Misery

Song: Misery
Artist: Maroon 5
Album: Hands All Over





Maroon 5 was a band I, for whatever reason, didn't want to like.  And when their first album was out I certainly didn't care for the drippy ballads they were releasing as singles, but a song like "This Love" is hard to avoid, and find yourself singing along to.  It was everywhere, and I succumbed.  What I didn't expect was to like their sophomore release, "It Won't Be Soon Before Long" as much as I did.  On the strength of the killer initial single "Makes Me Wonder," I got the album and was really pleasantly surprised.    I could make fun of them no more... (though I still think "She Will Be Loved" is adult contemporary garbage.)

So it comes with some hot anticipation that Maroon 5 are releasing a new album, "Hands All Over," in late September, with their first single from the album, "Misery" coming out later this month.  The album was recorded in Switzerland with mega-producer Robert "Mutt" Lang, (Def Leppard, Shania Twain) so expectations are even higher for the band to turn something hot out.  So how is the first single?  Eh.  It certainly sounds like trademark Maroon 5, but with nothing new.  It could have come off any of their other albums.  It's certainly not bad... just not that exciting.  I'll be interested to see if this song catches on with the summer audience.

Lead Adam Levine has said that he plans to maybe do one more Maroon 5 record after this...

 "Eventually I want to focus on being a completely different person because I don’t know if I want to do this into my 40s and 50s and beyond, like the Rolling Stones."

Maybe Adam just realizes he and his band only have a couple good songs left in them, and they can't build a catalog based on recycling "This Love" over and over.  Am I being cynical?  What do you think of "Misery?"

Enjoy.

Misery