A parental advisory label that warns us about explicit content? At goodbye band Maroon 5? That is promising! Unfortunately, the responsibility for the black and white disfigurement on the colorful cover is entirely due to Mr Cameron Jibril Thomaz, better known as rapper . He raps his share on the single Payphone, and indeed throws out a single 'shit' and 'fuck', because that's part of it. After
… the huge hit Moves Like Jagger (which has been added as a bonus track on this CD), on which the men of Maroon 5 collaborate with , they seem to want to do the same trick with Payphone. All the songs on this CD are tight, smooth, melodic, danceable, fashionable and extremely easy on the ear. It is clear that Maroon 5 wants to reach a large audience. That they actually succeed, they will prove (after Moves Like Jagger) with Payphone. It is a pity that the middle-of-the-road musicians of Maroon 5 cannot do it independently and have to bring in a bad-ass rapper (with accompanying parental advisory label) to score a hit. But hey, it does sound good and that's what this kind of band is all about. (HF)more