Maroon 5 Press
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April 3, 2003 Maroon 5 – Songs About Jane Originally released back in June, the debut from this L.A. quartet has gained attention based on a strong single (“Harder to Breathe”) and acclaim from a handful of like-minded rockers, most notably John Mayer. With their vaguely funky white-soul styling’s, tunefulness and vocals that recall that guy from Jamiroquai, songs such as the pretty, down-tempo “Must Get Out” sound poised to mount an assault on Mayer’s college fan base. Adam Levine’s urban-romantic swoonings work best when his band really gets up on the good foot, as on “This Love,” which uses piano and James Brown-like-guitars to create a foundation on which Levine can obsess about beauty (including his own). - CHRISTIAN HOARD |
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August 16, 2003 Maroon5 Breaks Out Slowly But Surely After a year of promoting its debut album, “Songs About Jane,” Maroon5’s lead single, “Harder to Breathe,” is becoming a hit on mainstream top 40 radio. Already a smash at modern rock radio and a top 10 video on VH1, the track—which craftily combines elements of funk, rock and pop—is currently spinning at more than 80 pop stations. The gradual success of the single is even surprising lead singer/guitarist/songwriter Adam Levine. “I never though it would be a year later and it would still be climbing like it is,” he says. “I’m shocked. I thought it would be dead and gone at this point.” Tom Corson, J Records executive VP of worldwide marketing and sales, says, “Not only has this band made a great record but they can back it up onstage. And the song really doesn’t sound like anything else on the radio.” While “Harder to Breathe” is a surprising success story, it certainly did not find its way by accident. The tale is one of tenacity, talent and timing. After signing with independent label Octone Records, a division of J Records, a dogged marketing campaign was devised. Ben Berkman, head of promotions at Octone Records, and Chris Woltman, senior VP of rock music at RCA (J’s parent), led the charge with a presentation for about two dozen hand-picked rock stations around the country. “These were the kind of rock stations that could embrace a pop record,” Corson says. With the goal to make “Harder to Breathe: a top 20 song at 20 radio stations, Berkman and Woltman hit the road to present their marketing plan, which included drastically reducing CD prices for a limited time when the song hit local airwaves. Once Berkman and Woltman accomplished their initial goal, they expanded their focus to the entire modern rock panel. As the single began to climb on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart at the beginning of 2003, the big guns at J Records got involved, and the next phase of promoting the band began. James Diener, president of Octone Records and VP of A&R at J Records, says, “J is like a relay race partner who’s about to run the next step of a race, but it’s not like they showed up in the middle; they were there from the beginning.” Essentially a campaign run by two people, Octone’s marketing strategy was limited by the staff’s primary relationships only with modern rock programmers. With a massive field staff and connections to local stations across the country, J was able to access formats that independent labels can’t reach, Berkman says. “We don’t have the kind of money that’s required to support a record at [adult top 40 and pop],” he says. “We really do need the help of a field staff like J Records has.” With J’s strong marketing arms, the plan moved forward to secure the song at adult top 40 stations and then eventually at mainstream top 40. A key component of the pop radio marketing campaign for “Harder to Breathe” was to let stations discover the song based on its success at modern rock. Berkman says, “We didn’t want to push it down their throats. If you blow a song out, you might get 40 stations in the first three weeks—but you’ll also only get six weeks of airplay—and you’re done.” The idea of lowly building publicity for the band—and avoid dreaded one-hit wonder status—also rests on Maroon5’s reputation as an accomplished live act. “Most of the time a band has one hit and falls off the face of the earth because the band is terrible live,” Levine says. “I think our live show is an attraction.” The slow and steady rise of Maroon5 and “Harder to Breathe” is at last reaching critical mass. It debuted at No. 37 on the July 25 Airplay Monitor Mainstream Top 40 chart, after achieving top 2- status on adult top 40 and modern AC radio. Levine says, “It’s getting bigger and better faster. The best thing for us to do is just put our heads down and play as many shows as we can.” “Songs About Jane” has sold 180,000 copies, according to Nielsen Soundscan. It hit No. 1 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart, where it reigned for three weeks in July. The album is No. 92 on The Billboard 200. The next step for Maroon5 is for the J team to work the song globally. Diener says, “J Records has all the resources and assets to not only break the band bigger on radio and video but also to break the band internationally.” The act will perform with Matchbox Twenty in Europe, while Japanese radio stations are already demonstrating zeal for the band’s next single, “This Love.” Berkman offers his prediction for the future of Maroon5: “In today’s marketplace, if you connect with the consumer, the sky’s the limit. I think spectacular things can and will happen. It’s just a matter of time.” - MITCH POLLOCK |
