The R&B- and funk-laden Blues, their best and most cohesive set of the decade, is actually worth some appointment listening.
Taken on its own musical terms, Red Pill Blues is a sleek, assured affair, one that sustains a seductive neon-streaked mood from beginning to end.
Singer Adam Levine has said this is the group’s R&B album, and so it is, though not in any remotely experimental way: superstar rap guest spots can’t disrupt the torpor that too often becomes a default setting.
It’s this utter lack of libido that ends up making Red Pill Blues so difficult to even finish.
Red Pill Blues has moments that recall other, superior pop music—including the group's own 2002 debut, Songs About Jane—but it's still a latter-day Maroon 5 album, which means it also has more than its share of bland, underachieving grist for suburban shopping centers and “rhythmic pop” radio.
Moments after hearing “Best 4 You”, with its slimline groove and sleek falsetto chorus, I can’t remember a trace of its melody or theme: it was just there, and then not there. It’s an experience repeated throughout Red Pill Blues.
With Red Pill Blues Levine and co have managed to produce an album that is uninteresting and unexciting; at best this is background music, to be listened to on very, very low volume, or even better, not at all.
Remember kids, if you see an album cover with Snapchat filters, you run far and you run fast.
When you see a cover like this, you know the type of album you are going to find. The putrid production that Mr. Levine is so fascinated by is the order of the day, the character that our friend Adam created, you know, what Maroon 5 has tried hard to do in recent years. Generic with passion, more overproduced than ever, and extremely lacking any pulse. It is truly admirable how confident Adam Levine and his friends are to come forward with such proof of their lack of integrity. I don't know if ... read more
After Hands All Over I decided to redo some of my Maroon 5 reviews.
And ummm...yeah. This is A LOT worse than I remember. Stuff that I thought slapped seemed kind of bland and boring. The features here were crap as well. Especially the SZA and LunchMoney Lewis ones. The opening and closing tracks were still solid. I think the vibe of the closing track was pretty good and worked out well. Wait was tolerable I guess. Whiskey is now my least favorite song by them though.
Average Score: ... read more
1 | Best 4 U 3:59 | 52 |
2 | What Lovers Do 3:19 feat. SZA | 47 |
3 | Wait 3:10 | 55 |
4 | Lips on You 3:36 | 35 |
5 | Bet My Heart 3:16 | 32 |
6 | Help Me Out 3:13 with Julia Michaels | 31 |
7 | Who I Am 3:03 feat. LunchMoney Lewis | 31 |
8 | Whiskey 3:30 feat. A$AP Rocky | 25 |
9 | Girls Like You 3:35 | 22 |
10 | Closure 11:29 | 61 |