John Mayer: Battle Studies

I’ve been a very absentee blogger. There are a million excuses – I’ve been busy, I’ve been sick, I’ve been re-evaluating, I’ve been tossing around the idea of going private, of starting over. More on that later, but first, something I’ve been thinking about for a while – the new John Mayer album!

The new John Mayer album came out last week, and I have to admit that the first time I heard it, I was disappointed.

That’s right. Me. Disappointed with John Mayer music. Who’d have thought?

But I was. I LOVED Continuum. I wasn’t really a “John Mayer fan” until I saw him live, and I have always been a huge fan of his guitar playing, and of the Trio stuff. His guitar playing is what made me a fan, so Continuum was a great album for me.

Battle Studies? It’s soft. You have to listen hard for the guitar. It’s pop-y where Continuum was bold. Light where Continuum was raw. And while it works as a light, floaty summery album that you listen to while driving down PCH with your windows open, it doesn't quite hold as a fall release. (In my humble opinion, of course.)

And I’d heard a lot of the songs live before I heard them on the album, which probably didn’t help. Hearing a song acoustic or live and then hearing it produced tends to make things sound over-produced, and boy does this one sound over-produced.

There are too many background noise/background vocals, and too many weird instruments thrown in, like the random xylophone on “Assassin.” All the added elements make it sound too busy, and you actually lose the music and lyrics in the mess of it.

Basically, this album is like the ice cream sundae that the 4 year old puts together – everything looks good, so he adds chocolate sauce and caramel and Mn’Ms and Skittles and Marshmallows and Gummi Bears, and in the end you have a tough time finding the ice cream.

I’ve been listening to it on repeat, and it’s growing on me, but there are still some I’m not a fan of. Here are my thoughts and opinions – subject to change, of course, since I’ve already changed my mind about a couple of things already.

“Heartbreak Warfare:” I didn’t like it at first, having heard it live, but it’s growing on me now.

“All We Ever Do Is Say Goodbye:” I like it, but it could probably be about a minute shorter. And you could totally clip off the end of “Friends, Lovers or Nothing” and tack it onto the end of “All We Ever” and it would sound pretty seamless.

“Half of my Heart:” I didn’t like this one much at first, but now it’s one of my favorites. You can actually tell it’s a John Mayer song, you can hear him play guitar, and the little addition by Taylor Swift at the end is nice.

“Who Says:” I loved this one when I first heard him play it live, and I’m disappointed in the album version – it was light-hearted and fun and silly when acoustic, and as an album track it’s just weird. It’s like he took a song that was supposed to be fun and tried to make it serious – and releasing it as a single was a terrible idea. It’s grown on me a little, since I still do like the song, but I wish there wasn’t that stupid maraca sounding drum thing in the background the whole time.

“Perfectly Lonely:” I love this one. I love the guitar, I love the lyrics, and I love the tempo.

“Assassin:” I love this one, too, once you get past the goofy xylophone that’s in the first minute. And the background vocals could have been left out. But overall, it’s a pretty badass song.

“Crossroads:” I’ve heard him do this one in concert, and it was WAY better live. It seems basically like filler on the album. Boring, and "Crossroads" should be anything but boring.

“War Of My Life:” I like the guitar on this one, but the lyrics are only so-so for me. Still, it’s another one that actually sounds like a John Mayer song, and it’s pretty catchy.

“Edge Of Desire:” Another of my favorites. I love the lyrics and the guitar. And it’s pretty sexy. “Don’t say a word / just come over and lie here with me / Cause I’m just about to set fire to everything I see / I want you so bad I’ll go back on the things I believe / there I just said it / I’m scared you’ll forget about me.” Love it.

“Do You Know Me:” Boring, boring boring. My least favorite on the album, and the weakest in my opinion. It’s like he needed another song to make the album longer than 10 songs. Maybe hearing it live will make it more interesting, since the Spanish-y sounding guitar isn’t terrible.

“Friends, Lovers or Nothing:” Love it. The guitar rocks, the lyrics are good, and the end lines get stuck in your head like no other. “Anything other than yes is no / Anything other than stay is go / Anything less than ‘I love you’ is lying.” Awesome. I predict this will be the song he closes out his shows with.

“I’m On Fire:” This one came on the iTunes version of the album – and was one of the ones I was looking forward to the most. I absolutely love when he does this cover in concert – and the version with “Where Will I Be” is just the best. (Check it out on YouTube if you haven't heard it!) But the album version misses the mark – and he messes up the second verse! I just don’t get it – John Mayer is usually on top of his shit, and he doesn’t bother to go back and fix the verse he messed up? He was off beat with the start of the verse, and he says “skull” instead of “soul.” Maybe he was trying to add in his own touch to the song, but that’s just stupid arrogance if it’s the case. Boo. I’ll just keep listening to the live one, I guess.

Obviously, I don’t “know” music. I’m not a musician, and I’m not educated in music. I just know what I like, and what I don’t, and this album is never going to be my favorite by John Mayer. Maybe seeing the songs played live will change my opinion? Who knows. Maybe I’m just cranky this week and next week I’ll love it. In the meantime, I’ll have a few of the songs on repeat, and pretend that “Do You Know Me” was never put on the album.