11 October 1996
I was all set to dismiss Boyzone’s ‘Words’ as yet another cheap, insipid cover of a schmaltzy ’70s ballad, but I was wrong. It’s a cheap, insipid cover of a schmaltzy ’60s ballad. I guess I associate the Bee Gees instinctively with ’70s shiny-floor shlock and cheese. Perhaps we can all learn something from this: let’s stop and think for a moment, get our facts right, and only then start piling onto people who make terrible music.
As a Boyzone record, ‘Words’ is business as usual. That opening plaintive piano soon gets submerged in layers of synths and breathy backing vocals. Ronan sings it in the style of someone trying really, really hard to sing. Stephen stands with the other lads at the back for this one, if they’re even in the room at all; I know I don’t like to be in the same room as a Bee Gees song if I can help it. Even the room in the video seems to reject the song like a bad organ transplant: a sprinkler goes off, or perhaps it’s raining indoors. After this song, they’ll surely need a hose. That’s the power of ‘Words’.
