song of the week #10

As a follow-up to andy's recent entry, john is back with some new stuff.

I'm friggin looking forward to his latest album titled "Continuum" which will be released 9/12. He recently hosted a program on Star 98.7 during which he plays his cd in its entirety, while also offering a brief commentary before the beginning of each song. I already downloaded the entire show, but because of legitimate pirating concerns, they audibly stamped each song midway through with a female voice that chimes, "You are now listening to John Mayer's Continuum on Star 98.7, in stores September 12th." It gets kinda annoying after a while (but let me know if you want it anyways).

He displays a lot of maturity in his songwriting as he takes on some very difficult topics, and his vocal skills jumped up a couple levels too. He records a soul tune which was interesting to hear. The guitar definitely took a backseat to the lyrics and vocals, an observation that can be attributed to his maturing as a singer-songwriter. I think he's making the statement that quality, intelligent songs can be created without needing his guitar to speak too much.

But seriously, it's good. I think it's his best album yet in terms of quality. I don't know how far up the charts it'll go, but it's a dense, dense piece of work that has a delicate mix of uptempo tunes, hints of pop, somber/pensive stories, and an honorable Hendrix cover.

Here's Waiting on the World to Change.