nearly as successful. More importantly, its tight, flawless harmonies became the band's musical calling card. As if that wasn't enough, "End of the Road," their contribution to the Eddie Murphy film Boomerang included on this expanded edition, became one of the biggest hits in history, spending a then-record 13 weeks atop the Billboard charts. Capping their freshmen success, the album also won them a Grammy for Best R&B Group Vocal Performance. --Jerry McCulley Amazon.com

Reissue With Extra Tracks Makes it Irresistable

Boyz II Men and Jodeci were almost formed at the same time but throughout their careers they were complete opposites, Jodeci were the cool and sexy tough guys when Boyz II Men were the sensitive laidback nice guys that made a legacy out of mature ballads mostly written by Babyface. Their career in the beginning of the 90's was second to none, they almost sold 25 million copies with their first two albums, this one and II and scored with several hits that would became some of the longest-running number one pop singles in history. There are few other R&B groups that can compare to that. Members Nathan & Wanya Morris, Shawn Stockman and Michael McCracy also differ from Jodeci, New Edition and simular groups in the sense that they work excellent as a quartet but few could point of the names of the individual singers, on the other hand few sing as good together as Boyz II Men or were capable of making as memorable hits as they did and that's why they sold better then anyone else. They debut album from 1991 "Cooleyhighharmony" differ from their latter music though, on this release they're still searching for their trademark sound and we have an album divided into two categories, New Jack Swing Uptempo's and classic Ballads, to make it even more interesting we also get a few a cappella songs that would make 60's Doo Wop groups proud. Babyface, Michael Bivins ( New Edition, Bell Biv DeVoe) and Dallas Austin stands for the production.

For those of your that bought the album back in the day probably recall another album cover and a way shorter playlist, this version is actually a reissue and feature a few more songs. A few remixes, one spanish version and two more songs that were left out of the original release, the beautiful a cappella cover of the Five Satins 1956 hit "In The Still of The Night" and Boomerang soundtrack "End of the Road" that quite surprisingly didn't appear on the original release. The song spent an incredible 13 weeks as #1 on the singles chart, a record at the time. The album starts with four romantic ballads, "Please Don't Go" and "Lonely Heart" and "This Is My Heart", "Uhh Ahh" all alright but no standouts. Two a cappella songs follow, the splendid "It's So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday". With the lyrics "It's so hard to say goodbye to yesterday.
And I'll take with me the memories/ To be my sunshine after the rain" I think the song is about how hard it is to look back at old memories and accept that they are part of the past and will never come back, it could be about a relationship but also about childhood memories or old friends that you never see again. There is also another version of it with sound, but I like the A Cappella better. "In The Still Of The Night" is also A cappella song about old memories, this time most defenitely about a girl. Dallas Austin and Michael Bivins show their best sides with the upcoming 3 songs, "Motownphilly", "Under Pressure" and "Sympin" all catchy New Jack Swing!. "Motownphilly" was a big hit single and reached #3 it also feature a cameo from ?uestlove from The Roots (minus that afro). This is their best uptempo and shows the tender lovermen suddenly finding street cred. Next song is called "Little Things" and it got this somewhat caribbean beat and is a midtempo and they sing "Little things mean a lot
Appreciate what you got/If you give all what you have/It's forever we'll last/Don't sit around and wait for all The great things in your life", I couldn't agree more with that. "Your Love" is another midtempo with a sound quite typical for it's time. The last song "End Of The Road" closes the album and it's a good way to do it cause this is one of the sweetest love songs of all time. Babyface is a genius and few other one's sing it like the Boyz. The song is about the end of a relationship where one part don't want to let go. I'm sure most people can see themselves in this song, like aformentioned it spent 13 weeks at #1 making it the biggest hit of 1992.

Overall, This was a great album but with a few additions it became even better. It's especially hard to Imagine that "End of The Road" didn't appear on the original album release. With the perfect mix of uptempos and ballads it's also unique in the Boyz II Men catalogue and that's why "Cooleyhighharmony" is a special album worth purchasing for anyone interested in early 90's R&B. Having said that, this is simply a classic.
February 18, 2008

This is the group that really tried hardest to help save Motown from becoming No-town

In the two decades following the glory days of The Temptations/Four Tops/Supremes, etc., Motown started becoming a "dead" label with very few notable artists recording for it. Some (notably Desiree Coleman) were very talented but disappeared way too quickly, while others like Smokey Robinson and Stevie Wonder had their best times behind them. When Boyz II Men emerged in 1991, they almost instantly became one of the most commercially successful groups ever, and not without good reason. "End Of The Road", "Please Don't Go", and "It's So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday" were the first in a long line of signature ballads featuring some of the most glorious harmonizing since the days of the other names mentioned here. Unfortunately, for all of this greatness, they couldn't singlehandedly spawn the broad resurgence that Motown had hoped for, and throughout the 1990s, they pretty much carried the label. September 2, 2007

Very Satisfied

I was very satisfied with the timely delivey of the cd. I had a copy of this album when I was in Japan in the millitary when it first came out and lost it when I came back state side. Glad to have it back and very happy with the sellers. May 25, 2007

A classic album released with bonus tracks!

This is such a classic CD you can literally picture people dancing 90s type dance moves while listening to these tracks. All of the original songs are included along with some pretty decent remixes. I would have liked to see the original order of the songs followed by the remixes, but I guess I could always do that by ripping the CD to my PC and reordering the tracks. Classic old school R&B the way it was meant to be!

If you haven't heard of Boyz II Men, their music is full of soul and they have poured their hearts into each track. Anyone who has dated and been in relationships can relate to many of the songs on this disc.

Standout tracks for me (basically all of the classic radio hits):

Motownphilly
End of the Road
It's so hard to say goodbye to yesterday March 24, 2007

Classic Debut Disc & Pure R&B Heaven

Boyz II Men burst onto the scene with their classic disc Cooleyhighharmony. This is the expanded verison of the 1991 oringial disc and it throws in a couple of remix and soundtrack songs. Boyz II Men were pushed into super stardom with the song End Of The Road from the Boomerang soundtrack which is also included here in a spainsh verison. All of the ballads from the orignal disc sound good including Lonely Heart, This Is My Heart and my personal favorites Please Don't Go and Uhh Ahh. Uhh Ahh is also inlcuded in it's remix version which is even more of a seductive groove than the oringial. January 5, 2007

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