Sugar Ray (album)

Sugar Ray is the fourth studio album by the band Sugar Ray. The album was released on June 12, 2001, and debuted at number 6 on the Billboard 200 chart, and went gold. The album's first single, "When It's Over", also performed well on pop and rock charts.

Background and music
In a June 2001 interview with Rolling Stone, singer Mark McGrath talked about the album, saying that "every song is about relationships", and that "I think it has to do with — I hate to say this — we’re getting a little bit older. In the past the band has hid behind feelings and things like that by writing sex, drugs and rock & roll-type songs." Regarding working with a new producer in Don Gilmore, McGrath said, "it was like cutting the umbilical cord with [previous producer] David Kahne. He was really instrumental in any success we had." McGrath added that, "we got back to sort of an organic sound — guitar, bass, drums — and explored that a little bit." The song "Disasterpiece" was influenced by the Rolling Stones, with drummer Stan Frazier calling it "a straight-up tribute to The Stones."

Working titles for the album included A Clone Again Naturally, Chicken Lips and Just to Be Nominated. McGrath said to Rolling Stone, "the record just ended up naming itself. But we did try to name it. I want people to know that. We tried to, just nothing worked, man."

Promotion
The track "Sorry Now" was featured in the 2001 film Scary Movie 2. Another track from the album, "Words to Me", was also featured on the Scooby-Doo film soundtrack in 2002. The band themselves appeared in the Scooby-Doo movie, with it being their second appearance in a Hollywood film, having previously appeared in 1997's Fathers' Day. The movie was shot in Australia, primarily on Moreton Island off the coast of Queensland, which in the film was titled "Spooky Island". While in Australia, they performed a beach concert that would be later released on a DVD called Music in High Places: Live from Australia. McGrath told Screen Rant in 2022 that he and his bandmates grew up watching Scooby-Doo as children in the 1970s, adding that "we lived on the set of Spooky Island with all the extras and all the cast for five insane, party-fueled days. It was unbelievable. Australians know how to get down and party."

Commercial performance
The album sold one million copies, less than the multi-platinum albums Floored and 14:59, but far more than their next album, 2003's In the Pursuit of Leisure, which sold fewer than 150,000 copies.

Reception
Sugar Ray received generally positive reviews. Aggregator Metacritic gave the album a 71 out of 100 rating based on 10 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Rolling Stone's Arion Berger had a positive review, remarking that "Sugar Ray drifts further from the group's early aggro-pop sound; it's about girls and fun, cushy with melodies and McGrath's earthy, inconsistent vocals. Their laid-back attitude is infectiously unfussy." The Bangor Daily News wrote in August 2001 that, "the punchy speed punk-funk act from Orange County of five years ago is gone, having been officially replaced by a ballad-driven, radio friendly power pop band."

PopMatters wrote in their June 2001 review that, "in the course of [their] evolution, they traversed styles as diverse as punk/metal, ska/reggae, surf-rock, and even what their original harder-edged fans dismissed as fluffy 'sissy girl' rock. While many hardcore early fans found these changes upsetting, it hasn't hurt the band’s popularity." They add, "factor in the teenage girls, for one thing. Pretty boy lead singer Mark McGrath looks like he could be equally at home as a cast member of Dawson’s Creek or on the cover of Maxim or GQ. He’s not just a pretty face. Mark and his fellow Sugar Ray compatriots are as crafty as they get [and] touring has translated into musical growth." Billboard's June 2001 review states that, "this is the album Sugar Ray has been inching to record since its 1997 break-out hit Floored", adding that "Sugar Ray shows the quintet honing a hybrid of hip hop, funk, arena rock and pop — coated with an ample dose of frat-boy humor and teen-dream romance."

In 2001, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune considered it to be a return to the band's rock roots, saying that the "rock influence influence can be felt on Karges' opening chords in 'Answer the Phone' and in 'Disasterpiece', which pays tribute to The Greatest Rock Band That Ever Lived (with a stolen Keith Richards riff)". The Michigan Daily also compared the guitar work in "Disasterpiece" to the Rolling Stones, but considered it to go in more of a pop direction than the Rolling Stones. They further state that, "the band is not without talent, though Mark McGrath is definitely not the best voice in rock. But MTV and teenage girls like boys who look good. The real problem, however, is that most of the songs on this CD seem stolen or recycled." Entertainment Weekly wrote that the album "is being touted as their return to 'rock', but aside from two or three beefier-than-usual riff-fests, it’s essentially more of the same."

Personnel

 * Mark McGrath – lead vocals, rhythm guitar
 * Rodney Sheppard – lead guitar, backing vocals
 * Murphy Karges – bass, guitar, backing vocals
 * Stan Frazier – drums, percussion, guitar, programming, backing vocals
 * Craig "DJ Homicide" Bullock – turntables, samples, programming, keyboards, backing vocals

Additional personnel

 * Emanuel Dean - Keyboards on "Ours"
 * Dave Holdredge - Guitar on "Ours"
 * Nick Hexum - Vocals on "Stay On"
 * Greg Kurstin - Keyboards on "Words To Me"
 * JayDee Maness - Pedal steel guitar on "Just a Little"
 * William Francis - Guitar on "Disasterpiece"
 * John "Juke" Logan - Harmonica on "Disasterpiece"
 * Timothy S. Wright - Guitars,Backline