| Product Summary | | Label: A&M/OCTONE RECORDS/UNIVERSAL | | UPC: 00602517331068 | | Release Date: 5/22/2007 | | Buy.com Sku: 204448362 | | Item#: M3LHXT | | Buy.com Sales Rank: 25079 | Format:  CD |
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(P) 2007 OctoScope Music, LLC
(C) 2007 OctoScope Music, LLC
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| | Album Notes and Credits |
Notes & Personnel Info |  | Maroon 5: Adam Levine (vocals); James Valentine (guitar); Jesse Carmichael (keyboards); Mickey Madden (bass instrument); Matt Flynn (drums). | | Thanks to steady touring and a debut album whose sales picked up at a steady clip after its release, Maroon 5 became one of the surprise break-out acts of the early 2000s. Expectations ran high for the band's sophomore release, and 2007's IT WON'T BE SOON BEFORE LONG delivers. Five years in the making, the album has the sound of a pop album that is well written and performed, painstakingly put together, and slickly and smartly produced. | | Maroon 5 have come a long way from the grunge-rock flavor of their tenure as Kara's Flower's (the band's first incarnation). The group still rocks when they want to, but IT WON'T BE SOON finds M5 emphasizing smoother, melodic fare with an R&B twist. Traces of Michael Jackson, Hall & Oates, Prince, and other mainstream soul-pop icons can be heard in the mix, but Maroon 5 gives their sound a distinctive stamp, melding electronic influences, hip-hop, balladry, rock, and keen pop sensibilities. The overall vibe is stylish and sexy, and the top-shelf production glitters, but it's the songwriting that takes center stage (just check the album's first single "Makes Me Wonder"). | | Maroon 5's 2002 debut album, Songs About Jane, was the kind of hit that doesn't happen often in the new millennium -- a genuine word-of-mouth hit whose popularity grew steadily after its release, largely due to the sweet, sunny hit "This Love," a song sly and catchy enough to stay on the adult pop charts for years without wearing out its welcome. It also was catchy enough to engender years of goodwill. Five years of goodwill, in fact, as the band toured heavily while slowly tinkering away on their second album, finally delivering It Won't Be Soon Before Long (its title perhaps a pun on the gap between records, perhaps not) half a decade after Songs About Jane. If that delay sounds like a symptom of sophomore jitters, that's not exactly true, since during that long stretch between albums Maroon 5 worked Songs About Jane and, in a sense, that album wasn't strictly their first album, either. Maroon 5 evolved out of Kara's Flowers, a post-grunge pop band whose 1997 debut never took off, not even when their debut was reissued in the wake of Maroon's success, but it did provide the group with the foundation for their success; it's where they paid their dues and learned how to be a pop band. Traces of Kara's Flowers could be heard in Maroon's rockier moments on their debut, but under their new name, the group began to develop an infatuation with blue-eyed soul-pop, which they wisely develop on It Won't Be Soon Before Long. More than develop, they modernize it, borrowing elements of Justin Timberlake's stylized synthesized soul, but Adam Levine is wise enough to know that he's no young colt, like JT. He knows that he's a pop guy, somewhat in the tradition of Hall & Oates, but he isn't trying to be retro, he's trying to fill that void, making records that are melodic, stylish, and soulful, which It Won't Be Soon Before Long certainly is. | | In every respect, It Won't Be Soon is a bigger album than its predecessor: hooks pile up one after another, there's not an ounce of fat on the songs, the production is so immaculate that it glistens. If there were lingering elements of Maroon 5's alt-rock past on Songs About Jane -- primarily in its lazy, hazy vibe -- they're gone now, replaced by the sleek, assured sound of a band that's eager to embrace its status as the big American mainstream pop band of the decade. But Maroon 5 isn't desperately grasping at the brass ring, they're playing it smart, building upon the core strengths of their debut and crafting a record that's designed to appeal to many different listeners, from teens crushing on Nelly Furtado's R&B makeover to adults looking for something smooth and melodic. It Won't Be Soon Before Long appeals to both audiences with an ease that seems effortless, but like any modern blockbuster, this album was shepherded by several different teams of producers, all brought in to emphasize a different personality within the group. The bulk of the record was cut with Spike Stent and Mike Elizondo -- Stent worked with U2, Oasis, Bj?rk, and Gwen Stefani, while Elizondo had produced Fiona Apple and Pink -- but Queens of the Stone Age producer Eric Valentine was brought in for a couple of cuts, as was Mark Endert, who mixed "This Love." There may have been three different sets of producers, but the album is streamlined and seamless, never seeming calculated even if it was clearly made with an eye on mass appeal, and there are two reasons for that. First, Maroon 5 has gelled as a band, developing a clean, crisp attack that may bear traces of its influences -- there are knowing references to Prince, the Police, even OutKast sprinkled throughout (the keyboard on "Little of Your Time" is a direct nod to "Hey Ya") -- but it's a sound that's instantly identifiable as the band's own signature. Nowhere is that more evident than in how they can give soulful grooves like "If I Never See Your Face Again" a rock edge -- or how they can suddenly explode into shards of noise as they do on the coda of "Kiwi" -- or how when the electronic instruments dominate the production, the music still breathes like the work of an actual band, not like something that was constructed on a computer. But like with any good blue-eyed soul, the reason that this album works is the songs themselves. Even the flashiest production-driven tracks here -- the opening one-two punch of "If I Never See Your Face Again" and "Makes Me Wonder" -- aren't about feel; they're about the songs, which are uniformly tight and tuneful, sounding better with repeated plays, the way any radio-oriented pop should. If some of the ballads aren't as distinguished as the livelier tracks, they nevertheless are as sharply crafted as the rest, and the end result is that It Won't Be Soon Before Long is that rare self-stylized blockbuster album that sounds as big and satisfying as was intended. