New album from John Mayer

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Strummer07
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Joined: Thu Apr 08, 2010 3:59 pm

New album from John Mayer

Post by Strummer07 »

John Mayer is due to release a new Album ( US release on 22May )

Called " Born and Raised"... Here's the 1st song from it, on which he plays a three quarter size Acoustic I think - called "Shadow Days" this single is out now

I've had a listen or three ......and its OK ........But its nothing super special (IMO) and its certainly not a Blues song.

Not sure where I'd categorise it .....Country Pop ?? the video and the pics that go with it have Mayer out in the country, trying to look "rugged"

S4FC9iuftAA


Battle Studies was not a particularly good album .....and he needs something special - as its been a while !!
With Heavier Things .....and especialy with Contiuum Mayer showed real promise I saw him live around this time and he was Good!! ... But Battle Studies was average at best, I was really disappointed with it (But it sold well in the US - Not in the UK though)

Great Guitarist .........super voice ..........good image ......... Clever fella so I believe.

but .....................

Is he getting lost a bit muscially ??

Settling for nice easy dollars ??

Rolling Stone quote ...
Mayer's fifth solo LP is his loosest yet, from the Allmans-ish "Queen of California" to the title track, with harmonies from Crosby and Nash. "There's air in it," says producer Don Was. Mayer cut the bulk of the set before he underwent vocal-cord surgery last October. In the end, Was used several pre-surgery vocal takes: "He sounded great a little raspier."
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VikingBlues
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Joined: Sat Apr 03, 2010 7:44 pm

Re: New album from John Mayer

Post by VikingBlues »

Seems with every release that John Mayer moves further away from blues, though I'll have to admit I have none of his albums so that is an opinion possibly based on too little evidence.

It can be difficult to know just how much the style of an artists outout is what they want to do and how much is down to huge commercial and financial pressures.

Or, indeed, how much is down to what sells - despite it's being in a bit of a revival blues is not generally anywhere near as sellable as pop.

Joe Bonamassa had several reasons for setting up his own business instead of being with a major record label - one of those reasons being to have total control over his own musical direction. But - he is probably one of only a handful who have successfully gone this route.

It's often interesting to see just how different someones music can be if they get the chance to free themselves of the big corporation. An example would be (with Joe Bonamassa's help) Sandi Thom, someone who wanted to play blues and as shown with their independent album release, can do blues very well. They were not allowed to do blues due to the commercial pressures from Sony - who then dropped her after one album failed to match the No. 1 chart success of the previous one. I would guess though the new blues album probably sold less well than the unsuccessful Sony "pop" album.

Money and artistic purity are not well matched bed-fellows - Peter Green had that one sussed out.

Thing is I suppose - these guys have a living to make. :icon_whoknows:
An improv a day keeps the demons at bay!
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ratfinkdan
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Re: New album from John Mayer

Post by ratfinkdan »

Have a few John Mayer cds, really like them, they are all a bit different from one another though. Had read somewhere where John said that since he had such huge success with his first couple of albums that that gave him the freedom to somewhat dictate his own course, and that he doesn't like to do the same style with every album. Now Joe Bonamassa got a bunch of his cds, and he has a new one coming out very soon also, also has a new dvd out too. I think Joe is the real deal, he seems like a normal guy, who is very passonate about the blues and playing guitar, it seems like he just keeps getting better and better with each new release! It is encouraging to see a few of the younger players doing so well, John Mayer, Joe Bonamassa, and Derick Trucks all three great players and three very different, distinctive styles! Joe and Derick are my favorites of the 3 though. Dan
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Blackhorse
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Re: New album from John Mayer

Post by Blackhorse »

This has been available streaming on itunes for a week, and was officially released today. I'm a Mayer fan, so I've listened to it quite a lot, and I like it. There is only one song that is in any way bluesy, "Something Like Olivia", which has a great blues/pop style like some of his best previous stuff.

Apart from that, the album is very acoustic, folky, a bit country, but in a good way - think Neil Young, Dylan, Crosby Stills and Nash rather than Garth Brooks. I thought Battle Studies wasn't bad, but it wasn't really a success artistically because the songs that worked were the ones that sounded like Continuum, and his experiments in new directions didn't really work for me (Heartbreak Warfare, Assassin, Crossroads cover).

There are imo some great songs on this album, and he has progressed as a songwriter with songs like Walt Grace and the title track. Production is clean and warm, working with Don Was on this was a good idea. Not every song works for me, but the ones that do really work well.

I think John Mayer will record a stone-cold classic album, he has it in him. This is not it, but it's very good, and it could be an important step on the way to that future classic :fingerscrossed:

I'm off to buy the cd tomorrow :big_smile:
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