Album Review: Hands All Over - Maroon 5

Getting to the top of the pop-rock mountain takes luck and hard work. And when you find a winning formula, you stick with it. Maroon 5 has figured out that keeping it clean, upbeat, and catchy is the key to success, and their new album Hands All Over is another example of a gameplan executed to perfection.

Let me preface things by saying I would never be caught dead buying a Maroon 5 album. As a self-respecting heterosexual male, you just don’t do it. The lead singer’s a semi-metro heart throb with a high-pitched voice that’s filled with longing, and it’s calling out to your girlfriend to leave you and hang with him. And when I hear the songs, all that comes to mind is the snappy soundtrack for a romantic comedy.

That said, this is also the kind of crisply played pop you don’t mind hearing if you stumble across it as you’re listening to the radio. My own personal prejudice aside, Adam Levine is a capable lead vocalist who kind of brings to mind a modern day Phil Collins. And if you’re not expecting a mind-blowing guitar solo or anything out of the ordinary, the band plays tight, head-nodding instrumentals that cross seamlessly over musical and social boundaries.

The key to all of this is that Maroon 5 knows what they do well, and they don’t stray from it for the most part. Hands All Over doesn’t really feature any sappy, slow ballads, or experimental tracks that come at you from left field. It’s your ideal mall music, or something a woman can download and put on her iPod workout mix.

Overall, I give Hands All Over a 4.25 out of 5. It’s a fast-paced, light album that feels a lot shorter than its 18 songs.

Download Hands All Over on Amazon