Music Monday; Hands All Over by Maroon 5

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Maroon 5 have released two multi-platinum studio albums (2002’s Songs About Jane and 2007’s It Won’t Be Soon Before Long), scored a string of hit singles (“This Love,” “She Will Be Loved,” “Harder to Breathe,” “Sunday Morning,” “Makes Me Wonder”), won three Grammy Awards, and sold 15 million albums around the world. Now the Los Angeles quintet is back with its third-studio album, entitled Hands All Over
hands all over cover
Personally I tend to like sophmore albums, because the artist is trying hard to love up the hype from the first mega album, and generally they are pretty similar as to what you liked about the group to begin with (think Evanescence, Christina Aguilera), and you tend to like at least 3-4 songs, which is pretty good nowadays. It's the THIRD album that marks the artist in my mind. Generally they go away (generally FAR away) from what the labels wanted on the second album and give you a totally different sound.

With this album, I think Maroon 5 did that, but played safe at the same time.This album has a SERIOUS 70s vibe to it, yet it still SOUNDS like Maroon 5.

"Misery" ( the lead single), "Hands All Over", "Get Back into my Life" are all the Maroon 5 we love. Give a Little More", "How", and "Don't Know Nothing" rock a HEAVY 70s vibe. In fact, I swore I was listening to the hook from the Bay City Rollers "I Only Want to Be With You" on "Don't Know Nothing". Although the band was all born a couple of years after their heydey, I'm sure there moms or someone else introduced the song to them as infants and it stuck! Don't get me wrong, I LIKE Maroon 5's version!

"Stutter" reminds me of your typical Maroon 5 song with a touch of rockabilly added to it. LOVED it!
"I Can't Lie" is meant to be a summer song and I hope the album is around long enough in rotation that it gets to see next year's summer waves! "Just a feeling" is a great take on a ballad, whereas as "Never Gonna Leave this Bed" and "Runaway" were not memorable at all to me. "Out of Goodbyes"sung with Lady Antebellum was ok, but I just wasn't thrilled with it.

I really had SUPER high hopes for this album, once I learned THE Mutt Lange was going to be producing it. Their sound is not Def Leppard or AC/DC, but I really thought the hooks would be there to make this album truly unforgetable. But they're not. too much anticipation? Maybe.

Overall, this is a decent album and one that will keep your feet tapping. Is it going to be THE album of the Fall? I'd say probably not. Maroon 5 fanatics with love it, but if you're a typical fan, you may be so-so about it. BUT I think it's a step of the band branching out and testing the waters, so to speak. I think their next album will be the one to watch for- like they say on TV, 'they know drama'!

Disclosure / Disclaimer:  I received a download of this album, free of charge,from A&M/Octone records, as a referral from Musebox, for blog review purposes! No other compensation, monetary or in kind, has been received or implied for this post. Nor was I told how to review it.Music is emotional, and my thoughts and feelings, may be different than yours~