Jennifer Love Hewitt. Jessica Simpson. Jennifer Aniston.
What do these women have in common? Besides having names that begin with the letter “J” and being pretty darn famous, they’ve all dated (and been dumped by) that famous Berklee College of Music dropout with those sunken eyes and seven Grammy awards.
Sure, John Mayer hasn’t exactly built a respectable reputation for himself as far as his relationships with women are concerned, but with the recent release of his fourth studio album Battle Studies, Mayer’s record of producing compelling works of auditory art remains unblemished.
Jody Rosen for Rolling Stone complains that “the solemnity is suffocating,” especially in Mayer’s first track, “Heartbreak Warfare.” And yes, it is true that Mayer’s comparison of a breakup to a bombing may have been over-the-top, but we’ve seen this before: the track “Slow Dancing in a Burning Room” on 2006’s Continuum shows us that dramatic lyrics are nothing new. Mayer’s lyrics have always had the ability to grab us by the shirt collar and give us a good shake right from the get-go.
He lightens up a bit in “Half Of My Heart,” a bittersweet track with a memorable guitar riff repeated throughout, briefly featuring this year’s Country Music Awards star Taylor Swift on backup vocals toward the end of the song. When this song ends and you find yourself still smiling, the next track, “Who Says,” begins with the line, “Who says I can’t get stoned?” and turns the smile into an outright laugh. It seems that the famed humor Mayer uses in his Twitter updates has been put to good use.
Later in the album, Mayer shows the funk side of his musical style in his cover of Cream’s more recent edition of Robert Johnson’s 1937-released song “Cross Road Blues,” which reminds listeners how diverse his artistic ability really is.
Co-produced by the other members of the John Mayer Trio — Pino Palladino and Steve Jordan — Battle Studies is unique in its production method. About.com describes Mayer’s approach to compiling the album as “experimental” and states “writing, demo recording and final recording are being merged into one stage,” giving the album a genuine, almost raw feel. The blues sound present in some tracks from Continuum or the Trio’s album Try! won’t be found this time around; instead, this album is a solid representation of Mayer’s different talents in one 11-track masterpiece.
The album wraps up well with “Do You Know Me,” a song reminiscent of driving through a calming rainstorm due to its beautiful guitar arpeggios. Lastly, the lyrics of the six-minute “Friends, Lovers Or Nothing” are to the point and help bring the album to a close in a conclusive and subtly powerful manner, utilizing both low, powerful piano chords and a guitar melody dancing in the treble clef a few octaves higher.
Mayer may have made some pretty bad decisions in the past with his romantic life, but once listeners separate his work from his celebrity status, we are consistently left with a spectacular piece of art. Well done, once again.
4 stars out of 5.
