I was watching Rosanna Arquette's documentary, “All We Are Saying,” a few weeks ago. In it, musicians of all stripes discuss the current fate of the music industry and the changes – both good and bad – that they see in the way their music is produced and marketed. Early in the film, Elton John gives kudos to artists who he considers to be on the forefront of a new sort of creativity. One of those artists is John Mayer.
John Mayer and I have a lot in common. Well, not a lot, really – we were both born in Connecticut within a few years (and a few miles) of one another. We really like The Police. And we were both counting on his third proper album, “Continuum,” to build upon its predecessors in unique and interesting ways. John is no doubt pleased with it. Me, not so much.
I have no problem with the fact that he has enlisted Pino Palladino and Steve Jordan, both excellent musicians, to work on the album with him. I have no problem with the fact that he sounds more and more like Sting and Mark Knopfler's love child, both in his vocal phrasing and instrumentation, each album. Yes, this album beats the pants off of “Try!” and even bests “Heavier Things,” produced by power pop producer John Joseph Puig. But all of the talk I've heard about “Continuum” recently – that it's John Mayer's most “mature” record yet – just doesn't convince me that I should like it.
The arrangements are lush and sparse; when they work, as in “Belief,” they work well, recalling the John Alagia pop of his debut album, “Room for Squares.” The other songs, though – they just blend into one another. Mayer seems to want us to think of Sting's “Mercury Falling,” a mature statement from an established artist.
The thing is, Sting was 45 when he made “Mercury Falling.” John Mayer isn't 30. So why should we care about his maturity? Why does everyone want the poor guy to grow up so fast? What's wrong with writing pop songs for a few more years?
Take “Belief,” for instance. “What puts a hundred thousand children in the sand?” Mayer sings against a backdrop of guitar, drums, and bass. “Belief can. What puts the folded flag inside his mother's hand? Belief can.” Well, yes. And I hope the Russians love their children, too. But that doesn't mean that I want to hear political posturing on my pop albums – from one of my contemporaries, no less! Lyrics like that make me want to go back to his first record: “I'm never speaking up again / It only hurts me / I'd rather be a mystery / Than she desert me...” All right, so maybe it's not poetry. Maybe it's not even grammatically correct. But at least it's not so self-conscious.
I wish John Mayer the best. I think he's a talented guy with an excellent voice and some serious chops. I just wish he'd leave the politicizing to the old guys – Sting, Bono, Young – and take his time. Chances are, his career will be around for a long time. |