Maroon 5
Songs About Jane

THE REVIEW

Year 2002: "Songs About Jane" by Maroon 5 is released worldwide, featuring five guys from Los Angeles. Their influences are numerous, all leading to a rhythm and musical structure predominantly funk with slight soul nuances, but all rather poorly blended, without particular strokes of genius or particularly original parts. The album's success would only come a year after its release, in 2003, thanks to significant media and record label support.

The only noteworthy tracks are the beautiful single "She Will Be Loved," in which, however, the very nasal voice of singer Adam Levine (certainly not a great vocalist, quite the opposite...) doesn't mesh well with the beautiful musical section, and "Must Get Out," a ballad with a rather bland but not at all melancholic rhythm.
For the rest, it's quite a repetitive album. "Harder To Breathe" (soundtrack of the Breil watch advertisement, I believe) relies on an engaging guitar setup that is practically identical to the rest of the album. "This Love," the first single that pushed them to the top of major global charts (including those for cellphone ringtones) in terms of musical content, might be listenable, but the fact that it becomes wearisome after a maximum of 4-5 listens, also due to the numerous radio, video clip, and TV ad plays, makes it clear that something is amiss...
Going further, there are episodes like "Shiver" (nothing to do with the splendid Coldplay track...), "Tangled," and "The Sun," which make us understand that originality and class are two terms completely absent from the vocabulary of the Los Angeles group.

In itself, the band's sound wouldn't be bad if listened to carefully, were it not for the fact that in 46 minutes of music, at least 30-35 are practically identical, at times it even seems like you're listening to the same track...
It's absolutely spontaneous to think that this group came to prominence more to please the record label, music TV, and radio rather than to make quality music and showcase their musical skills. In this album, there's something, but it's just "something." 2 out of 12 listenable tracks are not a good average for an album that is gold in Italy, but I'm no longer surprised by our sales charts, the situation worsens every year...