Album: Maroon 5, Overexposed (A&M/Octone)

Thursday 21 June 2012 15:09 BST

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Maroon 5's sudden decline with the Mutt Lange-produced Hands All Over seems unlikely to be significantly overturned by the lacklustre Overexposed.

Track after track aims for the anthemic impact of their Songs About Jane debut but falls well short, despite the usually assured touch of collaborators like Ryan Tedder, who helps out on the album's best melody, "Love Somebody".

The striding, elastic funk groove of "Ladykiller", combined with Adam Levine's blue-eyed soul vocal, has pleasing echoes of Hall & Oates, but the over-reliance throughout on wordless "whoah-oh-oh" hooks rather indicates both the sense of desperation, and the overall lack of imagination.

Download: Love Somebody; Ladykiller

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Album: Maroon 5, Overexposed (A&M/Octone)

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