Music from the 3D Concert Experience

by Stephen Thomas ErlewineWhenever a teen phenomenon hits a peak the cash-in product arrives, and so it is with the Jonas Brothers in 2009. Just three years and three albums after their 2006 debut, It's About Time, the trio has its first top-lined cinematic release, The Jonas Brothers in 3D, a big-screen spectacle in the vein of Miley Cyrus' 2008 Best of Both Worlds Concert, which featured a small set from the brothers. As an album, Music from the 3D Concert Experience isn't as pure a piece of product as Best of Both Worlds Concert, largely because the brothers sometimes get to act like the band they are, occasionally departing from the script, working in some covers and supporting other singers. Whenever they're singing their biggest hits or Radio Disney staples, the music is almost indistinguishable from the studio albums -- well, apart from the rougher, flatter vocals -- but this soundtrack is best when things get opened up a bit: when the brothers give "BB Good" a breakdown out of Billy Joel's 52nd Street, have Taylor Swift on-stage to duet on her hit "Should've Said No," sing with Demi Lovato on the Camp Rock tune "This Is Me," even when they steamroll over Shania Twain's "I'm Gonna Get You Good," which is perhaps a bit flat-footed but still fun. These are the moments that show the Jonas Brothers at their best, while the rest -- including the new studio cut "Love Is on Its Way" -- shows the group as professionals, re-creating recordings on the spot. It's enough to please the fans, if not quite enough to turn into something more than a souvenir for them.