Maroon 5 - Songs About Jane (180 Gram Vinyl)

Maroon 5: Adam Levine (vocals, guitar); James Valentine (guitar); Jesse Carmichael (keyboards, background vocals); Mickey Madden (bass); Ryan Dusick (drums, background vocals). Additional personnel includes: Jon O'Brien (programming); Mystic, Rashida Jones (background vocals). Principally recorded at Rumbo, Can Am, The Hook Studios, Los Angeles, California. Maroon 5 have certainly come a long way since their days in the indie outfit Kara's Flowers. After the band's demise in 1999, frontman Adam Levine surrounded himself with New York City's urban hip-hop culture and found a new musical calling. Maroon 5 was born and their debut album, Songs About Jane, illustrates an impressive rebirth. It's groovy in spots, offering bluesy funk on "Shiver" and a catchy, soulful disposition on "Harder to Breathe." "Must Get Out" slows things down with its dreamy lyrical story, and Levine is a vocal dead ringer for Men at Work's Colin Hay. Don't wince -- it works brilliantly. Songs About Jane is love-drunk on what makes Maroon 5 tick as a band. They're not as glossy as the Phantom Planet darlings; they've got grit and a sexy strut, personally and musically. It's much too slick to cross over commercially in 2002, but it's good enough for the pop kids to take notice. [Songs About Jane was re-released on LP in a 12-track LP version in 2016.] ~ MacKenzie Wilson.

Tracklist:

1. Harder To Breathe
   
2. Through with You
   
3. Not Coming Home
   
4. Sweetest Goodbye
   
5. This Love
   
6. Shiver
   
7. She Will Be Loved
   
8. Tangled
   
9. Sun, The
   
10. Must Get Out
    
11. Sunday Morning
    
12. Secret