Okay,let's get one thing straight.Sugar Ray is a band that makes lightweight party music.Their songs consist mostly of catchy,radio-friendly pop/rock with some hip-hop elements thrown into the mix.Some folks would dismiss a band like this,calling them a "sellout".But I like this band.Their music is fun.Nothing heavy or controversial,just fun,playful songs to get you through the summer...


"Chasin' You Around"
"Is She Really Going Out With Him?"
"Heaven"
"Bring Me The Head Of..."
"Mr.Bartender (It's So Easy)"
"Can't Start"
"Photograph Of You"
"56 Hope Road" (featuring Shaggy)
"Whatever We Are"
"She's Different"
"In Through The Doggie Door"
"Blues From A Gun"



The first five or six songs are great.The light,breezy "Heaven" has become my favorite Sugar Ray song.The first single "Mr. Bartender (It's So Easy)" is a cool,summer party jam that samples a kickass guitar riff from the 1978 Sweet song "Love Is Like Oxygen".It borrows it's catchy hook from the 1983 Midnight Star song "No Parking On The Dancefloor".With a fast hip-hop beat,a little rapping (courtesy of ProHoeZak) and some cool synths,it's the summer party jam of 2003."Chasin You Around" is an obvious choice for a future single,and the remake of Joe Jackson's "Is She Really Going Out With Him?" is pretty good.
Admittedly,the second half of the album isn't nearly as exciting.But the haunting "56 Hope Road" is amazing.It's a moody,midtempo piece featuring Shaggy.

i like fly!

DavidEye said:

hey, what about "Photograph of you"? Imo it´s the best song on the album

You are right, first half of it is great the rest is just so so, but that is saying a lot considering the state of pop music today

garganta said:

"Photograph Of You" is a cool song,but "Heaven" is my favorite.I love the female background vocals on that song! That one had BETTER become a single or I'm gonna raise hell...lol... And yes,considering that most albums only have a few good songs on them,Sugar Ray's CD is pleasantly consistent.

I like this CD a lot too, but I think I actually like their last album better- the self titled "Sugar Ray". I think it was a little more consistent. And it definitely had a more harder, rockier sound to it. Plus, it had the best Rolling Stones wannabe song ever, "Disasterpiece".

But yeah, on the new one, I love "Chasin you around", "Heaven", and "Mr. Bartender"- three obvious singles right there.

Some critics aren't being very kind Check out this scathing review I found,it's from Slant Magazine...



"Sugar Ray's 1999 album '14:56' was such a blatant,no-apologies capitalist cash-in it was difficult not to admire it.But after their carbon-copy self-titled follow-up,and now 'In The Pursuit Of Leisure',their fifth album,Sugar Ray just seem downright lazy.Frontman Mark McGrath's lyrics are inconsequential and no specific track is really worth mentioning,save for the tropical "Heaven",which at times brings to mind The Beach Boys and then,after some sugary female coos (courtesy of Esthero,whose career has sadly amounted to a string of faceless cameos),the sun-soaked harmonies of Wilson Phillips.Sugar Ray has built an entire career out of creating summer anthems and now it seems they're just treading pool water,dragging out the last second of their self-proclaimed 15 minutes.The album,perhaps more appropriately titled 'In The Pursuit of Absolutely Nothing',is breezy and inviting but utterly unchallenging---for both the band and it's audience.Unless,of course,you consider a by-the-numbers cover of Joe Jackson's "Is She Really Going Out With Him?" or the sample-heavy "Mr.Bartender (It's So Easy)"---complete with 80s guitar riff,shameless synth strings and a mess of a rap---challenging.The album is about as easy to swallow as your average episode of "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno": pleasant,inoffensive and completely forgettable".



OUCH!!!

jtgillia said:

I like this album a little more than the last one.The last CD had some cool songs ("When It's Over","Ours","Answer The Phone") but the new one is more consistent,imo.Of course,their best work is '14:59',if only for the song "Someday"



"Chasin You Around" and "Heaven" would be my choices for the next singles but,alas,I heard that they already chose "Is She Really Going Out With Him?" as the next single.It's not a bad song by any means,but there are stronger tracks.

Oh COME ON! That song "No Parking On the Dance Floor" is about as sterile and wonderbread as you can MAKE a formerly funky song. Honestly - it's been stripped of any dignity and is now a piss poor American Pie 3 soundtrack throwaway.

Chicks will be singing it beside the pool, and I will have to mace them.

>I like this album a little more than the last one.The last CD had some cool songs ("When It's Over","Ours","Answer The Phone") but the new one is more consistent,imo.Of course,their best work is '14:59',if only for the song "Someday">

Well, like many critics would say, their albums from 14:59 on are pretty interchangeable... Not to say I don't enjoy their stuff though, it's all good clean catchy fun. But certainly not a band you go to in order to "broaden your horizons". 14:59 will probably remain their peak in terms of mass appeal.

I guess the reason I like the last record better than the new one is because it's just so soft. There's one song on the new one that sounds remotely like rock, they've all but abandoned that. The self titled album had a better mixture of the old style and the new, with what I think was their best songwriting (despite reaching new heights with "Heaven").

otan said:

I'm confused,are you referring to the original 1983 song by Midnight Star ("No Parking On The Dancefloor") or the new Sugar Ray song "Mr Bartender (It's So Easy)",which borrows its' hook from the Midnight Star song?