Introducing the ‘listenable’ Maroon5

I have been listening to a lot of rock music lately and I still can’t get over the fact that the music continues to grow tremendously and over how remarkable are the young talents we have now. It is so easy to admire the sounds of Norah Jones or Josh Groban or Sheryl Crow, Alicia Keys, Joss Stone even. I have to admit though that they and many others besides are only using long established templates wherein they put some minor variations of their own from time to time.

This is not what is happening with the rock bands. They have taken what they learned from Elvis Presley, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones and incorporated these into Marvin Gaye and Smokey Robinson and Earth, Wind & Fire and Nirvana to come up with something all their own. So what comes out is rock but mixed with soul, funk and hip hop. During lighter moments they even go into folk or swoony pop ballads better identified with boy groups. But whatever the results, the music is always new and interesting.

Check out the sounds of the likes of Evanescence, Cold Play, White Stripes, the Foo Fighters, Avril Lavigne, Nickelback and Incubus and be amazed at what they offer. Then welcome the latest addition, a group that calls itself Maroon5 that has one of the most listenable albums ever made with its big selling Songs About Jane. Like those previously mentioned, these guys are aware, angry, sensitive, romantic and best of all, musically and commercially astute.

The versatile Adam Levine on vocals and lead guitar fronts the band which is also made up of Ryan Dusick on drums and vocals, Jesse Carmichael on keyboards and vocals, James Valentine on guitar, and Mickey Madden on bass. They started out as schoolmates in Los Angeles. They were in junior high when they first formed a band they named Kara’s Flowers. Despite the critical acclaim received by the group’s first album, The Fourth World and its release on a major label, Reprise, Kara’s Flowers did not last long. The band was dropped by the label and Adam and his bandmates were left on their own.

Which is just as well, for it was not long after that that Maroon5 was born. Then last year, with a new album deal with Octone of the aggressive J Records, they released Songs About Jane.. Just as I do not know the origin of the name Maroon5, I also have no idea who Jane is. What I know is I like the album where songs move seamlessly from one exciting cut to the other. Take note as it gets funky with the first hit single Harder to Breathe, goes boy band pop in This Love, takes on R&B in Sunday Morning and goes into the next hit single mode in She Will be Loved.

Other tracks are Shiver, Tangled, The Sun, Must Get Out, Secret, Through with You, Not Coming Home and Sweetest Goodbye. Not to forget, all songs in the album were composed and arranged by Maroon5.

And now the hit lists. The Maroon5’s Songs About Jane is number 16 in Billboard Magazine’s Hot 100 albums while the song This Love is at a high no. 5 among the singles.

The top 10 selling tunes in the US of A this week are the following: Yeah! by the current darling of the charts, Usher, featuring Lil Jon & Ludacris; I Don’t Wanna Know by Mario Winans featuring Enya & P. Diddy; Tipsy by J-Kwon; Burn also by Usher; This Love by Maroon5; Naughty Girl by Beyonce; One Call Away by Chingy featuring J. Weav; If I Ain’t Got You by Alicia Keys; Dirt Off Your Shoulder by Jay-Z; and My Band by D12.

The albums are Confessions, the latest by Usher; Now 15, latest volume in the popular cross-label hits compilation; Damita Jo, the new one by Janet Jackson which failed to make number one on its release; In this Skin, by reality TV queen Jessica Simpson; Feels Like Home by Norah Jones; Fallen the successful debut by Evanescence which has been in the top 10 for a year; When the Sun Goes Down by Kenny Chesney; U Gotta Feel Me by Lil’ Flip; Greatest Hits by Guns N’ Roses; and Hood Hop by J-Kwon.