Most people associate Sugar Ray with their surprise hit "Fly" from their sophomore album "Floored." The Orange County, California band threatened to be a one-hit-wonder when the overly metallic follow up single "RPM" flopped on the pop charts.
While "Floored" was a fitting tribute to the range of influences Sugar Ray draws from, it often sounded disjointed in its efforts to juxtapose so many different sounds.
With the speedy release of "14:59" Sugar Ray makes a good case that they will avoid the flash in the pan fate that a big summer hit can cause.
The songs on "14:59" still vary from hip hop to punk to pure pop but the band has taken a simpler approach with the aid of former Bangles producer David Kahne.
The album's first single "Every Morning" features a light acoustic sound over distinctly hip hop beats. The track infuses the occasional scratching into the changes, but never clutters up the song with a an overload of hip hop. Rather like many of the songs on the album such as "Someday" and "Ode to the Lonely Hearted," the band stays focused on producing mellower pop songs.
"Falls Apart" fuses guitar rock and hip hop to produce a surprisingly emotional song. The band explores hip hop further on "Live and Direct" featuring KRS-ONE. This song features a heavy amount of scratching and another popular feature on the album: an '80s pop influence in lyrics like "We can make it on your old man's money/ Never make it on mine."
The '80s influence can be best heard on the tracks "Personal Space Invader" and "Burning Dog." The former features distinctly Devo-like mechanical vocals with power chords and lyrics like "Got the high score/ Forgot to put the letters in." "Burning Dog" is best example of the band's more cohesive sound, switching from metal to hip hop to Devo without sounding jagged.
The eclectic range of the band can still be seen on the songs "Aim For Me" a punk ballad and "Even Though" which sounds like a modern day effort at Beach Boys-style harmony.
Perhaps because neither song goes overboard in trying to capture a sound, the two songs do not seem out of place on the same album.
The sole let down on the album is the cover of Steve Miller's "Abracadabra." The version is far to close to the original which doesn't seem to be poised for a comeback in airplay.
Despite this, Sugar Ray has ultimately produced a far more mature album than "Floored." By writing simpler songs, the band has left room for the fusion of its many influences, creating a cohesive, catchy album.
