The good news is that Believe Acoustic is more palatable than the disc that gave birth to it. Believe, Bieber?s platinum release from last summer, was as pedestrian as pop product gets.
This unplugged companion to the No. 1 hit album helpfully strips away by-the-numbers studio gimmickry and lets seven of Believe?s 13 songs ? eight if you count the limited-edition bonus track She Don?t Like the Lights ? live or die on their own merits.
And Biebs really plays by the rules. There?s no audible cheating here ? just crisp acoustic guitar, in most cases, and the hyperactive Bieber pipes, which seize the opportunity to take it up a notch on the grandstanding. Overcooked, pointless melismas? There?s another one around every corner.
The most interesting contrast comes with All Around the World, which improves on the overdone original and stakes out its own turf. The simple, elegant and almost-soulful I Would, one of the three new tracks, also stands out from the pack.
But while the unadorned takes of these tween anthems are vaguely refreshing in their own way, the stark setting really only serves to underline how weak and formulaic the likes of Boyfriend and As Long As You Love Me really are.
Rating: ** (TWO)
Podworthy: I Would
This is a live unplugged version of As Long As You Love Me:
Bernard Perusse
Twitter: @bernieperusse
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