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October 13, 2003 Slow-building single keeps Maroon 5’s star rising After sailing into uncharted waters with a niche-resistant rock ‘n’ soul debut album, Maroon 5 stayed stranded in the pop’s nether regions for more than a year. To the rescue: Harder to Breathe, a song that refused to expire during 16 months at radio. It’s one of several slow-building singles of late to resuscitate flagging albums and buck a system obsessed with first-week sales. Harder to Breathe began its steady rise after officially going to radio in July 2002. It’s No. 6 with a bullet on Airplay Monitor’s mainstream top 40 chart. It jumped to No. 29 from No. 36 on the all-format national radio airplay chart after eight weeks in the top 100, according to Nielsen BDS. Breathe helped lift Maroon 5’s Songs for Jane to a peak two weeks ago of No. 47 on the Billboard album chart, where it has percolated for 47 weeks. The debut album has sold 336,000 copies since its release in June 2002, according to Nielsen SoundScan. This year has seen a rash of sluggish climbers from Why Can’t I by Liz Phair to Stacy’s Mom by Fountains of Wayne. Jason Mraz’s The Remedy (I Won’t Worry) is still in the top 10 after nearly a year on various formats. The Boys of Summer, The Ataris’ cover of Don Henley’s 1985 hit, reached No. 10 after four months. Maroon 5 singer/guitarist Adam Levine, 24, sees little mystery in the band’s rise despite his initial ambivalence about the rock-hardened Harder to Breathe. “I didn’t love or hate the song, and I didn’t care if it got on the album,” he says. “We have a lot of pop songs on our record, and the idea was to tart out with something different. Why come out of the gate with another pop song by another pop band?” Levine cites three reason for Breathe’s ascension: “It’s a very radio-friendly track, the band does great live shows, and we’re not bad-looking, either.” He says he is proud that non-stop touring rather than a personality-driven campaign won over fans. “The obsession with celebrity has overshadowed substance,” he says. “There’s a lot of music out there, but not a lot of people who can actually play live. For me, that’s such a huge part of loving a band. I heard the death rattle when I was growing up. Incredible bands like Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and Alice in Chains don’t exist in the same way they did. Now only a few rock bands are that engaging live.” Touring gets as much credit for the Maroon 5 career boost as Breathe’s airplay bounty. “The radio stuff is really awesome but not something we’ll live or die by,” Levine says, adding that the L.A. band never worried about finding an audience for its funk/soul brand of rock. “Doing something unique is a lot scarier when there’s nobody at the show. Once the groundswell started, it built our confidence.” Finishing up the final weeks of a two-year tour, Maroon 5 is looking forward to more than a vacation. “I’d like to come home to a platinum record,” Levine says. – EDNA GUNDERSEN |
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March 12, 2007 Maroon 5 Finds Its Groove On Sophomore Album Five years on from the release of “Songs About Jane,” which propelled Maroon 5 into the multiplatinum stratosphere, the group is ready to return with a new album that’s “a little more hyper and excitable; not as laid-back or bluesy as the first record,” frontman Adam Levine tells Billboard.com. “It Won’t Be Soon Before Long,” due May 22 via the new A&M/Octone label, percolated for months as the band tried to achieve perspective on its sudden success. “The first record was so massive that we all started to get a little freaked out,” Levine says. “We all started to get a little nervous and wanted to take our time and make sure it was something we all loved. We all became very concerned with the quality of the record, and when you have give different people equally concerned with that, it’s going to take awhile. It doesn’t happen overnight. We were borderline Fleetwood Mac on this one; it was crazy.” Levine looked to the fairer sex for inspiration on the new set, but maintains, “It certainly isn’t a theme record like the first one—it’s not about one girl and how one girl broke my heart. It’s definitely a bit broader than that. Since I’m constantly perplexed by women, that was definitely a central theme of this record as well. And no matter what you’re talking about, it’s always easy to use the metaphor of a relationship, in my opinion at least.” Rather than work with one producer for the whole album, the band spent time with four different people in a “quest to make it perfect, or as perfect as it could be through our eyes,” according to Levine. “We wanted it to be as good as possible. It’s nice to have a different perspective once in a while. You get fried at the studio every day going in with the same people and doing the same things. Your attitude can sometimes be negatively affected by it, and therefore what you’re doing creatively can be negatively affected by it.” Maroon 5 won’t begin a proper tour until September, but the group will suit up as support for the Police’s July 10 show at Miami’s Dolphin Stadium. “I can’t wait for that,” Levine says. “It’s a dream come true. I would’ve liked to have just seen the concert, let alone open up for them.” – MITCHELL PETERS |
