I didn't think that when I created this blog that I would be blasting a critical review this early. I'm a positive guy at heart. But John Mayer's latest release, Battle Studies, needs to be torn down and beaten with a stick.
A little bit of back story here. I stumbled over John Mayer when I was in my freshman year at college in 2001, before the release of Room for Squares. Some buddy had sent me one of his demos, raving about it. I was primarily acoustic tracks that were built with intricacy, grace, and life. I was immediately drawn to the style and joined the John Mayer street team. This allowed me early access to Room for Squares as well as other unreleased material. Room for Squares, although it now was filled out with a full band, was still filled with the same elements that attracted me to Mayer's music in the first place. From there, Mayer's next releases, Heavier Things and Continuum, fell short for me. This was attributed to 1) the lack of life and joy i enjoyed in the first release and 2) Mayer's stumbles in the tabloid media.
This all changed when he released Try, his first Trio release. While the album completely escaped his normal pop genre by moving into the rock/blues realm, it had a re-energized sound. This great sound also made it's way into Where The Light Is, a amazing three way attack (solo acoustic, trio, band) recorded live in Los Angeles.
Alright, time to get back on track with the impending shit storm. Battle Studies is the worse release yet, missing the whole train. The mix is opposite of my taste. The first thing I notice that makes me want to snap this CD in half is the presence of the large, dry, gated, over produced snare throughout the whole recording. This snare sound is usually reserved for older jazz recordings and sounds completely out here. Secondly, the lyrics could not be more canned. It's like they were written by a tween that just got out of a Twilight screening and is feeling like writing down some of those "mushy" feelings.
In summation, the only tune that is even decent is the a cover or "Crossroads". This album sucks. Lets hope Mayer get the message.
