Maroon 5 – "It Won’t Be Soon Before Long"
January 23, 2008
 B+ |
JoeMusic LOVES Maroon 5. Ever since first hearing “This Love” from their debut album, Songs About Jane, I’ve been waiting for their follow up. Though they released an acoustic consisting mostly of the same songs from that album, it has been 5yrs between records. And yes, the wait has been worth it.
With lead singer Adam Levine in top form, they kick it off with “If I Never See Your Face Again”, an explosive pop-rock number that easily could have been their radio debut. Rather, they decided to keep this gem under wraps for a little while, and instead do a media onslaught (SNL, American Idol) with “Makes Me Wonder”, again showing that they have more energy than a gerbil on Red Bull. The title track sets a slightly different tempo, reminiscent of their first album, as well as with “Nothing Lasts Forever”. It’s great to see them showcase their agility, and the point is proven with “Goodnight Goodnight”, easily parallel to anything by My Chemical Romance or Green Day. A few other standout tracks include “Kiwi” and “Better That We Break”. Overall, a highly worth follow-up that, while a long time coming, shows that they haven’t lost their touch. |
|
Track |
Rating |
Comments |
| If I Never See Your Face Again | A+ | Hard rockin’ and Adam Levine giving it the business. Nice. |
| Makes Me Wonder | A+ | |
| Little Of Your Time | B- | |
| Wake Up Call | B | |
| Won’t Go Home Without You | A- | |
| Nothing Lasts Forever | B+ | |
| Can’t Stop | B | |
| Goodnight Goodnight | C+ | |
| Not Falling Apart | B- | |
| Kiwi | B+ | |
| Better That We Break | B | |
| Back At Your Door | C+ |
American Idol 7 – San Diego Auditions
January 22, 2008
JoeMusic loves San Diego; the people, the climate, Shamu. After the train wreck that was Dallas, here’s hoping tonight will go much much better.
The auditions started with promise — the candidate appeared to come from a stable home, no child out of wedlock, dead parent, handicapped relative, etc. Clearly she won’t have a chance, right? 
Tetiana was, in Simon’s words, “good, but not great”. We’ll see. JoeMusic liked her, but wondered why she didn’t have pants on.
I spoke too soon. 
Little girl + dead mother = Daddy is going to Hollywood! Call me a cynic, but Perrie had everything going for him but started off really bad. But he pulled it together and had a great audition. Let’s hope we don’t find out later that his wife is actually alive and serving in Iraq or something. JoeMusic liked Simon’s response to the Mariah Carey sound-alike: “You only sound like a Mariah Carey CD left out in the sun for a year…”
Monique wins the “I brought my violin” award, for beating us over the head with two Whitney songs, followed by a weeping explanation of why she sucked. ….nope, don’t care.
JoeMusic has no idea what they sang. Who cares.
Weird thing is, JoeMusic got a FaceBook friends request from this joker. Just because I let him valet me car? Getouttahere.
Overall, the auditions so far have lost the fun factor of the past few years and doesn’t bode well for the next few weeks. Let’s hope that they pull this one out of the tepid waters of reality television and demonstrate why they are the #1 show on the tube today.
JoeMusic loves the crying. It’s so over the top – folks putting the apple on their head and wondering why they get an arrow in the forehead. Watch this kid. He is the real thing. 
Don’t do drugs kids.
Any who, it was a very lackluster audition show and JoeMusic is not betting this will be a strong season at this point.
JoeMusic Out!
