Never Gone

Never Gone
Studio album by Backstreet Boys
Released	June 14, 2005
Recorded	January 26, 2004–March 2005; Westlake Audio, Henson Recording Studios, Conway Recording Studios (Hollywood, CA) Dr. Luke's New York (New York City) Woodland Ranch (Woodland Hills, CA) Maratone Studio (Stockholm, Sweden) The Village Recorder, The Underlab (Los Angeles, CA) Turtle Sound Studios (New York City)
Genre	Pop rock, dance-pop
Length	47:41
Label	Jive
Producer	Johan Brorson, Dr. Luke, John Fields, Billy Mann, Max Martin, Dan Muckala, Christian Nilsson, John Shanks, Supa'Flyas, Mark Taylor, Gregg Wattenberg, Paul Wiltshire, Victoria Wu, Rami Yacoub
Backstreet Boys chronology
The Hits – Chapter One (2001) Never Gone (2005) Unbreakable (2007)
Singles from Never Gone
"Incomplete" Released: April 1, 2005 "Just Want You to Know" Released: October 4, 2005 "Crawling Back to You" Released: October 11, 2005 "I Still..." Released: January 31, 2006

Never Gone is the fifth (fourth in the U.S.) studio album released by American vocal group Backstreet Boys as the follow up to their fourth (third in the U.S.) studio album Black & Blue after a short hiatus. Never Gone was originally due for release in 2004, but the release date for the album was pushed to June 14, 2005 for unknown reasons.

The album varies musically from their previous albums, with a rock sound to the album. Unlike previous albums, the album featured only live instruments. The album is named after a song on it which mourns the loss of Kevin Richardson's father.

Background

Backstreet Boys at Never Gone Tour.

Never Gone was the last album to feature Kevin Richardson, who departed from the group in 2006 to pursue other interests, until his return in 2012.

The Never Gone Tour commenced soon after the album's release. On December 20, 2005, the group released the DVD Never Gone: The Videos, which included behind the scenes footage and the music videos for "Incomplete", "Just Want You to Know", and "I Still...". The DVD also includes a slideshow with the instrumental audio of "Just Want You to Know", and an interview in Germany regarding their upcoming tour.

Reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	(40/100)[1]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
Blender	[1]
E! Online	C[3]
Entertainment Weekly	C[4]
People	[5]
PopMatters	[6]
Robert Christgau	C[7]
Rolling Stone	[8]
USA Today	[9]

Initial critical response to Never Gone were surprisingly generally negative due to the change from the band's traditional pop style to a more mature adult contemporary sound. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an average score of 40, based on 7 reviews.^[1]

Commercial performance

Never Gone was certified as a Platinum record in the U.S., selling 293,000 copies during the first week and debuting at No. 3 on the Billboard 200, making it the band's fifth platinum-selling album and fifth consecutive top ten album in the U.S. following The Hits – Chapter One in 2001. In Japan, it was the second biggest Western album in 2005 and had sold more than 750,000 copies by January 2006.^[10][11] It went on to sell over 10 million copies worldwide.^[12] And certificated Gold and Platinum record at 11 different countries.

The singles released in Never Gone included "Incomplete", "Just Want You to Know", "Crawling Back to You" and "I Still...". Following the success of the first single "Incomplete", which peaked at No. 13 and spend 20 weeks on U.S. Billboard Hot 100, the second single "Just Want You to Know" performed moderately well hitting the top ten in the UK and Spain, and reaching the top twenty in Italy, Germany and Ireland, and charting inside the top 40 in most other charts.

