Schizophrenic
NSYNC's underage fans are going to get a shock when they pick up JC Chasez's first solo album. Either that or they're in for an accelerated sex education class. With the release ofSchizophrenic, this erstwhile boy-band member has shown that he had a few impure thoughts during his band's squeaky-clean five-year run. IfJustin Timberlakewas the cute member of the outfit, Chasez was the hot-blooded one, and he's not afraid to show just how steamy by extolling his prowess, his proclivities, and even the geographic locations in his home where he has made love on this CD. From the athletic "All Day Long I Dream About Sex" to the feverish homo-erotic "Some Girls (Dance With Women)" he whips himself into a entertaining froth, but he doesn't really cross the lines of good taste until "Come To Me." Despite his dirty mind, Chasez has proven to be an adventurous auteur, taking his music to places where NSNYC would never venture, serving up the dangerous swampy gumbo ya ya of "Shake It," dance hall reggae with a song like "Mercy," or a more sanitized version with "Everything You Want." But he's at his absolute best when he evokes the sweaty specter of eighties dance pop on "100 Ways" treading in the same stiletto boots that thePurple Onedid two decades before. --Jaan Uhelszki