Maroon 5 have been ruling the radio airwaves since their 2002 breakthrough hit Harder to Breathe taken from their debut album Songs About Jane. That album went on to sell over 10 million copies worldwide and since then the band has sold millions of records scoring plenty of hits along the way. Their last album release was 2014’s V and earlier this year they released the single This Summer’s Gonna Hurt Like a Motherfucker. Now in time for Christmas the band is putting out is first greatest hits collection Singles.
Singles picks out 12 of the band’s greatest hits from their career so far. It’s not by any means a comprehensive celebration of the band’s hits and it features no new tracks on it either. In fact it doesn’t even feature the band’s summer hit This Summer’s Gonna Hurt Like a Motherfucker, which is a bit of a shame to be honest. The album opens with This Love, arguably one of the band’s biggest hits, and it includes classics such as She Will Be Loved, Payphone, Makes Me Wonder and Misery.
More recent hits such as Maps and Animals are included on the collection along with huge hits Moves Like Jagger with Christina Aguilera. I’m glad to see the catchy Sugar included as the album closer and Wake Up Call from the band’s second album It Won’t Be Soon Before Long.
What is notable about the release is the songs that it doesn’t feature. Leaving out debut single Harder to Breathe is a bit of an oversight as is the Rihanna duet If I Never See Your Face Again. I also can’t believe that Sunday Morning and Won’t Go Home Without You didn’t make the tracklist!
There is an argument to say that Maroon 5 is more of a singles band than an albums band and there is some truth to that. When they hit the mark they really do deliver but sometimes their albums veer off into samey territory lacking variety. Still they are one of the most interesting pop/rock hybrids out there and I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t sung along to many of their songs over the years. It’s a shame that Singles doesn’t feature more of the band’s output.