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Incomplete"	Dan Muckala, Jess Cates, Lindy Robbins	Muckala	3:59
2.	"Just Want You to Know"	Max Martin, Lukasz Gottwald	Martin, Dr. Luke	3:53
3.	"Crawling Back to You"	Chris Farren, Blair Daly	John Fields	3:44
4.	"Weird World"	John Ondrasik	Gregg Wattenberg	4:12
5.	"I Still..."	Martin, Rami Yacoub	Martin, Yacoub	3:49
6.	"Poster Girl"	Billy Mann, Rasmus Bähncke, René Tromborg	Mann, Supa'Flyas^[a]	3:56
7.	"Lose It All"	Wally Gagel, Shelly Peiken, Alexander Barry	Fields	4:04
8.	"Climbing the Walls"	Martin, Gottwald	Martin, Dr. Luke	3:43
9.	"My Beautiful Woman"	Paul Wiltshire, Victoria Wu	Wiltshire, Wu^[b]	3:38
10.	"Safest Place to Hide"	Tom Leonard, Robin Lerner	John Shanks	4:40
11.	"Siberia"	Martin, Yacoub, Alexandra Talomaa	Christian Nilsson, Johan Brorson	4:17
12.	"Never Gone"	Kevin Richardson, Gary Baker, Steve Diamond	Mark Taylor	3:45

Tour edition bonus tracks
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
13.	"Song for the Unloved"	Billy Mann, Christopher Rojas	Billy Mann	3:40
14.	"Rush Over Me"	Harvey Mason, Jr., Damon Thomas, Howie Dorough, A. J. McLean, Nick Carter, Richardson, Brian Littrell	The Underdogs	3:27
15.	"Movin' On"	Dorough, Wade Robson, Nate Butler	David Thomas, Mark Kibble	3:29

Tour edition bonus DVD
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Incomplete" (music video)
2.	"Incomplete" (Behind the scenes)
3.	"Just Want You to Know" (music video)
4.	"Just Want You to Know" (music video; alternate version)
5.	"Just Want You to Know" (behind the scenes)
6.	"I Still..." (music video)
7.	"I Still..." (behind the scenes)
8.	"Photo Gallery"
9.	"Last Night You Saved My Life"	Billy Mann, Jesse Harris	Billy Mann	3:26

DualDisc DVD side
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Entire album in PCM Stereo and 5.1 Digital Surround Sound"
2.	"Incomplete" (music video)
3.	"Incomplete" (making of)

Notes

• ^{^[a]} signifies a co-producer
• ^{^[a]} signifies an additional producer

Charts and certifications

Charts Chart (2005) Peak position Australian Albums Chart[13] 6 Austrian Albums Chart[13] 4 Belgium Flanders Albums Chart[13] 13 Belgium Walonia Albums Chart[13] 19 Brazilian Albums Chart[14] 7 Canadian Albums Chart[15] 1 Danish Albums Chart[13] 11 Dutch Albums Chart[13] 3 European Top 100 Albums[16] 2 Finnish Albums Chart[13] 5 French Albums Chart[13] 19 German Albums Chart[17] 1 Hungarian Albums Chart[18] 8 Irish Albums Chart[19] 13 Italian Albums Chart[13] 4 Japanese Oricon Albums Chart[20] 3 New Zealand Albums Chart[13] 21 Norwegian Albums Chart[13] 20 Portuguese Albums Chart[13] 8 Spanish Albums Chart[13] 2 Swedish Albums Chart[13] 3 Swiss Albums Chart[13] 3 UK Albums Chart[21] 11 U.S. Billboard 200[15] 3

Sales and certifications Country Certification Sales/shipments Australia (ARIA) Gold[22] 35,000+ Canada (Music Canada) Platinum[23] 100,000+ Germany (BVMI) Gold[24] 100,000+ Ireland (IRMA) Gold[25] 7,500+ Japan (RIAJ) 2× Platinum[26] 500,000+ Mexico (AMPF) Gold[27] 50,000+ Switzerland (IFPI) Gold[28] 15,000+ Portugal (AFP) Gold[29] 10,000+ Russia (NFP) Gold[30] 10,000+ United Kingdom (BPI) Gold[31] 100,000+ United States (RIAA) Platinum[32] 1,771,000[33]

