As the premier boy band (often referred to as a "man band" more recently) in Australia,
Human Nature gathered enough respect through their harmonies and their use of Motown ideals that
Smokey Robinson took them under his wing for a time. On
A Symphony of Hits, the band takes on a series of classic pieces. The songs are largely covers, and are from the prime movers and shakers throughout classic pop -- the
Beatles,
Smokey himself, the
Four Tops, even
Air Supply and
Wham!. The vocals are consistently strong, though they are undeniably of the boy band variety. There's melodramatic emotion pumped into everything here. While it works well for some of the ballads (the
Bangles' "Eternal Flame" in particular comes off well), it can seem a little much for the bouncier tracks (
the Beatles' "Got to Get You into My Life" is performed nearly flawlessly, but with seemingly wrong intent). While they can make a convincing case for some of the Motown numbers, the seriousness of their delivery gives perhaps too much import to a song like Wham's "Last Christmas." Fans should be thrilled at the coverage of different artists taken on this time around, but newcomers may have a hard time finding anything new in the mix.