Five

07/14/1998 3:00 AM, LAUNCH
Tim Sheridan

Whither art thou, Bay City Rollers? All my fan letters have been returned. Ditto the New Kids On The Block. I guess warbling heartthrobs have always been unpredictable. But one thing that's for sure is that there will always be another batch to take their place. Since the meat is so sizzling hot on the Backstreet Boys and N-Sync, those canny Brits have rushed in this latest batch of humming hotties. Predictably, the product (and let's not kid ourselves here, this is pure product) is beat-happy r&b, with radio-ready tunes like the thumping hit "When The Lights Go Out" and the baleful "When I Remember When." While the ear candy is good fun on dance floor rave-ups like "Partyline 555-On-Line," the self-aggrandizing "Slam Dunk (D Funk)" plays like a Tiger Beat boast. With Backstreet Boys producers Denniz Pop and Simon Cowell at the helm, this disc is sure to be a hit, which is reason enough to slap a parental advisory label for parents of teenaged girls: "May cause stunting of intellectual and emotional growth."