aaamusic | On 24, Jun 2012

It has now been 10 years since Maroon 5 released their number one album, Songs About Jane. Boy, does it certainly not feel like it’s been 10 years. The most memorable songs on the album would be, ‘She Will Be Loved’, ‘Harder To Breathe’ and ‘This Love’ all of which in particular are still catchy, well written and very listenable songs. The non-single songs don’t really live up to their single equivalents but are still utterly catchy. And where Maroon 5 fall down with lyrics they more than make up with instrumental, for example the lyrics for Shiver aren’t as good as some of their other songs but it still has some great vocal harmonies and a lovely little guitar solo..

The only problem with Maroon 5 is that to an extent their songs are terribly samey. Most of the songs on the album seem to be about the same relationship which can be pretty trying after a while. However, this album is called Songs About Jane so relationships are obviously going to of high focus. There is a nice simplicity to Maroon 5 which allows their songs to touch a lot of different types of people. For example, the lyrics for She Will Be Loved as well as the music are very simple but still it has become almost a classic romance song.

On the 10th anniversary edition you also get a CD of demos which includes a demo track for each song on the whole final album as well as a few extra tracks. This is truly a must for big fans of the band, however if you’re someone who’s only interested in the big hits you may as well buy a cheap copy of the original release. I’d say it was pretty exciting if you really love the band, not so if you only like their 3 major hits.

★★★★★

Author: Rose Benge