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Pre-Order the upcoming release, Hands All Over or Hands All Over: Indie Exclusive Deluxe Edition, by Maroon 5 and get a limited* autographed CD Booklet with purchase!
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 - a killer hybrid of rock, pop, funk, and R&B, that showcases the band's considerable strengths: buoyant, unforgettable melodies, sleek, stylish grooves, charged lyrics about turbulent relationships, and crisp, dynamic performances.
Adam Levine, the band's lyricist, began writing the songs that appear on Hands All Over after winding down from a world tour in support of It Won't Be Soon Before Long. A few months later, Maroon 5 received a phone call from veteran studio wizard Robert John "Mutt" Lange (AC/DC, Foreigner, The Cars), who had heard that Maroon 5 were beginning to write a new album and expressed an interest in producing it. "We didn't even talk to anyone else," Levine says. "Mutt is undeniably one of the most successful producers who's ever lived."
Levine's first performing experience - in fact the event that ignited his desire to become a singer and musician - actually involves Lange. The story goes like this: 20 years ago, when Levine was 10, he attended a friend's birthday party "at one of those places in the San Fernando Valley where the kids dress up in rock'n'roll gear and lip-sync their favorite songs," he says. Levine chose the Def Leppard classic "Pour Some Sugar On Me." "I knew I could sing because my music teacher told me I had a voice, but I had never really performed before. I grabbed the mic and just went for it. Afterwards I knew that I've got to do this for the rest of my life. That's what got the whole ball rolling for me." The classic anthem "Pour Some Sugar On Me" was, of course, famously produced by Lange. "If that's not a full 360, I don't know what is," Levine says. "It doesn't get more circular than that."
In July 2009, the members of Maroon 5 - Levine, keyboardist Jesse Carmichael, bassist Mickey Madden, guitarist James Valentine, and drummer Matt Flynn - decamped to Lange's studio in Vevey, Switzerland, on the north shore of Lake Geneva where they worked distraction-free with the Swiss Alps looming in the distance. "Just being near those majestic mountains and lakes was so inspiring," says Jesse Carmichael. "Waking up and seeing these giant snow-capped peaks, it set the tone for the record and made the whole thing feel like some sort of magical summer camp experience." Adds Carmichael: "Mutt really helped us play to the best of our ability. And it drove us to be bigger and better than ever. Everything he does is huge."
"Huge" is a good way to describe Hands All Over, starting with the hard-rocking title track that is heavier than anything Maroon 5 has ever done. Says Valentine: "It doesn't sound like anything we've done so far." Another stylistic departure is "Out of Goodbyes," a stunning country ballad that features musical and vocal contributions from Nashville chart-toppers Lady Antebellum. "We've always loved country music," Levine says, "and they brought that necessary twang to it with the lap steels, ambient guitar, and Hillary Scott's pretty country voice." Other highlights include the deeply groovy "Don't Know Much About That," the propulsive "Stutter "("a great showcase for Adam's voice," Valentine says) and "Misery," which will thrill long-time Maroon 5 fans with its funky guitars and high-stepping melody.
Hands All Over is as accessible and broadly appealing as anything the band has ever done, including their breakthrough smash Songs About Jane. "Every record should be like our first, that's the way we think about it," Levine says. "We don't ever want to rest on our laurels or get too cozy. We always want to keep aspiring to do our best - and this album captures that." |
