Overexposed

Asking experts for help

The unspoken rule that a true band must play only what is written by the members and nobody else is rapidly losing its effect. American outfit Maroon 5 stand firm on their feet and give no grounds to for anybody to doubt the fact that they are an classy and interesting ensemble with a lot of hits in their catalogue. Except writing their own stuff has become quite tricky for these guys lately. Their album number four, Overexposed is an act of admitting this sad circumstance. Many of the new songs were penned by outsiders who were occasionally assisted by Maroon 5 vocalist Adam Levine. Once you get to know that the Overexposed set was composed by those who regularly write for Usher, and Ke$ha, you would not be surprised that the just released record is not only flavored, but lavishly filled with all tastes of pop ingredients, which means a lot really.

Striking hit wave

According to the opinion shared by critics and amateurs, the leading problem with Maroon 5 previous release, All Over (2010), was not the quality of the tracks, nor the performance or dedication of the musicians, but a certain monotonousness of the set suffering from the absence of real winning hits. Well, Overexposed is all about hits from the very beginning. The original and as surprising reggae-shaped opener One More Night verifies the band’s intentions to reduce the rock content in their products. Second single Payphone adds to the soft sound an astonishing catchy tune, while emotions are boosted by Adam who does not save strong words, which in today’s music is not a taboo. Farther from pop-rock Maroon 5 unnoticeably moved over to clubbing Lucky Strike. As a matter of fact, the first half of Overexposed is flooding with surprises and provides the record with the unprecedented variety. Later on, the album offer a more balanced set, written by the ensemble’s musicians. Lady Killer, and Doin Dirt are actually very much like the band’s older pieces. As for the final song, it is brilliant Beautiful Goodbye. Although, there are also a couple of bonuses…

Overexposed is granted a success

The bonus section of Overexposed is where Maroon 5 ultimately lose sense of shame or fear playing what seems to be anything that snaps in their heads. How else can you explain seven-minute Kiss with all these instrumental tricks from each of the musicians or dance attack Move s Like Jagger launched together with Christina Aguilera? Two more version of Payphone can be taken as a little pleasant addition to the big and perfect present. On the whole, Overexposed is an example of pop rock where rock is represented by occasionally spotted guitars and decent meaningful lyrics. The rest of it is a pure pop music product overfilled with hits. Working with producer and song-writer Max Martin, who knows how to make a CD a highly demanded good, gave impressive results. Maroon 5 can remain confident of the bright future of this record that will be certainly given a lot of attention from a very big audience.