The Collegian

Issue date: 9/19/06 Section: Detour

"With any trilogy," said John Mayer, "the third in the series blows it open." Last Tuesday, September 12, 2006, John Mayer released his third solo album, Continuum. The third installment not only blows everything open, but also ties together the smart and romantic lyrics of his earlier album Room for Squares (2001) with the soulful guitar of his more recent project TRY! (2005) Continuum marks the beginning of a new, more mature era for Mayer, and one can only hope it's one that doesn't include Jessica Simpson.

John Mayer's first solo album, Room for Squares was perfectly pop. It made its home in every co-ed's itunes file and every girl wished that her body, too, could be a wonderland. His acoustic jams put him at the level of James Taylor, simple, sweet and easy to listen to. More recently Mayer took to heart his first love, the blues, and attempted to catapult himself into the "more serious artist" category, trying to shed the romance and get a little gritty. His sound mirrored some of his early idols, like Stevie Ray Vaughn and Eric Clapton. The product was TRY! His collaboration with Steve Jordan and Pino Palladino came to be known as the John Mayer trio. TRY! is all about the electric guitar but lacks the explosive lyrics that John Mayer does so well. For some this may have been seen as a good move, however his die-hard fans might agree that it just wasn't right. His new album does revamp a couple of songs from TRY! But for some reason, they just sound more polished.

A year later Mayer releases 12 tracks that reveal just how much his sound has changed. The first time one listens to the slow jam album it is clearly evident that little cute and nerdy John from 2001 has grown up. Mayer included not one but two political commentaries on his new album. His first single "Waiting on the World to Change" addresses the apathetic attitude of his generation. He sings, "it's hard to beat the system when we're standing at a distance, so we keep on waiting on the world to change," While some may think that the attempt to transition from "Your Body is a Wonderland" to "Waiting on the World to Change" is a little ambitious, listen on. Mayer supports himself with a much more grown up point of view. He continues to sing with purpose in "Belief" stating that "Belief is a beautiful armor/but makes for the heaviest sword/like punching under water/you never can hit what you're trying for."

Mayer not only addresses the politics of his generation, but also sings about growing up. In "Stop This Train," Mayer actually divulges his torment about getting older. "Stop this train/I want to get off and go home again/I can't take the speed it's moving in/I know I can't but honestly won't someone stop this train?" I for one am thrilled where this "train" is taking Mayer.

Continued...

Page 1 of 2 next >

Article Tools