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April 26, 2007 Sophomore Jump “Makes Me Wonder”—a rhythmic-oriented, late’70s-vibed track—is just the third song this decade to reach the Adult Top 40 chart’s top 15 in two weeks or less. It’s a promising start for the band’s second album, “It Won’t Be Soon Before Too Long,” due May 22. But as James Diener, president/CEO of the band’s new label home, A&M/Octone (see story, below), is quick to point out, “Everything the band has lining up for it now, it’s earned.” Indeed, it’s worth considering how long it took to get the first single from “Songs About Jane,” the band’ last album and first under the Maroon5 moniker, to make an impact at radio. Almost seven months, to be precise: “Songs” was released June 25,2002, on Octone Records and first single “Harder to Breathe” debuted Jan. 18, 2003, on the Modern Rock chart, peaking at No. 31 about a month later. “Everything happened for them gradually,” A&M/Octone executive VP/head of promotions Ben Berkman says. “Maroon5 didn’t become starts overnight.” In fact, the campaign fro “Songs” lasted an unusually protracted four years, stretching through summer 2005. Throughout the process, the band endured a grueling global schedule of radio tours, promo events and regular gigging, sometimes cramming more than 250 shows into a year. The work was necessary. “Songs” had first-week sales of less tan 2,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. It would take almost two years, and lots more traveling, for it to pass the 1 million-unit mark. IN THE BEGINNING It took nearly a decade for the band to even become Maroon5. In the early ‘90s, Adam Levine, Jesse Carmichael and Michael “Mickey” Madden made friends in their hometown of Brentwood, Calif., at the private Brentwood School. Hooking up with Ryan Dusick—another, slightly older schoolmate—in 1994, they formed a grunge-influenced alternative rock band known as Kara’s Flowers. The group signed to Reprise Records and released the album ‘The Fourth World” in 1997. The Reprise effort went nowhere, Kara’s Flowers was dropped, and the band members soon went their (mostly) separate ways, uncertain about what the future might hold. Levine and Carmichael tried to make a go of it studying on the East Coast. College degrees didn’t exactly pan out, but a new appreciation for hip-hop, soul, gospel and R&B inspired a reunion with their former bandmates in Los Angeles. After the addition of Lincoln, Neb., transplant James Valentine to the lineup in 2000 and a name change, the newly anointed Marooon5 was granted a second chance, by an upstart label known as Octone Records. The band was already at year seven when it cut “Songs About Jane” in 2001. And that’s when the real work began. From the time “Songs” hit stores in June 2002, Marooon5 was on the move. “Initially, I spent a year and a half on the road riding around in a van bringing them to radio,” Berkman says. “We still laugh about how much that sucked” But the effort did help spread the gospel. While getting “Harder to Breathe” to click at modern rock took time, it laid the groundwork for smoother and greater success at adult top 40, where the song finally peaked in the top 20 in July 2003. In between, the band worked its way into The Billboard 200 for the first time, entering that chart the week ending May 31, 2003. Finally, it was on to the mainstream top 40, where it cracked the top five in October 2003. Diener thinks it was just this kind of slow build that made all the difference in the band’s ultimate success. “When a career develops over many, many months and no opportunity is too big to pass up, what happens is that everyone involved—the manager, the label and the artist—everyone is conditioned for real hard work.” It wasn’t until the band’s second single, the now-classic “This Love,” that the band’s momentum settled into a groove. In the spring of 2004, the track became the band’s first No. 1 single (on the Adult Top 40 chart) and the album crossed the million-sales threshold. The traveling continued apace, and as the band became superstars at home, ever greater attention was turned to the international market. “That’s really why the ‘Songs About Jane’ cycle lasted four years,” A&M/Octone GM David Boxenbaum says. “We didn’t start rolling them out overseas until they were gold in the U.S., and so there was some lag time between their success at home and their success abroad. Essentially, we had to catch everyone else up.” By summer 2004, third single “She Will Be Loved” proved itself another No. 1 smash in the United States and the band surpassed 2 million in sales. From that point forward, Marooon5 was a bona fide