These days, it's hard to find anyone who just downright hates John Mayer. He is popular enough to be on "Chappelle's Show" and skilled enough to jam with the legendary likes of Buddy Guy, B.B King, Eric Clapton, and Herbie Hancock. Let's face it: the ladies just love to see those faces he makes while playing guitar.
For the past year and a half, the Berklee School of Music alum worked and toured with his side project, The John Mayer Trio, which featured Mayer on guitar, Steve Jordan on drums and Pino Palladino on bass. This group, based mainly in blues and rock 'n' roll, departed from his acoustic songwriting and allowed him to stretch out and let loose his electric guitar chops,which, surprisingly enough, are not too shabby.
The Trio released a live album entitled "Try!" in late 2005 with marginal success.
Over the spring and summer of 2006, John holed up with Trio buddies Pino and Steve and began work on his fourth studio album, "Continuum." The album takes a good look at the past of John Mayer and makes some small steps forward.
The fact that Mayer stuck with his blues-based bosom buddies for the recording of "Continuum" says volumes, namely that the album would have more soul than anything previously recorded with foreign studio musicians sitting in. Two tracks from "Try!" got the re-working treatment on "Continuum," meshing the identities of the John Mayer Trio and the solo artist behind the name.
"Continuum"'s first single and opening track "Waiting on the World to Change" is an upbeat, repetitive, radio-friendly tune that rapidly gets old. The music video, which will surely be full of positive, "we can change the world" messages, basically writes itself, but the song longs for real meaning behind the soulful, Motown-inspired organ and vibes.
Fortunately, the album only improves from there. "Belief" reveals the darker side of the happy-go-lucky Mayer, one that is afraid that the world will never fully right itself. "We're never going to stop the war/ We're never going to beat this/ If belief is what we're fighting for," the heartthrob croons. Genre buddy Ben Harper lends his skills on guitar, and the track leaves the listener feeling pleasantly doleful.
The two most impressive cuts are hidden in the middle of the record, gems to find as you listen through the album as a whole. A re-recorded John Mayer Trio song, "Vultures," is the first of the two. With a cool, jazzy riff backing the track and Mayer staying in falsetto for more than half of the song, it's reminiscent of '70s soul - by a white guy from Connecticut. A small solo, among Mayer's career best, reminds us that he can play a mean guitar, but it does not last long enough to edge on complacency, a line John has walked before.
The real showstopper, though, is "Stop This Train," an acoustic number that reminds the audience why John Mayer was so famous in the first place- he's a damn good songwriter. The finger-picked guitar melody is vaguely evocative of the song "3x5" off Mayer's breakout album, "Room for Squares" (2001), but has a new blues-tinged feel that reveals itself after subsequent listens. The song pensively reflects on the process of aging, but again with a somber tone rather than one of enthusiasm.
John Mayer has had his stroll through the halls of his high school, he's had time to wait for his fuse to dry, and he's warned men that they are gods to the daughters of the world. Now Mayer must choose whether he wants to continue writing well-conceived acoustic love songs or strive for virtuoso accolades that may never be reached.
With "Continuum," Mayer seems undecided as to his own future, swaying between pop masterpieces and B-rate blues. Perhaps his words in "Stop This Train" are all too true: "So scared of getting older/ I'm only good at being young."
