When the anticipated solo album from 13-year-old young gun Nicholas Jonas went missing last year, few realized it would be due to the contemporary vocalist's dabblings in pop/punk music with his brothers. Retooled as Jonas Brothers, Nicholas joins his sibs 17-year-old Kevin, and 16-year-old Joseph for their high energy debut It's About Time. If you think it may be odd to jump from AC to pop/punk, you can only assume what the combo might sound like. Marketing the record as having similarities to Jackson 5 when trying to promote it as a pop/punk album isn't a good sign either.

From the opening sugar high anthem "I Am What I Am," it's glaringly obvious the vocals clash between the brothers' variance in maturity, with Nicholas' squeaks feeling most out of place. "One Day At A Time" is a cheesy teen love song fronted by Nicholas in which his near-feminine vocal quality tries to pass the song off for a radio-worthy pop/rock single. Much of the rest of It's About Time bears similar schizophrenic and mismatched songwriting. It's especially when Nicholas lets his voice wail in true AC fashion where the listener will wonder once again just who thought a mixture like this might work.

Production is polished to the gills, something that should be avoided in such an intended genre as pop/punk, giving It's About Time that Radio Disney feeling. But the album varies drastically from the said style to straight up pop, and even a little gospel flavoring. The end result just feels like the byproduct of a few hyperactive kids with a lack of focus. Maybe there's potential for something greater than what's presented here, but perhaps the labels were better off keeping Nicholas's vocals channeled to the adult contemporary audiences like originally planned. And maybe I'm just too old for what It's About Time has to offer, but even after approaching the record with the intent to find redeemable musical talent from the Jonas Brothers' first effort, I still find this to be a real dud. Anyone above the tween ages need not apply.

- PReview date: 3/4/06; Review date: 4/30/06, written by John DiBiase