juggernaut, hitting the 3 million mark in December 2004 and then 4 million in July 2005. Total domestic sales of “Songs” stand at 4.3 million copies. According to the label, “Songs” has done about 6 million in international sales, or 60% of its current sales total. “The band earned it by just touring nonstop overseas,” Boxenbaum says. ‘They went to every country, playing shows, doing promotion—just giving love to all these territories. And when bands reach out personally like that, that’s when they find an audience that connects and stays.” STARTING ANEW By August 2005, as the band at last wrapped its support work for the album, the perpetual motion of the “Songs” cycle had taken its toll. “We were fried,” lead vocalist and primary songwriter Levine says. “We had to throw in the towel, because we were becoming ghosts of the people we once were. Everything was so dialed in and so automatic. It didn’t feel right. It felt like it was time to move on.” Meanwhile, drummer Dusich had reaggravated an old sports injury due to the repetitive stress of drumming. Matt Flynn took the role of fill-in drummer at that point but Dusick never really recovered, leaving the band for good in September 2006. “It was traumatic,” Levine says. “We were losing a soldier.” The band took off for only about a month. By October 2005, the members were together at Rick Rubin’s Southern California “Houdini” mansion to write and demo new material. “Jesse and Adam lived up there,” Madden says, “and all told I think we spent about three months there working out material. The bulk of the new album was written by the time we left.” The group segued into regular studio sessions in February 2006, choosing to work on material in three distinct parts. Starting out with Mike Elizondo (Dr. Dre, 50 Cent) and Mark “Spike” Stent (Gwen Stefani, Madonna), the band also turned to Eric Valentine (Queens of the Stone Age, Third Eye Blind) for two of the album’s more rock-leaning tracks, and cut another two-and-a-half songs with Mike Endert (Anna Nalick, Gavin DeGraw). The band’s manager Jordan Feldstein says, “Maroon5’s music is a medley of styles, and alone, none of the producers had a discography that reflected all of the band’s influences.” Feldstein also notes that the band “was able to do things they couldn’t do the first time, like cut songs more than once. They got to be a little more free, experiment with new sounds, different instruments.” Indeed, based on the handful of tracks played for Billboard, “It Won’t Be Soon Before Too Long” covers a lot of stylistic ground, moving from the Latin rhythms and synth swirls of front-and-center opener “If I Never See Your Face” to the ‘Every Breath You Take”-styled balladry of Won’t Go Home Without You.” Elsewhere, the soulful uptempo piano-based groove of “Wake Up Call” conjures everything from Prince and Justin Timberlake to “Off the Wall”-era Michael Jackson, but still sounds fresh and assured. But for all the new touches, the album isn’t a drastic departure from “Songs About Jane.” Flynn says, “I think it would be stupid if it was a departure, to be honest.” The record wrapped before Octone jumped from Sony BMG to Universal to become A&M/Octone, and everyone interviewed for the story says the transition did not delay the album. But it did give the band the spooks for a bit. “We kept our fingers crossed,” Madden says. “We felt like we wanted to stay with Octone, because they had nurtured us for so long, and we’re glad that worked out. But we were definitely feeling like we were in limbo there for a week or two. It was interesting.” Safely reunited with the staff of the former Octone Records at Universal, a new round of hard work begins for Maroon5 as the group transitions back into the marketplace. “We’re not taking anything for granted,” Berkman says, and this view is expressed by everyone at A&M/Octone. “We’re approaching all the outlets with a lot of respect. In the case of radio, we played them all the record early. It didn’t just show up on programmers’ desks a day before the add date.” Diener adds, “We’re firing on all engines: radio, retail, promotions, international.” Time will tell if music critics—never cheerleaders for the band—warm up this time around. “I understand why they don’t like us,” Levine says. “We’re very hard to like—we make accessible pop music, and girls like us. These elements do not make for critical success. But there are 50 critics and 80 billion people, so I don’t really care.” Later though, Levine acknowledges that the critical indifference hurts at times. “I hope they get the new one, and I think they will,” the singer says. A&M/Octone head of sales and artist development Rome Thomas says his team is working closely with the team IGA has in place. “From the get-go, we’ve realized the importance of having the retail community and our marketing partners see this as a joint effort between both entities.” Thomas says the plan for retail is to have “bonus content to leverage with every key partner that has asked, whether it be mass retailers or the non-traditional communities. We’re trying to make sure that every retailer feels they can play their own special part in this release.” Thomas adds that mobile