E-Mail This Article to a Friend Soul men? Maroon 5 put some R&B in their rock BY SEAN RICHARDSON

In a telling paragraph from Maroon 5’s current bio, frontman Adam Levine begins with a summary of how the band got together and ends with a perfect description of their sound. "When I think of songwriting," he says, "I think of the Beatles, Dylan, and Simon & Garfunkel, but then I was like, ‘I want to do this.’ Stevie Wonder came into my life at that point, and I just found a knack for doing it." In other words, he’s a rock writer with the voice of a soul man. On the surface, that’s far from the trendiest combination on today’s pop charts. But the LA act have caught on in a big way since the 2002 release of their debut, Songs About Jane (J), which has just passed the two million mark in domestic sales and has earned them an MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist.

This weekend, Maroon 5 are playing two New England shows, including an appearance with recent tourmate John Mayer and others at MixFest 2004 this Saturday at the FleetCenter. The band are also enjoying the success of their second consecutive Top 10 single, "She Will Be Loved." Dylan fan that he is, Levine uses that song and its accompanying video to portray the agony and the ecstasy of a complicated relationship: "He was always there to help her/She always belonged to someone else." His falsetto chorus comes from the U2 school of soulful melodrama, and guitarist James Valentine anchors the track with a catchy riff that implies both melancholy and warmth.

Like plenty of Best New Artists before them, Maroon 5 have been hanging around the fringes of the music industry for some time. As teenagers, they formed the band Kara’s Flowers, who latched on to the Goo Goo Dolls’ label (Warner Bros.) and producer (Rob Cavallo) for their 1997 debut, The Fourth World. When that album tanked, Levine and his main writing partner, Jesse Carmichael, headed off to college on the East Coast. That’s where they discovered Stevie, along with modern R&B stars like Aaliyah and Missy Elliott. Carmichael switched from guitar to keyboards, the boys rejoined their rhythm section on the West Coast, Valentine signed on, and Kara’s Flowers became Maroon 5.

Earlier this year, the band reissued The Fourth World and also released the concert EP 1.22.03.Acoustic, which includes a plugged-in romp through AC/DC’s "Highway to Hell" as a bonus cut. Meanwhile, Songs About Jane shows no signs of slowing down. The disc’s biggest hit to date is "This Love," a breezy funk anthem that borrows its mood and its melody from Gloria Gaynor’s "I Will Survive." The track inspired a steamy video, and it boasts some earthy lines from Levine: "I tried my best to feed her appetite/Keep her coming every night/So hard to keep her satisfied." First single "Harder To Breathe" is more belligerent, with an f-bomb in the opening verse and a tasty backwards-guitar solo.

Maroon 5’s rock/soul dichotomy is further reflected in the pedigree of Songs About Jane, which was released on a label that’s identified with Alicia Keys and was produced by Matt Wallace, who’s best known for his work with Faith No More. But so far, the group have proved themselves too lightweight for rockers and too white for R&B fans, so it all comes out pop on the radio. Beyond the hits, the album is the work of a tight band whose grooves and hooks far outweigh their lyrics. In that respect, Levine’s closest peer might be not the funk-deficient Mayer but fellow Stevie-worshipping Top 40 loverboy Justin Timberlake.

As the title suggests, most of Songs About Jane finds Levine dealing with the fallout from a busted romance. It’s no surprise that he ends up repeating himself over the course of the disc, but the band are versatile enough to disguise that flaw. On "Through with You," they give the slippery beat from Aaliyah’s seminal "Are You That Somebody?" a convincing rock makeover. Valentine unfurls a scorching wah-wah riff on "Not Coming Home," which rivals "Harder To Breathe" as the most pointed kiss-off here. "When you answer the door, pick up the phone/You won’t find me ’cause I’m not coming home," Levine croons, the track’s canned applause adding to his glee. The album ends with "Sweetest Goodbye," an organ-laced slow jam that trades the frontman’s bitterness for longing. Now that Maroon 5 have carved an intriguing and lucrative niche for themselves, it’s time for Levine to discover life after Jane.

Maroon 5 perform this Saturday, September 18, at MixFest 2004, at the FleetCenter, 1 FleetCenter Place on Causeway Street at North Station in Boston; call (617) 624-1000. This Sunday, September 19, they’re at the University of New Hampshire in Durham; call (603) 862-2600.