Live albums always run the risk of mediocrity. Some end up only appealing to a band\u2019s diehard fans; countless others suffer from bad mixing or artists sneaking back into the past to try and edit bum notes or voice cracks. It\u2019s the rare few that manage to preserve a clear snapshot of a moment in time, creating a listenable, enjoyable experience regardless of having attended the show. <\/p>\n
And Try! <\/i>is one of the greats. The John Mayer Trio (made up of legendaries Steve Jordan on drums, bassist Pino Palladino and blues-schooled Mayer himself fronting on vocals and guitars) evokes and alternately pays tributes to the masters of\u00a0electrified blues-rock: Stevie Ray Vaughan, Cream and the Jimi Hendrix Experience, to name a few. <\/p>\n
Just listening to the opening riff of \u201cGood Love Is On The Way\u201d as it gives way to an explosive chorus, you get the sense Mayer is finally having fun with his music. We all know how easily he could\u2019ve revamped \u201cNo Such Thing\u201d or \u201cBigger Than My Body,\u201d lit up the charts and reaped the benefits. But sometimes there comes a point in a teen idol\u2019s career when developing guitar chops to challenge Clapton\u2019s and mastering the art of a silky blues groove becomes inherently more satisfying. <\/p>\n
On this disc, Mayer trades in sugary-sweet, radio-friendly tracks like \u201cYour Body Is A Wonderland\u201d for covers of Hendrix\u2019s \u201cWait Until Tomorrow\u201d and Ray Charles\u2019 \u201cI Got A Woman,” nailing them both. \u00a0Even his older material (Heavier Things\u2019 <\/i>\u201cDaughters\u201d and \u201cSomething\u2019s Missing\u201d) finds new life when treated to beefed-up guitars, extended outros and Jordan\u2019s subtle drum flourishes. <\/p>\n
The real kicker, though? Try!\u2019s<\/i> original material holds its own right alongside Hendrix. \u201cGravity,\u201d which made its way onto Mayer\u2019s latest, Continuum<\/i>, is a slow-burning stunner, allowed more space to unfold its sparse melodies and gentle chords than in its later incarnation. Slipping into an easy falsetto, \u201cVultures\u201d is a smooth dig at the media while \u201cOut Of My Mind\u2019s\u201d lazy pace gives way to the best of the blues. <\/p>\n
Out of five Grammy nominations this year, Mayer maintains the most meaningful was Try!\u2019<\/i>s nod for Best Rock Album. Regardless of how credible the Grammies are these days (i.e. not very), it\u2019s hard to scoff at a relative newcomer gaining a place next to veteran acts like Tom Petty, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Neil Young. It has been a banner couple of years for John Mayer, and Try! <\/i>is the first of what promise to be many triumphs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":28324,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7721],"rating":[5646],"class_list":["post-40130","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-john-mayer-trio","rating-rating-a"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40130"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40130\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=40130"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=40130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}