References

1. "Backstreet Boys: Never Gone (2005): Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved March 19, 2009.
2. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Never Gone - Backstreet Boys". AllMusic. All Media Network. Retrieved June 28, 2012.
3. "Never Gone". E! Online. Retrieved 28 June 2012.
4. Symmonds, Nicole (June 24, 2005). "Short Takes (Backstreet Boys: Never Gone)". Entertainment Weekly. Time Inc. Retrieved June 30, 2012.
5. Arnold, Chuck (June 27, 2005). "Picks and Pans Review: Backstreet Boys (Never Gone)". People. Retrieved August 25, 2013.
6. McAndrew, Maura (July 13, 2005). "Backstreet Boys: Never Gone". PopMatters. Retrieved June 30, 2012.
7. Christgau, Robert. "Robert Christgau: CG: Backstreet Boys". Retrieved June 28, 2012.
8. Walters, Barry (June 16, 2005). "Backstreet Boys: Never Gone : Music Reviews". Rolling Stone. Wenner Media. Archived from the original on May 15, 2009.
9. Gardner, Elysa (June 13, 2005). "Backstreet Boys are rock solid (Backstreet Boys, Never Gone)". USA Today. Gannett Company. Retrieved August 25, 2013.
10. "2005年年間洋楽チャート" [2005 Annual Western Music Sales Chart] (in Japanese). Oricon. 21 December 2005. Retrieved 19 August 2016.
11. "バックストリート・ボーイズ『貴重映像も大公開！2年ぶりの来日公演を最速レポート！』" [Breaking report of Backstreet Boys' first public performance in Japan in 2 years, including valuable footage] (in Japanese). Oricon. 11 January 2006. Retrieved 19 August 2016.
12. Fulton, Rick (October 26, 2007). "Taking It Back". Daily Record. Retrieved February 14, 2013.
13. "Australian-charts.com: Backstreet Boys: Never Gone". australian-charts.com: Hung Medien. Retrieved 2013-05-28.
14. Billboard magazine: Hits of the World (July 9, 2005). Billboard. Retrieved 2013-05-28.
15. "AllMusic: Backstreet Boys (Awards)". AllMusic. Retrieved 2013-05-28.
16. Billboard magazine: Hits of the World (July 2, 2005). Billboard. Retrieved 2013-05-28.
17. "Charts.de: Backstreet Boys (Never Gone album)". GfK Entertainment. Charts.de. Retrieved 2013-05-28.
18. "Mahasz: Archívum › Kereső - előadó/cím szerint". Mahasz. Archived from the original on 2012-12-27. Retrieved 2013-05-28.
19. "Irish-Charts.com: Backstreet Boys: Never Gone". irish-charts.com: Hung Medien. Retrieved 2013-08-02.
20. "Album Sales Ranking: Backstreet Boys". Oricon. Oricon. Retrieved 2013-05-28.
21. "The Official Charts Company - Never Gone". The Official Charts Company. 19 June 2013.
22. "ARIA Charts - Accreditations - 2005 Albums". ARIA. Archived from the original on 2008-12-21. Retrieved 2010-09-05.
23. "Music Canada: Never Gone". Music Canada. Retrieved 2014-06-08.
24. "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank ('Never Gone')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie. Retrieved 2010-05-17.
25. "2005 Gold Certifications". IRMA. Retrieved 2010-09-05.
26. "ゴールド等認定作品一覧　2005年7月". RIAJ. Retrieved 2010-09-05.
27. "Mexican Certifications for Never Gone". AMPROFON. Archived from the original on March 4, 2012. Retrieved 2014-06-08.
28. "Schweizer Hitparade: Never Gone". Hung Medien. Retrieved 2014-06-08.
29. "TOP OFICIAL DA ASSOCIAÇÃO FONOGRÀFICA PORTUGUESA (Week 38, 2005)". Retrieved 2010-10-17.
30. "Russia's certifications 2005". NFPP. Retrieved 2010-09-05.
31. "Gold/Platinum Certifications for BPI". BPI. Retrieved 2014-06-08.
32. "Search Results for Never Gone". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 2014-06-08.
33. "Why Zayn Malik's Departure From One Direction Won't Hurt Band's Music Sales". Billboard.com. Billboard. March 26, 2015. Retrieved March 28, 2015.