John Mayer - Continuum Review
Posted by Mitch Michaels on 09.28.2006
Someone let Johnny out of his cage…
My Story
I’ve had a dislike for John Mayer since his first album came out. Before I’d ever heard his music, I read an interview in “Entertainment Weekly” where Mayer cited one of his biggest influences as Stevie Ray Vaughan. Being a big SRV fan, that made an impression on me and, the next time I was out, I picked up Room For Squares, thinking I would get this great, soulful guitar album. And what did I actually wind up with? A whole disc of sappy acoustic Dave Matthews-lite. Songs like “No Such Thing” and “Your Body Is A Wonderland” just fucking made me sick and I cursed John Mayer for stealing my $10 by namedropping one of the greatest blues guitarists of all time.
Even when it became clear that Mayer truly loved the blues guitar music that I was looking for, with his Hendrix covers, live albums and Trio, I just couldn’t forgive him. Now, with four years passed and a third studio release, can John Mayer and I finally make peace?
His Story
John Mayer was born in ’77 in Connecticut and grew up to be a pretty intelligent guy. He first picked up the guitar at the age of 13 after hearing a Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble cassette that his high school principal father had confiscated. By the time Mayer was in high school, he was already a familiar name in the local bar music scene.
John was accepted into Berklee following graduation, but he wasn’t long for the esteemed music school. After only a few semesters, Mayer was inspired to drop-out and move to Atlanta to seriously pursue a career as a musician. It only took a few months for Mayer’s smooth singer/songwriter style to make it big on the local Atlanta scene. In 1999, Mayer self-released an EP called Inside Wants Out. The set contained an early version of “No Such Thing”, which would become a pivotal song for John.
In 2000, John performed at Austin’s South By South West Festival, a show that has proven to be a real star maker. Mayer’s set led to his first record deal with Columbia subsidiary Aware. That fall, Mayer hit the studio with former Dave Matthews producer John Alagia to work on his full-length debut.
Room For Squares was released on June 5th, 2001 on Aware Records. The album was full of Dave Matthews-ish acoustic-based songs and got mostly in the middle reviews from critics. One thing that most agreed on, though, was that Mayer had a knack for songwriting. Room For Squares really began to take off thanks to Mayer’s hard touring, so Sony gave the album a re-release in September of that year, giving a push to Mayer’s first single, “No Such Thing”.
“No Such Thing” hit #13 on the Billboard Hot 100, and two more singles, “Your Body Is A Wonderland” and “Why Georgia”, were big hits on Top 40 radio. The songs propelled Squares to the #8 spot on the album charts. “Your Body Is A Wonderland” scored Mayer his first Grammy in 2002 and the album went on to sale over 4 million copies, an unqualified success for the young singer/songwriter.
After Room For Squares broke big, Mayer began to see attendance for his live shows go through the roof. John had always had a huge live fanbase, thanks in part to his tape trading policy (he encourages it). To capitalize on this, Aware released Any Given Thursday in the early part of 2003, the first “official” John Mayer live album. Though the set mostly drew from Mayer’s only full-length, it did showcase his talent in an atmosphere where he felt most at home. Fans ate the album up, with the CD reaching the platinum mark and the DVD version doing double that.
Heavier Things, John’s studio follow-up to Squares, dropped later in 2003. Despite its title, the album featured more of the smooth, slick acoustic-oriented production of Mayer’s breakthrough hit, but fans didn’t mind the lack of progression. The CD debuted at #1 on the charts and went on to sale over 2 million copies. The set’s biggest single, “Daughters”, went gold on its own and also earned Mayer two more Grammy awards in 2005. During Heavier Things’ promotion, another live album, As/Is, appeared.
Following his second successful record, Mayer made the conscious decision to change up his sound. To show his versatility, Mayer began appearing in guest spots on tons of different records, from rappers like Common to bluesmen like Buddy Guy to country acts like the Dixie Chicks. Mayer also made some changes to his own live shows. He hired studio musicians Steve Jordan and Pino Palladino to form the John Mayer Trio and, in 2005, the band took Mayer’s new stripped-down and raw blues music on the road. The change in style may not have been expected by Mayer’s adult pop fanbase, but the guitarist was obviously having a good time.
The Trio put out a live album called Try! featuring mostly new songs in 2005. The set wasn’t the commercial juggernaut that Mayer’s studio albums had been (you could also blame that on a plethora of Mayer live material already available), but it did manage to crack Billboard’s Top 40 and become the best reviewed album of Mayer’s career. The John Mayer Trio hinted at a breakup in 2006, but, recently, rumors of a full-band studio album have surfaced.
