Maroon 5 - Still Untitled, Late fall
The curse of a hit single is that you have to play that tune every...single...night. Maroon 5's Adam Levine has suffered this affliction. ''I can play 'This Love' in my sleep, blindfolded, underwater, bound and gagged,'' he jokes about the tune that transformed the quintet from struggling funk-rockers into one of the biggest blue-eyed-soul acts since Hall & Oates.
Fortunately for Levine, when the L.A. band begins its next tour, it'll have a whole new batch of songs to draw from. Specifically, those from their second album, tentatively titled (according to Levine) It Won't Be Soon Before Long. That nonsensical moniker was inspired by their frantic concert schedule over the past four years. ''Towards the very end [of the tour] we were just fried and we needed to keep ourselves motivated,'' says Levine. '''It won't be soon before long' felt like a nice mantra to help me accept the reality that this wasn't going to get any easier.''
After playing some 700 gigs around the globe while promoting Songs About Jane, their 2002 quadruple-platinum debut, the band returned to L.A. last fall. They unpacked, did laundry, and headed into the studio with a production team including Mike Elizondo (Fiona Apple's Extraordinary Machine) and veteran U.K. mixer/engineer Spike Stent (U2, Madonna). ''I think our first album was a little weak and limp at times,'' says Levine. ''Mike and Spike made the new one pound a lot harder. It's sexier and stronger. We're taking sexy back!''
While maintaining their pop vibe, the new CD is more hyperactive and flirts with '80s-style grooves influenced by Talking Heads and Controversy-era Prince. A possible first single is the revenge fantasy ''Wake Up Call,'' which Levine describes as ''a darker, slightly reggae-tinged version of 'This Love.' I like the possibility that this could be a radio-friendly, accessible club banger, but it's about double murder!''
Unlike the straight-from-the-diary lyrics of Jane, Maroon 5's sophomore disc isn't based on a specific bout of relationship drama. ''The songs are still very personal, but there's no 'Jane' this time,'' says Levine. ''[The songs] are just a culmination of all the craziness that's been taking place in my life over the past four years...and it's obviously been pretty insane.'' Say it with us, Adam: It won't be soon before long.