BOYZ II MEN RELEASES 'TWENTY' AFTER 20 YEARS!

They were the high school buddies from Philly who sang in perfect four-part harmony. Now, 20 years later, Boyz II Men have matured, both in style and content, but not without loss along the way.

Their retrospective album "Twenty," to be released Tuesday, finds them singing songs new and old - 10 of each, to be exact - without bass Michael McCary.

McCary, who left the group in the early 2000s, was to return for the album, but it didn't work out.

"We reached out to Michael to be on this record," says baritone Nathan Morris, before explaining that McCary, in his view, didn't want to put in the effort to reunite.

"Mike just completely got lazy," according to Morris, who ended up recording the bass parts on top of his own.

Tenor Wanya Morris agrees: "As far as recording is concerned, Nate is Mike."

Since 1992's "End of the Road" became their first No. 1 single, the guys have enjoyed worldwide fame, nabbed multiple Grammys, sold millions of albums and, despite McCary dropping out after their "Color of Love" album, have continued to tour and churn out albums.

Nathan Morris lives in Philly, Wanya Morris in New Jersey, and tenor Shawn Stockman is based in Los Angeles, where he enjoys a gig as a judge on NBC's "The Sing-Off."

"A lot of people don't know," says Nathan Morris, "but for the last five, six years, we do 110 shows a year. We're together almost every day."

The tour for "Twenty" will take them around the United States - though not close to NYC - Europe and Japan, where the fan base is loyal to the retro-tinged vocals in a way they feel the Autotune-crazy American radio audience can't match.

"They don't need the trend to change every five minutes," says Nathan Morris of overseas fans, "like sometimes American fans do."

This sense of slight dissatisfaction pervades an interview with Nathan Morris, who spoke on the phone before a concert at Mohegan Sun. In his deep, gravelly voice, there's a note of disappointment.

"One of the reasons why a lot of artists don't really respect a lot of older artists is because they don't respect the history," he says.

Even in their heyday, the group's a cappella style wasn't an easy sell.

"At the time we came out," he says, "the industry was more interested in the new sounds and the technology, and not so much the vocality of what people were doing. So when we started singing a cappella, we threw everyone for a loop."

A pop culture return to a cappella and vocal music - heralded by "Glee" and the various television singoffs - has helped restore the niche. One has to wonder if, in rerecording classics such as "On Bended Knee" and "Seasons of Loneliness," the Boyz might hope one of these tunes gets picked up by Mr. Schue and his happy choir.

"Reperforming these songs, we give them a new, different spin that the audience will feel," says Nathan Morris. "We were 19, 20 years old when we sang them. Now we've lived these songs."

Nathan Morris gained a deeper understanding of "Water Runs Dry," he says, because "as you get older, you start to realize that you have to take each day as it comes."

For Wanya Morris, "On Bended Knee" acquired new meaning. "Although it was written with the relationship between a man and a woman in mind, I've given it a twist and made it the relationship between God and man," he writes in an email.

What's on the guys' headphones as they jet around the world?

"I don't listen to the radio as much as I used to, because it's very difficult for me to buy into the sound of this industry," says Nathan Morris. "I mean, there are some artists that stick out now and then: your Chris Browns, your Ne-Yos, your Drakes and your Beyoncés, your Ushers. But for the most part, I don't really listen to the radio."




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