Thursday, November 19, 2009

JOHN MAYER's Battle Studies


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John Mayer’s muchly-awaited new album has been leaked. Yes, the entire Battle Studies album. It’s his fourth album and it was released last November 17th. According to Mayer: “The album is called Battle Studies and that’s because it incorporates a lot of the lessons, a lot of the observations, and a little bit of advice. Like a handbook, like a heartbreak handbook.”

There is no doubt in my mind that John Mayer can write pleasant pop music and accent it nicely with excellent guitar playing. Battle Studies tries to incorporate a small portion of each. Of course, Mayer experiments with new guitar sounds (Half of My Heart, Crossroads, Edge of Desire), but the basic principle of his writing says the same - simplicity.

Many of the tracks are acceptable upon first listen but you could tell it feels unfinished. The potentially great tracks like Edge of Desire, Perfectly Lonely, and Heartbreak Warfare feels lacking in variation at some points that they turn out redundant. And Half of my Heart, while a perfect pop song, is an obvious ploy for more popularity from John Mayer. Why so? Well we have the appearance of Taylor Swift in the song, which didn't add much since she didn't offer anything to the song. Who Says was a lazy track and despite being pleasant, it just doesn't have enough bang! to keep the listeners glued to it.

Anyway, I'm hoping for a better John Mayer album next time because this one is an unbelievably bland record. BUT HOW ABOUT YOU? What do you think of Battle Studies?

Sidebit: Man, look at that sleeve. Whew.

:: Who Says*
:: Heartbreak Warfare*
:: Friends, Lovers or Nothing
:: Crossroads
:: Perfectly Lonely*
:: All We Ever Do Is Say Goodbye
:: Assassin
:: War of My Life
:: Half of My Heart*
:: Edge of Desire*
:: Do You Know Me

BONUS TRACK: :: I'm On Fire (.m4a)*

2 comments:

This is interesting for me, though I can't say if I'm really going to like it. But I have always liked his songs. Haven't listened to this album yet, but I'm really interested.:)

I think a lot of us enjoy his music, and I hope we hear some really great ones from him soon.

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