Mayer returned to the studio in early 2006 to work on his third solo album, this time with Trio member Steve Jordan as co-producer. He has implied in several interviews that the album would feature more of the blues music that Try! had focused on. The first single, “Waiting On The World To Change”, hit #21 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The Album
On September 12, 2006, Columbia and Aware Records released Continuum, the 3rd studio album by John Mayer and the follow-up to 2003’s Heavier Things. Different versions of the CD contain the bonus tracks “Good Love Is On The Way” and “Can’t Take That Plane”. The album debuted at #2 on the Billboard 200 for the chart week of September 23rd.
The Band: 9.0
John Mayer: vocals, guitar
What can I say but, damn, this album has blown me away. It is so far above and beyond Mayer’s previous two albums that it makes you wonder just why the hell he was holding back. The singer/songwriter is still there in full force, don’t get me wrong, and a couple of these songs would still sound at home on Room For Squares, but the production, the FEEL of this CD is just completely great. So much blues, so much soul, so many songs just have that elusive GROOVE. Let’s break it down.
John Mayer will always have that Dave Matthews albatross on his back (though this album should shake off a lot of that), mainly because his vocals are so similar. But where Matthews is raspy and wise, Mayer has a smooth, optimistic quality that is sweet and engaging. That hasn’t changed here and it keeps things sounding very youthful. Mayer sings the blues, sure, but he doesn’t get gritty. He just lets it flow, and it flows effortlessly.
The guitar playing is just flat-out perfect. There are bluesy feels, funky rhythms, big electric flare-ups and even a Hendrix cover. If you’ve followed Mayer on more than just his big radio songs, you’ll know that he’s had this in him all along, but the fact that he’s finally letting it out just brings about this joyous sound of unrestricted freedom. Someone let Johnny out of his cage.
The rest of the band plays well, too, definitely giving the album a light R&B/funk feel and keeping it from becoming a straight-up blues rave-up more akin to the John Mayer Trio release. Speaking of the Trio, they’re both here, as drummer Steve Jordan (who also produces) and bassist Pino Palladino show up on nearly the entire album. They’re a worthy backing unit and they seem to be at least partly responsible for this epiphany, so you have to give them their propers. Continuum’s classic R&B sound is filled out by some nice keys and horn work, as well as a guest appearance on guitar by Ben Harper.
I could go on all day about how great this album sounds, but, really, just go listen to it. If you’ve ever been a fan of Clapton, Stevie Wonder, Sting, SRV or even Hendrix, you will find something you like here.
The Songs: 8.5
1. Waiting On The World To Change
2. I Don’t Trust Myself (With Loving You)
3. Belief
4. Gravity
5. The Heart Of Life
6. Vultures
7. Stop This Train
8. Slow Dancing In A Burning Room
9. Bold As Love
10. Dreaming With A Broken Heart
11. In Repair
12. I’m Gonna Find Another You
John Mayer has always been known as a good songwriter, but he has raised the bar significantly on this album. He’s broadened his horizons from writing sweet, sometimes sappy relationship songs and turned out a fully realized set of all-encompassing introspection. But are they any good?
I’ll admit that I didn’t care much for “Waiting On The World To Change” when I first heard it. It’s just a little too youthfully idealistic for my ears. But the groove has grown on me with repeated listens. “Belief” falters in the same way, but I just can never get into it at all, despite its gorgeous riffing.
The other songs, though, they just nail it. “I Don’t Trust Myself” is like a track from Heavier Things that has been all funked up and it just grabs hold of you. “Gravity” is so deeply soulful that it’s in contention for one of my songs of the year. “Slow Dancing In A Burning Room” really captures the fading side of love very well.
I couldn’t believe “Bold As Love” the first time I heard it. Leave it to an eclectic guy like Mayer to choose this obscure Hendrix song to be his first studio cover. Mayer’s guitar is awesome here and his vocals are on fire. Much like Jimi made Dylan’s “All Along The Watchtower” completely his, John has done the same thing with “Bold As Love”. You have to hear it to believe it.
There are even a few Room For Squares fall backs here that sound great. “In Repair” is one of those look in the mirror numbers akin to “Bigger Than My Body”, but this new sensibility injects a vitality to the song that Mayer’s entire back catalog is lacking.
If you haven’t figured it out, I love this album. It is a true revelation and one of the biggest artistic leaps in the last 25 years. Go buy it!
The 411: On Continuum, John Mayer takes all of his previous work and burns it to the ground. What you get instead is one of the most well-written, gorgeously played full albums by anybody from Mayer’s generation. The gentle blues, funk and R&B of this set will have you coming back again and again, but it’s Mayer’s songwriting that will ultimately stick with you. Even if you disagree with songs like “Waiting On The World To Change”, you can’t help but respect the way it’s presented here, and on tracks like “Gravity”, you may just find yourself reveling in a song like you haven’t done in years. This is the John Mayer album we’ve all been waiting for.