offerings and licensing will play a “huge part in how this record will proliferate over the next two to three years. We want to use every vehicle we can to get this music out there.” On the international side, Boxenbaum says that one of the key differences between Sony BMG’s structure and Universal’s is “bench depth. Sony BMG had one or two people dedicated to international, and they would talk to the territories mostly in a phone and e-mail situation. They’d send the band over alone and hope that the international plan was being executed.” In contrast, Boxenbaum says IGA has a “much more top-down and centralized” approach to international with head of international Martin Kierzenbaum and head of international marketing Jurgen Grebner in place in L.A. with “an entire staff of people who actually go with the band to the territories. There’s a structure in place to prioritize global plans. Without one, everything’s left to the whims of the individual territories.” The plan is to hit overseas markets “much the way we did the first time around—hard. We’ll approach this with a ground-up attitude again.” The band has already begun a promo tour of Europe that will continue to Australia and Asia during the next month or so and includes a long string of “underplays,” or small-venue shows, maxing out at capacities around 700. This approach will also carry over to the States, where the band will do a spate of underplays prior to a full-scale arena tour slated to begin in the fall and run toward the holiday season. “We wanted to give core fans the same experience they had the first time around with this band,” Feldstein says. “They really built a reputation as a great live band during the four years they spent on the road, and we want to remind people of that and get them back out there.” Of course, a new chapter at radio is already being written, and Berkman likes the signs. “Thus far, we’re off to an amazing start, thanks in large part to IGA’s efforts. And if [“Makes Me Wonder”] connects and the album meets our expectations, the group will really have proven themselves. The sky will be the limit. – S.V. |
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May 21st, 2007 Second CD By Maroon 5 Faces Great Expectations LOS ANGELES, May 20 – Even an ardent fan could be forgiven for wondering just how Maroon 5 would sound on “It Won’t Be Soon Before Long,” the follow-up to its widely successful debut album, “Songs About Jane,” from 2002. After all, on its long journey to stardom this band abandoned its post-grunge roots for a radio-friendly pop-soul sound, even while dabbling in hard rock. (At the height of its success from that first album Maroon 5 closed live shows with a cover of AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell.”) Adam Levine, the band’s lead singer, said that when group members began recording the new album, in stores tomorrow, they decided to draw from more classic pop influences. He listened to old Michael Jackson music constantly, he said, including the album “Off the Wall.” “You go away for a long enough period of time, you feel a bit more insecure about your position,” Mr. Levine said in an interview. “But that melted away. We’ve had enough time to rest and to regroup and make a great record, in my opinion.” As Maroon 5 finished its album, though, the group learned it would bear a heavier burden than creative reinvention, or even the typical post-blockbuster expectations. While Hollywood may be rejoicing in the fortunes of sequels like “Spider-Man 3,” the ailing music business is nervously rethinking the value of follow-ups. That uncertainty was starkly evident in the deal making that ultimately led Maroon 5, which won the Grammy award for best new artist two years ago, to depart the fold of a major record label after a smash debut. The result speaks loudly about the nature of longevity in today’s music business, in which sales are slumping, turnover on the Billboard charts is high, and platinum albums are scarce. “Songs About Jane” sold an estimated 10 million copies worldwide, but that was not enough to assure top executives at Sony BMG, the music giant that distributed it, that the rights to Maroon 5’s future recordings were worth the asking price. Instead Sony BMG sold its stake in the partnership with Octone Records, the start-up label that had signed and developed the band. Waiting in the wings, however, was an eager new corporate home. In February Universal Music Group said it would take on a new partnership with Octone, with Maroon 5 as the principal act on the roster. Universal paid about $35 million for the stake in the new partnership, now called A&M/Octone, said people briefed on the deal, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they had not been authorized to speak publicly about it. Universal’s Interscope division will split profits on artist in A&M/Octone. Early signs suggest that the new Maroon 5 album will be a hit, though how big is hard to say. Already it has generated record advance sales at iTunes, Universal executives said. And their first single, the 1970s disco-flavored “Makes Me Wonder,” is getting heavy radio play. None of this has made it easier to predict whether the album