For some people, Californian quintet Maroon 5 are a breath of musical fresh air, a band whose radio-friendly tunes provide a pleasant soundtrack for the drive home. For others, they're the kind of band whose songs you unwittingly hum along to, like there's a tiny part of your subconscious that manages to override the shame factor and advance straight to your pleasure nodes. The rather protracted point here is that even if their debut album - 2002's ubiquitous Songs About Jane - wasn't to your taste, you had to admit that it was an undeniably catchy collection of (OK, sometimes unbearably soppy) pop songs. Considering that it's taken five years for them to follow it up, however, puts a substantial amount of pressure on their sophomore offering to deliver. Frontman Adam Levine has hardly been resting on his laurels in the interim, though; work with Alicia Keys and Kanye West has broadened his musical scope and the results of those collaborations can be clearly heard on It Won't Be Soon Before Long. There's a definite r'n'b influence here that wasn't noticeable on Songs About Jane, and even if it's more Justin Timberlake/Timbaland-style gloss than Dre/Eminem-style gangsta, it provides a welcome edge to their sound. Little of Your Time, Kiwi and Infatuation are all slick, funky, sexy numbers, even if Levine's lyrics leave a lot to be desired at times (I'm so attracted to you / The feeling's mutual too'). There's a conspicuous '80s influence here too, with If I Never See Your Face Again's polished, uptempo funk-pop recalling Hall and Oates, Not Falling Apart's gentle rock chug evoking shades of The Police and Until You're Over Me's soulful falsetto and driving pop emanating whiffs of Prince. IWBSBL is by no means a perfect pop album, however; the mid-section in particular holds its fair share of clunky soft-rock ballads that only serve the purpose of highlighting that Maroon 5's strengths lie elsewhere. For slicker-than-an-oil-spillage, r'n'b-tinged pop tunes however, you'd do worse than to give this album a listen. You may find yourself pleasantly, if grudgingly surprised.
