John Mayer to release a new album this summer

Looking forward to it, but I'm not a big fan of the direction he's taken recently. He was at his peak in Live in LA and since then, it's been downhill, in my opinion. Hope he goes a bluesy route this time.

Hope it isn't the suck.

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He was at his peak

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With continuum. That was his most bluesy studio album

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Nice that an artist doesn't churn out the same shite over and over.

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I agree, though I feel he's regressed with each album since Continuum.

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I agree, though I feel he's regressed with each album since Continuum.

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Continuum is his best studio album, no question. One of my favorite albums actually. But, Born and Raised, his latest album, is his second best album. Battle Studies has good parts (Edge of Desire, Heartbreak Warfare, Assassin to name a few), but not as good as his latest.

He's apparently been on a big Grateful Dead/ Allman Brothers kick, so I see his next one having that sort of vibe. At Jazz fest he played a Grateful Dead cover, Muddy Waters Got My Mojo Workin', and a sick cover of Can't Find My Way Home by Blind Faith.

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He's apparently been on a big Grateful Dead/ Allman Brothers kick, so I see his next one having that sort of vibe. At Jazz fest he played a Grateful Dead cover, Muddy Waters Got My Mojo Workin', and a sick cover of Can't Find My Way Home by Blind Faith.

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yup. Not surprised at all that he has another album in the works. I think it was a Rolling Stone article where he said working on the Born and Raised album had brought him in the direction of the grateful dead/allman brothers. He said something about liking the way the songs run together and can be so long. I'm thinking he's gonna have a jam band style.

eta from Rolling Stone article:

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I've been listening to stuff and just falling in love with certain things. I've been listening to the Grateful Dead nonstop. Mark my words, the Grateful Dead are gonna make a comeback, because of how that music cleanses your palate. When everything is processed and quantized and gridded out – to hear "Tennessee Jed" played with that lope is a real palate-cleanser. They take their time, sometimes too much. This free expressive sort of spirit – I listen and I want to find a mix of that openness. I kind of want to go to that show, if it still existed. But I wish that there were tunes that I was more familiar with. I wish that I could be the singer. I wish I could have harmonies. And I wish that I could make it seven minutes instead of 13 minutes. Now I'll get the opportunity to kind of try that.

So that's where you're going musically? Yeah. My ears are done, cooked, on a traditional rhythm section, two guitar players, sideman playing along with the lead singer hoping they don't step on his toes, and the wailing – the way that everything has kind of gone for the last 10 years for me. I know how I want to live onstage. I know how happy I want to be onstage.

The John Mayer Trio record was very organic in that sense. Yeah. That was definitely something that I'm talking about that was like, "OK, it's impossible not to have a great time doing this." I just have this great opportunity where I haven't performed for two years, and I've been mostly forgotten about for two years, musically. And why not come back and reboot it differently? No one is holding me to a standard that I set a month ago. That's what's so great. If I don't take advantage of this, I'm never gonna have another shot to say, "Hey, when I start this heart back up, it's gonna be in a different rhythm."

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So are you reshuffling your live band? Not completely. But not just a different personnel lineup, but for me I think it's a different approach to playing live music. I think one thing I would love to do away with is to kind of get rid of this imaginary "Wrap it up" light in my head when it comes to playing songs. You know, extend it if you still want to express yourself. If you still want to simmer on something, just do it. And change things up. Don't be afraid if the crowd didn't cheer as loud for the last song as you wanted them to. You don't have to call an audible and change your set list.

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Would you jam on some of the old singles, like "Daughters," and extend it into a long jam? No. I think some of those songs aren't designed for it. But that's what I think is so great about Born and Raised. Most of it is designed to be jammed on, believe it or not. It's been very difficult to not tour on, because that record itself tells half the story of those songs, and the other half of the story is told onstage. And I've had the live versions in my head ever since I made the record. I mean, "If I Ever Get Around to Living" could be a 12-minute-long song, and still be very interesting and unique and worth listening to.

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Something Like Olivia and Queen of California were the only 2 songs worth a damn on the Born and Raised album. Love is a Verb wasn't bad either.

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Entire album was great. His second best album besides the trio album. I put it just above Continuum.

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Genuinely curious....how can you say this? Everyone is obviously entitled to their own opinions and tastes, but there's no way it's even in the same league as Continuum, which is his best by far and away imho. There was nothing special about Battle Studies.

Lets rank it this way. Which album has gotten you the most pussy?

The frick?


Continuum is pure gold. That is easily his best work, along with the Trio and Where the Light Is album. Absolutely nothing boring about this stuff.

He's changed his sound on every album in some way, but still makes quality stuff. iMO

Where the Light Is
Continuum
trio
Born and Raised
Heavier Things
Battle Studies
Room for Squares