or future efforts by Maroon 5 and other artists on the label will sell enough for Universal’s bet to pay off. (Maroon 5 is said to owe at least two more albums, with options for more.) Rivals estimate that A&M/Octone will have to sell at least 15 million albums for Universal to break even on its investment. Universal insiders put the figure in the 10 million to 12 million unit range. With CD sales in the United States already sinking about 20 percent since a year ago and the industry’s prospects still uncertain, either figure is a tall order. And it is the long bet on relatively new talent that has made this deal so buzz-worthy. “It’s difficult if not impossible to realistically know what the consumer is going to make of a particular band five years from now,” said Celia Hirschman, and independent marketing consultant and former major-label executive. “In the last two years the record industry has changed so drastically that events that took place five years ago are no longer relevant. I think you’re going to see less and less of these deals in the future.” There have not been many similar deals in the past either. Most record contracts are designed to keep artists bound to the same label for up to seven albums, though it is rare for a major label to hold on to an act that doesn’t score by its third. But maroon 5 was in an unusual position early this year, mainly because its first album did not pay off quickly. “Songs about Jane” hit shops in 2002, but it did not catch on with a mass audience until nearly two years later, after tireless touring by the band and a push by Octone and Sony BMG’s J Records label. As a result the band was finishing its second outing late last year, about the same time that the multiyear partnership between Octone and Sony BMG was coming up for renewal discussions. Octone, a six-year-old label started by the recording executive, James Diener and backed by private investors, exercised a provision in which Sony BMG would either have to buy out the investors’ stake or sell its own share, executives briefed on the discussions said. Some top executives on the BMG side of Sony/BMG were inclined to pay Octone – and therefore hold on to Maroon 5 – but they were overruled by higher-ups, who found the terms too costly, said several executives briefed on the internal discussions, who spoke on condition of anonymity. That created an opening for Universal Music’s Interscope unit. Jimmy Iovine, Interscope’s chairman, said he had already planned to hire Mr. Diener and his associates at Octone, with or without Maroon 5. But the addition of that band to the fold, he said, would add luster to a roster of pop hit makers that already includes the Black Eyed Peas, Pussycat Dolls and others. “I know I never would have let them go, that’s how I feel good about the deal,” Mr. Iovine said. While acknowledging the industry’s slump, he added: “Where we’re headed, the quality of your roster is going to be so important. You can only win right now with real artists that can penetrate worldwide. I don’t know anybody who doesn’t believe in that kid’s career,” He said of Mr. Levine, 28. At Universal and elsewhere, there is already chatter about a potential solo foray someday for Mr. Levine, who was a guest singer on a Kanye West track, “Heard ‘Em Say.” Mr. Diener, a talent scout and marketing executive who is the son of a former president of ABC Records, said that the success of A&M/Octone would rely on more than Maroon 5. The venture includes a handful of fledging acts and the budding Christian rock band Flyleaf, whose debut album has sold about 589,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The label is expected to add some artists from Interscope’s previous A&M imprint but remain compact. At many major labels, Mr Diener said, “the volume and quantity of roster acts almost precludes their ability to microfocus and concentrate long-term.” “For the time being, though, the spotlights is squarely on its marquee band, Maroon 5, made up mostly of a group of friends who met in school in the Brentwood section of Los Angeles. Mr. Levine said the band was excited to hit the road again to push the new songs. “We tour more than most rock bands are willing to tour,” he said; and if that’s the most direct route to a lasting career, “we’re Metallica.” (Maroon 5 is scheduled to play the Bowery Ballroom in New York City on June 11.) He is keenly aware of critics who have dismissed the band as a one-album wonder. “The only thing that can refute that,” he said, “is a very successful second record.” – JEFF LEEDS |
