Reviews

Jason Mraz

Mr. A-Z

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Review Date: 2005-10-19

See what he did there? That’s actually quite clever. “I’m Mister A to Z / It’s all about the wordplay”. So goes the first single from Mr. A to Z’s second album. Atoz (I’m going to call him ‘Atoz’ for the rest of the review – that’s what you get for being a clever bastard). ‘Wordplay’ is a solid song by the ‘John Mayer it’s cool to like’Ô, or these days is it cooler to like Mayer? Probably it’s uncool to like either. Only people who are out of synch with the music world (read: Ricky Martin) or teenage girls listen to this sort of radio-friendly rock, right? Well, them and me. Yeah, me, the TwoWayMonologues writer who reviews artists you’ve never heard of actually listens to stuff you’ve heard too much of. You see, over here in Ireland we’re not proliferated with the same kind of nonsense you get on American and Canadian radio. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever heard ‘The Remedy (I Won’t Worry)’ once on radio. So maybe I might have a clearer view of things – a more objective look at albums like this one. We’ll see…

On the aforementioned ‘Wordplay’ Atoz sings that “the sophomore slump is an uphill battle.” While the sentence is nonsense (how can a slump be uphill?), you can see what Atoz is trying to say. A lot of artists (read: Damien Rice) have trouble with their second album. You have all your life to work from for your debut, but for your second disc you only have the intervening period with its tales of touring and debauchery. In places Atoz builds on what he started in Waiting For My Rocket To Come. ‘Mr. Curiosity’ is a heartfelt ballad, and one of the strongest tracks on the album. What am I saying? It’s one of only a handful of half-decent tracks. The song is made all the better by the input of a string section. The following song, ‘Clockwatching’ is also a pretty little number – simple but effective. It’s songs like this which made his debut so likeable.

‘Geek In The Pink’ seems like Atoz’s attempt at being a ‘cool nerd’ like John Mayer tried on Room for Squares. This like most of the material on the album is largely disappointing. ‘Bella Luna’ which has a nice sounding names, evoking some sort of Spanishness is a poor pop song which wastes the talents of Raul Midón. Midón’s classical guitar parts get little chance to shine. When they do the track begins to get interesting. Midón is not the only wasted guest. ?uestlove (or Ahmir Thompson as his mother calls him) from The Roots appears on the uninteresting ‘Geek In The Pink’, Dan Wilson co-wrote many of the songs but appears on none, and Rachael Yamagata is criminally underused on ‘Did You Get My Message?’ and ‘Song For A Friend’.

What made ‘The Remedy (I Won’t Worry)’ interesting was Atoz’s speedy sentences. These appear in places on the album, but unfortunately not often enough. ‘Wordplay’ utilises this talent of Atoz well, but he seems to have forgotten about it for the remainder of the album. In fact a lot of the songs could be interchangeable, and leave no lasting image in the memory. ‘…’ and ‘…’ are perfect examples of this. See, the songs are so unmoving, so uninteresting, so bloody boring, that I have already forgotten their names.

Tracks to download: Mr. Curiosity, Wordplay, Life Is Wonderful

Score: 4.5

“The Sophomore slump is an uphill battle”, maybe so, but getting back to being good will take a lot of effort after this sub-par performance from pop’s greatest wordsmith.

- Ronan Hunt-Murphy