Reviews

John Mayer

Continuum

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Review Date: 2006-10-23

John Mayer is not a lot of our readers’ cup of tea. I’m not too sure of that fact, cause I’ve never talked to most of our readers, but I’d say it’s a good call on my part nonetheless. Most of you are too cool to like John Mayer. And you’re probably justified with that. He did release schmaltz like Heavier Things and all that entailed (read: Grammy for best song). But many of you may not know that Mr. Mayer is a good guitarist. Anyone who has heard his jazz trio and their live record Try! will tell you so. This album is meant to be bluesier than the last two. Meant to be; but is it?

The album opens with ‘Waiting on the World to Change’, which as well as being perfect radio fodder is an attack on today’s political climate. And not a very subtle one at that. It also recently lost in Track-Fu. Which strangely enough usually means it’s a song I like. I’m not the biggest hater of the song. But it’s far from the blues which was claimed would be contained within. ‘I Don’t Trust Myself (With Loving You)’ is more bluesy, thank God. But at the same time, it sucks. It sounds like something someone drummed up on a computer: the guitar never actually sounds like a guitar. Just some distorted bleepy crap.

It’s not all bad though. Mayer does have talent. And although he often doesn’t show it, it is there underneath it all. ‘Belief’ is the proof of this. It’s melodic enough to appeal to ‘You’re Body is a Wonderland’ lovers, and riffy enough to appeal to fans of Try! And I especially like the verse “Belief is a beautiful armour / But makes for the heaviest sword / Like punching under water / You never can hit who you're trying for”.

The standout track of the album is the bluesiest song on it: ‘Vultures’: A neat little riff, some powerful fretwork and a sensational solo or two. What more could you ask for? Why the rest of the disc couldn’t have been as good, I don’t know. Some of the songs which failed to make the cut were the more bluesy tunes, such as the excellent ‘Good Love is on the Way’ and ‘Tracing’. Although, you can find them as bonus tracks on various different copies of the album.

‘Bold As Love’ is a song familiar to Try! Fans, as it appeared on that record in its live form. The good news is that the studio version has lost none of the appeal, and doesn’t really have that studio sheen that many of the other tracks suffer because of. ‘Dreaming with a Broken Heart’ would have benefited from this live setting, as it just seems over produced. In fact the last quarter of the album suffers, and is largely disappointing.

The album also misses the mark with some of the slower tunes, such as ‘Gravity’: a song which really never gets going. Continuum won’t alienate long-time Mayer fans. There’s even a ‘Daughters’ here. Or ‘The Heart of Life’ as it calls itself. A song that’s perfect to learn on your guitar to impress that lady when she drops over for a “cup of coffee”. ‘Slow Dancing In A Burning Room’, although a dreadful song, would also suit this occasion.

A shout-out must go to the artwork on the album, which Mayer designed himself. It is especially pretty, and the different versions of the album come with different versions of the artwork.

Tracks to Download: ‘Belief’, ‘Bold As Love’,’ Vultures’, ‘Good Love is on the Way’ (they were fools for not putting it on the retail version)

Score: 6.5

Initially I thought this album was much better than it actually is. Most of the songs are missing that extra spark that the John Mayer Trio has. Hopefully the next album will be a Trio album, and he can forget about the plaudits and concentrate on becoming the next Clapton.

- Ronan Hunt-Murphy