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May 22nd, 2007 Pop Album Reviews: It Won’t Be Soon Before Long For a band that sold more than 4 million copies of its first album, Maroon 5 sure gets called “irritating” a lot. The rep is partly because of singer Adam Levine’s busy, successful pursuit of L.A.’s most visible young blonds, but it’s also because the band deploys its Wild Cherry-flavored dance hits with such sweat-free competence that rooting for them feels superfluous. At least that 2002 debut has a few raggedy moments; now Maroon 5 has suited up in formal wear and gone in for the kill. “It Won’t Be Soon Before Long,” the band’s sophomore outing (in stores today), is an icy-hot blend of electro-funk and blue-eyed soul that works its cruel streak with the confidence of Daniel Craig’s James Bond. Even after 50-plus years of mixed-up musical legacies, any white artist who takes on rhythm and blues has to figure out an angle that proves he or she is not just another thief. Being a sexy creep is a good one, turning musical appropriation into just one aspect of a lifestyle that’s all about sophistication and more compromise. This pose is more sustainable than Jamiroquai’s one-love cheerfulness, which ends up seeming naïve, or Justin Timberlake’s chocolate-beneath-the-skin insiderness, which is hard to sustain. The Daryl Hall of “Maneater” is a sexy creep; so is Roxy Music’s Bryan Ferry, Police-era Sting and, of course, Mick Jagger, as was Michael Hutchence of INXS. Levine finds his own way into this role by doing away with the treacly tendencies that marred Maroon 5’s earlier work and reveling in the seamy, bitter, obsessive side of romance. He’s taken his band with him down this coolly lit corridor. On aggravatingly danceable tracks such as “A Little of Your Time” and the single “Makes Me Wonder,” guitarist James Valentine and bassist Mickey Madden re-investigate the moment when New Wave rock got the funk, spewing out lines that mix the former’s edgy concision with the latter’s joint-popping rhythmic genius. New drummer Matt Flynn keeps everything crisp and organized, and keyboardist Jesse Charmichael has a grin playing Trivial Pursuit with Prince and Michael Jackson lifts. “Can’t Stop” might be the best Michael Jackson simulacrum ever, not only because it emulates the fallen master’s fetishes – rock guitar, hyper-tense rhythms, little melodic flourishes that simulate loss of control – but because the lyric, about the physical experience of sexual thrall, careens into the self-exposure that made “Billie Jean” and “In The Closet” fascinating. “Kiwi” is derivative of Prince, but one can’t help wondering if the title is an homage to Hutchence, because it has that predatory feel that made the Australian singer a top-notch nightcrawler. Of course, here are ballads, also catchy but even more thematically unnerving, because they’re all about the sentimental frisson of breaking up or getting caught doing wrong. (This is where the band gets its Sting on, referencing “Every Breath You Take” repeatedly.) Will girls swoon to this stuff? Not if they’re wise. But many are not. By mastering musical and emotional ruthlessness, Maroon 5 has made a deal with the devil, and its powers will be hard to resist. – ANN POWERS |
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May 28th, 2007 Maroon 5: It Won’t Be Soon Before Long After they won the Best New Artist Grammy on the strength of 2002’s Songs About Jane, the challenge for Maroon 5 was to avoid the curse that has befallen over other award recipients such as Paula Cole, Marc Cohn, and Christopher Cross. And they’ve done that with this satisfying if slightly lesser follow-up, which has already spawned the No. 1 hit “Makes Me Wonder.” Although there is nothing here quite as irresistible as “This Love” or “She Will Be Loved”, there are still plenty of songs that will sound great blasting from your car stereo. Highlights include opener “If I Never See Your Face Again”, which features ‘80s Prince Synths and falsetto vocals by front man Adam Levine that echo vintage Michael Jackson. They keep the sexy, soul-kissed grooves coming on rhythmically driven tracks like “Kiwi”. Best, though, is the swoonworthy ballad “Better That We Break,” which would be the breakup song of the summer. |
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June 10th, 2007 5-Year Itch: After Wait, Maroon 5 Finally Makes Second Disc Judging strictly by timelines, Maroon 5 is one the world’s laziest bands. It’s been five years since the group released its first CD, the triple–platinum “Songs About Jane”. And more than two years since it won Best New Artist at the Grammys. Lead Singer Adam Levin, however, says the calendar doesn’t tell the whole story. “That’s a common misconception”, says Levine, laughing. “Truth is, (after releasing “Songs About Jane”) we took like a month off and then hit the road touring for three straight years. Then we went right back into the studio and started recording our second album.” The band-which also includes guitarist James Valentine, keyboardist Jesse Carmichael, bassist Mickey Madden, and drummer Matt Flynn- released its sophomore effort, “It Wont Be Soon Before Long”, on May 22. It shows the Los Angeles quintet delivering heavily into funk, delving heavily into funk, thumping out bass lines you can feel in your chest. And compared to their ballad-heavy debut, it’s far more energetic. Both Levine and Carmichael attribute that to new drummer Flynn, who was called on to replace Ryan Dusick after he was forced to leave the band last year due to nerve injuries. Flynn’s aggressive style resulted in a slew of fist-pimping songs, and ultimately didn’t harm the group’s unique chemistry. “I think (Flynn) fits in well,” Carmichael says. “You can feel his impact”. Which should please those fans lucky enough to snag tickets