Personnel includes: Nick Carter (vocals); Matthew Gerrard (various instruments, programming); Gary Clark (guitar, bass, keyboards, background vocals); Brian Kierulf (guitar, programming); Esbjorn Ohrwall, Peter Kvint (guitar); Steve Mac (keyboards); Josh Schwartz (bass, background vocals); Georff Dugmore (drums); DJ Spinz (scratches); Martin Brammer, Alison Clark (background vocals). <p>Producers include: Matthew Gerrard, Gary Clark, Brian Kierfulf, Josh Schwartz, Steve Mac. <p>With baby brother Aaron wowing the Nickelodeon set and the Backstreet Boys cooling their collective heels, Nick Carter decided it was NOW OR NEVER to drop a debut. Rocking out a bit more than his former group, this New Yorker still manages to strike an even-handed balance between the ballads sure to make the gals swoon and slightly harder-edged fare. Despite these aspirations to break out on his own, Carter is no fool, as he wisely enlisted Swedish bubblegum gurus Max Martin and Rami to maintain a degree of creative presence in this project. <p>Thus you have numbers like the subtle, mid-tempo pop nugget "Blow Your Mind" and "I Just Wanna Take You Home" (a crash-and-bang song that sounds like a musical sibling of Bon Jovi's "It's My Life"). Otherwise, Carter pleases the girls with potential prom themes like "Do I Have To Cry For You" and the epic "Heart Without A Home (I'll Be Yours)." But like Bryan Adams, Carter realizes kids just wanna rock and he obliges by doing an imitation of the raspy Canuck on the loping "Miss America" and the pseudo-metal anthem "Girls In The USA".