This came out in 2003 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
For a band that titled their second-last album 14:59 — a self-deprecating nod to the fleeting nature of fame — Sugar Ray sure don’t seem in any hurry to throw in the towel. Or to go down swinging, for that matter.
Rather, like an old fighter who knows he’s past his prime but can’t bear to quit the spotlight, they just keep answering the bell, going through the motions and hoping something connects. In The Pursuit Of Leisure, their fifth CD, finds Mark McGrath and co. coasting through another dozen-song set of instantly forgettable and totally disposable summertime beach-pop, accessorized with hip-hoppy grooves, lilting Caribbean flourishes, lighthearted party-time lyrics and melodies that desperately try to duplicate the lightning in a bottle of their signature hit Fly. You have to give them a point for having the taste to cover Joe Jackson’s Is She Really Going Out With Him? The rest of Leisure, though, isn’t much of a pleasure.
