*** Boyz II Men

EVOLUTION

(Motown)

Although a notch classier than other male R&B harmony groups of the early '90s like Shai and Silk, these four Philadelphia lads were really little better than Boyz to Teenz. By bolstering their sing-song tunes and lovelorn lyrics with overblown arrangements and strained vocals, the group catered to deluded adolescent notions of Manly Love as surely as any West Coast gangsta rapper catered to deluded adolescent notions of Manly Pride.

Now, on this aptly titled third album, they grow up by just chilling out. Granted, the last two cuts blow it with the usual mushy bombast, but the first six offer soft-focus ballads that ply adolescent romanticism with new-found adult restraint, peaking with a sweet Babyface elegy and a terse a cappella reading of an old New Edition hit. And the middle four team the Boyz with current R&B hitmakers like Puffy Combs and Keith Crouch in upbeat, imaginative, sexy numbers that finally hit on the real motherlode of meaning inherent in the group's name. "Rock and roll," they used to call it.

-- Franklin Soults