My Amazon Reviews: Jason Mraz "Yes!"

Maybe.
3 Out Of 5 Stars

Jason Mraz has always seemed like a puppy, always buoyant and ever so eager to please, His albums were catchy and fun, light pop with folk elements. Not so with "Yes!" Moving from slow song to slow song, Mraz has evolved from a fun and loveable lightweight to straight up middle of the road schmaltz. I guess you can call this an attempt at maturity, but with the exception of "Shine," things kind of blend into each other.

He's now working with an all-female, rock-folk band called Raining Jane, but you'd never know it from the general facelessness of the proceedings. They do add some pretty harmonies (like the lush opener "Rise - Love Someone") and some interesting instrumental touches (the sitar on "Shine") and the occasional bouncy bit (the drum beat of "Everywhere"). Yet the album personifies the definition of 'easy listening,' as Mraz doesn't seem to want to challenge his persona as a singer songwriter. It's not that an artist can't swing into a folk style and make it work, John Mayer proved that with his "Born and Raised." However, Mraz is taking it a little too laid back to make things happen. "Yes!" is still eager to please, but the man who laments the lack of "Quiet" in the modern world is taking that a tad too literally here.

     

My Amazon Reviews: John Mayer "Paradise Valley"

Deep Within The Valley
3 Out Of 5 Stars

I am among those who believe that "Born and Raised" was one of John Mayer's greatest achievements. Introspective lyrics, thoughtful singing, nicely played singer songwriter music. But I now guess that those introspection motivations have been purged from his system, as "Paradise Valley" plays the same sort of lite-folk rock, but without the emotional substance. Sure, he still plays guitar like the whizz-kid he was when his first album dropped 10 years ago (!), and he shoulders the mantle of early eighties Eric Clapton quite well. However, Clapton's albums in the early eighties were light-weight. So is "Paradise Valley."

It does indicate that the folk-pop of "Born and Raised" was no fluke, and many of the songs here sound delightful on first passing. "Wildfire" really does that "Slowhand" thing better than about anyone short of Eric himself, or even how it neatly references the style of Jerry Garcia, and it's hard to go wrong when you pick a song from the late JJ Cale as your cover-version ("Call Me The Breeze," ironically first popularized by Lynyrd Skynyrd). He goes for some of that introspection on "Dear Marie," but the lyric is more like a self-directed pity party. Same goes for "Paper Doll," his response to Taylor Swift's "Dear John." Although I love the line about "22 girls in one." It's all cushioned in the 70's style that defined the likes of Linda Ronstadt and James Taylor as kingpins of mellow country rock, right down the pedal steel in the clever "You're No-one Till Someone Lets You Down."

There are still a couple of unpredictable moments here that, oddly enough, come from the invited guests. Hip-hop artist Frank Ocean does a brief reprise of "Wildfire" that recasts the album's opening gambit as a soulful interlude. The other of "Paradise Valley's" hidden surprises comes courtesy of Katy Perry, who drops the over the top pop chanteuse act long enough to deliver a nuanced and effective duet on "Who You Love." Given Perry's flair for confectionery pop without a drop of subtlety, coming off as a genuine romantic singer will shock both her critics and those who may question Mayer's instincts.

That's not enough to save "Paradise Valley" from being something of a letdown. I doubt if Mayer has run out of things to try, as "Paradise Valley" is as different as "Continuum" was to "Heavier Things" or for that matter, the blues/pop balance of "Battle Studies." It's more of a refinement of "Born and Raised" instead of a growth from it, so "Paradise Valley" sounds just fine without exceeding Mayer's previous or better albums.

     

My Amazon Reviews: John Mayer "Born and Raised"

Born to be Grammy Bait
5 Out Of 5 Stars

John Mayer's public mea culpa comes musically, a whispered plea for understanding after some serious public bumbling of his life. Who knew that, when his musical world finally had a collision with the paparazzi word, it would humble the guy into making the stellar music of "Born and Raised"? It's the first album he's made where what used to be affectations towards the singer-songwriters of the 70's that John's long been enamored by become genuinely personal and effective.

You can't blame the man for wanting to make something other than knock offs of his heroes. He may have been extremely good at doing just that, but now he wants to be the man who - as he states in the song "Queen of California" - finds the "sun that Neil Young Hung after the gold rush of '71." The pallet he is drawing from is serious CSNandY and James Taylor turf, yet now he sounds less like he's rubbing shoulders with them and more like he's proving he can make music that spiritually accentuates his forebears. Those public slaggings have obviously made him want to try harder, and left their stings. "Now the cover of Rolling Stone ain't the cover of a Rolling Stone," he realizes in "Speak for Me."

"Born and Raised" also chucks aside any attempt at overproduction (no loudness wars here) for a spartan acoustic setting. "Whiskey Whiskey Whiskey" begs for quiet in a life that was filled with too much background noise, along with a great harmonica riff. Same with "If I Ever Get Around to Living," as blatant a confirmation that trials by fire are something that need to be part of the past. The bulk of the album is spent in these contemplative moments, and it all rings true. It's not only Mayer's personal best, it maybe one of 2012's classiest albums.

     

My Amazon Reviews: John Mayer "Battle Studies"

Heart Scars  
4 Out Of 5 Stars

John Mayer is making mature music these days, which is to say that "Battle Studies" is an adult album that plays it easy. Having jumped off the hot-shot guitarist train, he now sounds more like the Eric Clapton of "Unplugged" than the EC of "Slowhand." Or more to the point, Mayer now sounds like he's intent on being the new Phil Collins.

Not that being Collins is a bad thing, as Phil's best work in the 80's still sounds terrific. The lead track, "Heartbreak Warfare" is almost the kind of divorce song Collins specialized in for his first two solo albums, minus the landmine sounding drums. Having Taylor Swift on "Half Of My Heart" is the equivalent of Collin's duets like "Separate Lives." The finale, "Friends, Lovers or Nothing," is one of the songs that merits the Clapton comparisons, and that's in a good way. Although Mayer brings these comparisons on himself by pulling readily identifiable covers out of the box, like the way he funkifies "Crossroads." While the song belongs to Robert Johnson, its most recognizable version was EC's (who even had a box set under that title, fer crying out loud).

Mayer made himself into his own performer with the albums "Try" and "Continuum," which makes "Battle Studies" a slight step back. "Assassin" is the most individualistic song here, delivered with guitar firepower and subdued voice, and is the one song that sounds like it came in from the "Continuum" sessions. "All We Ever Do is Say Goodbye" is a terrific radio record, but someone should have told Mayer that "Who Says" is the kind of novelty that wears out quickly. He's long past the point in his career where trifles like that should be on solid albums; if Mayer wants to keep holding himself to the standards of Clapton, BB King and other guitar greats he claims he wants to emulate, he needs to study their battles more in depth.

"Battle Studies" is a sturdy album, ultimately. It sounds like a sharp left from the the more intense previous album, with Mayer aiming for adult-pop without getting mired in the saccharine. He still needs to concentrate on being John Mayer as opposed to a composite of his heroes. While he loves to rub shoulders with the greats and does so with much skill, he will ultimately need to decide if he wants to rub against the great ones or stand alongside of them as an equally talented artist.