to see the group (with usually plays arenas such as Madison Square Garden) tomorrow at Bowery Ballroom. They’ll return for bigger shows in the fall. Fans are still feeling Maroon 5, as the first single, “Makes Me Wonder”, shot from No.64 to the top spot within its first week on iTunes. It joins previous Maroon 5 hits “She Will Be Loved” and “This Love” in reaching No.1 on the Billboard singles chart. The album, which currently sits atop the Billboard 200, seems destined to buck the old sophomore jinx. “After what we went though putting the first one together, we’re trying not to think about that,” says Levine, who, along with his band mates, was forced to borrow money from producers at times to just eat lunch while recording their debut. “We put everything we had into it- finically and emotionally.” – JOSEPH BARRACATO |
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June 11, 2007 Music Review: It Won’t Be Soon Before Long (2007) Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine may or may not be the carousing ''man-whore'' that Page Six pegs him to be. (Did the beady-eyed soul singer really speed-dump Jessica Simpson via text message? Who knows? Who actually cares?) But judging from his band's sophomore album, it certainly seems like he views romance as terribly fleeting. It Won't Be Soon Before Long is a fast-moving collection of fizzy but entertaining come-ons, get-offs, breakups, and makeups. There's not a lot to fall deeply in love with here, but Levine and crew understand the importance of packing as much thrill as possible into each tryst, leaving you with mostly good feelings and no lasting emotional scars. Before Long establishes its smarmy, smooth-operator vibe immediately with the droll optimism of a grown man on permanent spring break. ''If I never see your face again,'' sings Levine, nonchalantly, on the track of the same name, ''I don't mind 'cause we've gone much further than I thought we'd get tonight.'' Just like he's rumored to do with the wham, bam, thank you ma'ams who make up his tabloid fodder, Levine leaves us with his true gift — that smug, R&B-slick deadpan. Yes, the singer seems detached — cold, even — but over a plucky dance-floor groove like the single ''Makes Me Wonder,'' there's a twisted logic to his dispassionate delivery (a steady, nasally distillation of early Sting and Jamiroquai's goofy-hatted singer Jay Kay). He's eager to give up on reconciliation and boogie over to the next conquest, singing ''It really makes me wonder if I ever gave a f--- about you.'' But whether breaking hearts brusquely or semi-sweetly as on ''Nothing Lasts Forever,'' Maroon 5 score with their big, memorable, melodic hooks. Tracks like ''Little of Your Time'' and ''Can't Stop'' kick off with staccato, chunky but toothless funk. Within seconds, though, both swell in the grandiose pop manner of the band's ubiquitous 2006 Grammy award clincher, ''This Love.'' No pickup artist is perfect, and Maroon 5 definitely exhibit some slackin' to their mackin'. The cheap Prince knockoff ''Kiwi'' rides a dull bass line to an icky chorus that's unlikely to drive the ladies anywhere but away. ''Sweet Kiwi,'' croons Levine, trying too hard to convey sexy over a guitar vamp worthy of '70s porn and little else, ''your juices drippin' down my chin.'' But aside from the occasional libido overflow and a few too many riffs cribbed directly from Synchronicity, Maroon 5's flirty new set is fine for at least an evening's worth of wild times. Whether you'll want to bring it home to Mom the next day is another story. – NEIL DRUMMING |
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June 12, 2007 Maroon 5 Unveils New Tunes AT NYC Club Show Maroon 5 won’t officially hit the road until this fall in support of it s new album, “It Won’t Be Soon Before Long”, but the group touched down last night (June 11) at New York’s intimate Bowery Ballroom to unveil some fresh material. The band whipped through a number of tunes from the new set, which in May debuted at No. 1 on The billboard 200, as well as predictable fan favorites from its 2002 debut, “Songs About Jane”. The 11-song set kicked off with the bass-heavy, “Harder To Breathe,” which found charismatic front man Adam Levine working the mic stand, much to the delight of the females in the crowd. From there the band launched into its current single, “Makes Me Wonder,” which is no. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 this week. The Band’s Sound took on a heavier, more rocking edge on such songs as “If I Never See Your Face Again”, “The Sun” and the tempo-shifting “shiver”. Later, the tiny venue could barely contain the overblown production of “Won’t Go Home Without You”, which indicates the boys are aimed for success when they hit larger amphitheaters. For the encore, Maroon 5 played two of its biggest singles from “Songs About Jane,” the ballad “She Will Be Loved” and “This Love”. The Group heads to Montreal tomorrow for another club show, followed by three shows in Japan through June 35 in Osaka. The only other date on tap until the fall is a July 10 opening slot for the Police at Miami’s Dolphin Stadium. – JILL MENZE, NY |
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