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine |
Producer: Mark Endert; Maroon 5; Mike Elizondo; Mark "Spike" Stent |
| Entertainment Reviews
 | Maroon 5 - It Won't Be Soon Before Long - CD By: Michael Cartwright - Cinema Blend CD Reviews Published on: 5/22/2007 6:42 PM | | It Won't Be Long Before Soon is alternately sensual and swaggering, but while this feel-good outing contains a respectable set of solid songs, none seem to leave a long-lasting impression. Not to mention, at times, Levine's lyrics seem about as nonsensical as any of Brandon Flowers' most idiotic couplets. ...read the full review |
| Maroon 5 - It Won't Be Soon Before Long - Music Review By: Rebecca Wright - Blogcritics.org Reviews Published on: 7/24/2007 8:39 AM | Maroon 5 capped off their methodical rise to the top with the 2005 Grammy for Best New Artist, nearly three years after the release of their first album.
Maroon 5’s second record, It Won’t Be Soon Before Long finds lead singer Adam Levine is still in a reflective yet upbeat mood. ...read the full review |
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| | Technical Info | | Release Date : 05/22/2007 | | Original Release Date : 2007 | | Catalog ID : 000891702 | | Label : Octone Records | | Number of Discs : 1 | | Runtime : 6m : 0s | | Studio/Live : Studio | | Mono/Stereo : Stereo | | SPAR Code : n/a | | UPC : 00602517331068 |
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| | Professional Reviews | | Rolling Stone (p.88)
- 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "The devilishly memorable 'Won't Go Home Without You' combines confidence with affection..."Rolling Stone (p.113)
- Included in Rolling Stone's "50 Top Albums of the Year 2007" -- "These are vivid tunes that young girls can love and grown-ups can respect." Spin (p.94)
- 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "[They] are now dabbling in everything from nouveau disco to sleazy funk to big-band balladry. Such diversity suits them well..." Entertainment Weekly (p.83)
- "[W]hether breaking hearts brusquely or semi-sweetly as on 'Nothing Lasts Forever,' Maroon 5 score with their big, memorable, melodic hooks." Vibe (p.128)
- "[S]ome of the band's choices, particularly those of guitarist James Valentine, display a surprising derring-do, like 'Kiwi,' a fervent George Clinton-meets-George Michael workout." |
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| | Bio | | | Maroon 5 Capturing their first of two Grammys as Best New Artist of 2005, and going on to sell more than ten million albums worldwide, Maroon 5 won plaudits with the hybrid rock/R&B sound they introduced on their debut album Songs About Jane. On May 22nd, after four years and live shows alongside the likes of The Rolling Stones and Stevie Wonder, the quintet is set to release their much-anticipated second album, It Won't Be Soon Before Long (A&M/Octone Records). Listeners can expect this sophomore outing to be "sexier," "stronger" and even "lyrically darker" than Jane, according to vocalist/guitarist Adam Levine, who affirms that "it's rooted in what we've always been, which is different." The album, recorded in their home town of Los Angeles, was guided by producers Mike Elizondo (Fiona Apple, Eminem), Mark "Spike" Stent (Gwen Stefani, Bjork, Keane, Marilyn Manson), Mark Endert (Madonna, Fiona Apple) and Eric Valentine (Queens of the Stone Age, Nickel Creek). It also reflects the contributions of new drummer Matt Flynn, whose harder beats complement the evolved sound of Levine, guitarist James Valentine, bassist Mickey Madden and keyboardist Jesse Carmichael. "We're all really happy with the finished product," says Levine, crediting the label for welcoming new sounds and textures. "With Jane you could pick out our influences pretty easily, but now it sounds more like Maroon 5," says Levine. "We're becoming our own band, and I think this album will help change perceptions of who we really are." From first single, "Makes Me Wonder," it is clear that Maroon 5 has once again captured all of the elements that create a universally popular pop rock song. The song segues from a bass heavy intro to an infectiously catchy melody that soon belies the sentiment, "Give me something to believe in because I don't believe in you anymore." Beneath the surface, it also incorporates what Adam Levine calls "an increasing dissatisfaction with the direction of the world" and its leaders, imparting a new layer of meaning to an otherwise upbeat breakup song. "If I Never See Your Face" offers brash honesty in the wake of a fling, its spare guitar over a steady beat tipping its hat to Quincy Jones. A burst of electronica opens "Wake Up Call," whose hip-hop sensibility guides a dark story exploring the depths of betrayal and rage.
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