Maroon 5: Adam Levine (vocals, guitar); James Valentine (guitar); Jesse Carmichael (keyboards, background vocals); Mickey Madden (bass); Ryan Dusick (drums, background vocals).

Additional personnel includes: Jon O'Brien (programming); Mystic, Rashida Jones (background vocals).

Principally recorded at Rumbo, Can Am, The Hook Studios, Los Angeles, California.

Personnel: Adam Levine (vocals, guitar); Ryan Dusick (vocals, drums); James Valentine (guitar); Jesse Carmichael (keyboards).

Audio Mixers: Mark Endert ; Matt Wallace ; Michael Barbiero.

Recording information: Can Am Records, Los Angeles, CA; Rumbo Recorders, Los Angeles, CA; The Hook, Los Angeles, CA.

Illustrator: Gregg Gordon.

Photographers: Chris McCann; Neil Zlozower.

The boys of Maroon 5 have certainly come a long way since their days in the indie outfit Kara's Flowers. After the band's demise in 1999, frontman Adam Levine surrounded himself with New York City's urban hip-hop culture and found a new musical calling. Maroon 5 was born and their debut album, Songs About Jane, illustrates an impressive rebirth. It's groovy in spots, offering bluesy funk on "Shiver" and a catchy, soulful disposition on "Harder to Breathe." "Must Get Out" slows things down with its dreamy lyrical story, and Levine is a vocal dead ringer for Men at Work's Colin Hay. Don't wince -- it works brilliantly. Songs About Jane is love-drunk on what makes Maroon 5 tick as a band. They're not as glossy as the Phantom Planet darlings; they've got grit and a sexy strut, personally and musically. It's much too slick to cross over commercially in 2002, but it's good enough for the pop kids to take notice. ~ MacKenzie Wilson

Though on first listen it may be tempting to describe Maroon 5 as simply an American Jamiroquai with more developed songwriting skills, the comparison really only scratches the surface of the quintet's diverse sound. Throughout SONGS ABOUT JANE, leader Adam Levine and his band deftly combine a distinctive old school R&B/disco/electro vibe with the best elements of chart-topping melancholy popsters like Train, Matchbox 20, and the Dave Matthews band. On many tracks, Levine's vocals bear an uncanny resemblance to Stevie Wonder's golden pipes, and the combo does its best to match the Motown genius's unerring sense of endless groove. An ambitious goal indeed, but Maroon 5 acquits itself admirably throughout, in the process creating an unusually successful, completely natural-sounding and eminently danceable stylistic synthesis.