Artist: Maroon 5

Title: Hands All Over

Label: A&M/Octane

Considering he's worked with everyone from his ex-wife Shania Twain to the rockin' likes of AC/DC and Def Leppard, famed producer Mutt Lange seemed like a particularly inspired choice for shaking up things creatively on Maroon 5's third album, Hands All Over.

Strangely though, all traces of Lange's influence are absent here. Instead,  listeners are left with the same ol' hybrid of sanitized, radio-friendly pop, rock and soul that still felt relatively fresh on Maroon 5's 2002 album "Songs About Jane", but had more than worn out its welcome by the time their "It Won't Be Soon Before Long" track rolled around in 2007.

If the cookie-cutter melodies and unimaginative hooks that characterized blasé tracks like lead single "Misery" and the retro funk of "Don't Know Nothing," didn't already give off that dreaded been-there-heard-that vibe, the lyrics also deliver that dizzying feeling of déjà vu.

See, once again, Maroon 5 has girls, and not much else, on the brain. Of course, there's nothing wrong with that, given that probably more than half of pop music's canon explores love found, love lost, and the paralyzing absence that often accompanies a breakup.

The problem with Maroon 5 and all things amore is that it just never sounds or feels sincere. Not only does notorious ladies' man, Adam Levine, fail to conjure up any real feelings of connection for his plight with all those self-assured falsettos, but the cocky, clichéd sentiments and lame promises of revenge simply lack the weight and wisdom that inevitably comes from life experience.

If anything, Levine and Co. have only regressed since lamenting the loss of Jane. Not only does lust seem to conquer all, thanks to a slew of lines that go way past sensual, but it's clear from the get-go that the boys could've used a new muse ‘cause unfortunately the fairer sex and even a new producer don't provide the necessary inspiration to elevate Maroon 5's artistry to the next level.