Two years ago in this space,
I dogged John Mayer. I gave his
oh-so-popular debut disc
Room For Squares a “C” and criticized what I saw as the
over-arrangement, over-production and general pop-ification of an
otherwise pretty decent set of acoustic singer-songwriter
material.
You can thus imagine my reaction when his follow-up disc,
Heavier Things, moved his sound even farther in the
direction of mainstream electric pop-rock. I wrote him off and
moved on to new prospects.
Flash forward a year and suddenly “Daughters” (“Fathers be good
to your daughters / Daughters will love like you do”) is all over
the radio. A marvelously perceptive, nuanced and altogether
beautiful acoustic cut off of…
Heavier Things. I listened to and admired the song for a
good three months before finally shaking my head, shrugging my
shoulders and giving in. (Blame it on Costco, and my perpetual
weakness for reasonably priced music.)
And now I am here to sit down to a large meal. You — yeah, you
— c’mon, you know you want to… pass me that big ol’ plate
of crow.
Because this is a really good album. Not just a passable effort,
not just a better-than-I’d-hoped-for pleasant surprise. A
really good album, rich with some of the more emotionally
astute and lovingly crafted singer-songwriter material I’ve heard
in the past couple of years. No, it isn’t James Taylor, but John
Mayer isn’t trying to be JT — or sometime-sound-alike Dave
Matthews, for that matter — anymore. He seems content now to
simply try to be the best John Mayer he can be, and the results,
I’ve gotta say, are pretty damned impressive.
Highlights include: the post-Motown call-and-answer vocals on
the outro to the clever “Something’s Missing” (“check”), the
ringing electric riff that starts “New Deep,” the dynamic
arrangement of “Bigger Than My Body,” and the dead-on lyric of the
true-to-life insecurity cure “Only Heart.”
Even more than the varied and entertaining arrangements, though,
what makes this album is Mayer’s rapidly maturing gift for
storytelling. The way he deftly sets the scene while narrating a
lovers’ tiff on “Come Back To Bed.” The perceptive self-exam he
administers on the introspective “Home Life.” And maybe most of
all, everything about the lyric and delivery of the wistful, wise
and just plain wonderful closer “Wheel.” This — says Mr Reviewer,
opening his mouth for another big black-feathered bite — is
terrific stuff.
On
Room For Squares the songs often felt to me like overdressed
acoustic numbers yearning to be stripped back down to their
essence. On
Heavier Things, the fuller, mostly electric arrangements
feel organic, even when strings or synths are occasionally added to
the mix. Even more importantly, Mayer carries the day with a breezy
confidence and natural charm that is absolutely winning in the
context of songs as full of thoughtfully delivered emotional truths
as these.
Crow never tasted so good. My hat’s off to ya, John.
