John Mayer, "Continuum"
Ken sheds some new light on a not-so-old bluesman
Ken’s Pitch:
By 2015, the only things I knew about John Mayer were that he was pretty popular with the ladies and that he’d said some really dumb shit in his younger years.
By the end of July 2016, after seeing him at Fenway Park with Dead & Company (the latest incarnation of The Grateful Dead), I was taking in and digesting everything Mayer had ever released. What I saw at that show was an A-list pop star willing to be a role player (albeit a large role) in a band of legends. He would be the latest in a long line of cast members to play the part vacated in August 1995 by the late Jerry Garcia. That meant that Mayer’s role would be to let the original members of the band shine, while also heavily contributing on lead guitar and background and lead vocals.
Mayer’s performance with Dead & Company blew me away to the point where I was immediately compelled to dive into his body of work, and it was a wonderland of beautiful, complex work.
When I went back to the beginning of the Mayer catalogue, I found a collection of songs that are mature and new and unique. That Berklee College of Music education (even if there’s no degree to show for it) paid off and we’re all the beneficiaries of his hard work.
While Mayer was still a few years away from repairing his public image with the media and those of us who tend to make snap judgements against young celebrities, Continuum offers an honest and transparent picture of the person he wants us to see.
“Belief” and “Gravity” are brilliant blues compositions that Mayer turns into contemporary pop songs. An almost impossible feat, Mayer charted a straight blues tune in a musical era that barely remembers how to spell the word blues! He was very well respected and became close friends with blues icons B.B. King and Buddy Guy, which shockingly wasn’t accomplished by a lot of young pop stars from Fairfield County, CT. The hauntingly gorgeous “Slow Dancing in a Burning Room” is a modern take on rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic, and its prepositional companion piece “Dreaming with a Broken Heart” is a glimpse into the heartache everyone feels from time to time...even high-profile pop stars with high-profile breakups.
The gem of this album, though, is the unexpected and masterfully done cover of Jimi Hendrix’s “Bold As Love” which Mayer delivers in a straight-forward fashion, yet still manages to own as an original take.
Forget everything you thought you knew about John Mayer and let Continuum claim its rightful place in the Newbury St. Collection. It’s a wonderfully produced album with powerful lyrics and emotionally-charged vocals, impeccably-played blues guitar, and a cast of backing musicians that do everything right to highlight their front-man. There’s a reason Rolling Stone named it the 11th best album of 2006 and added it to their newest list of 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
Almost all religions and societies preach forgiveness for the sins of the past, as long as there is contrition. Yet for so many, the Mayer name still conjures up images of a young man making mistakes. I’ve moved on and I hope you can join me in moving forward with Continuum proudly displayed on Newbury St. Until then, I’ll keep waiting on the world to change.
CJ’s Response:
I was struggling with this one and I admitted as much to Ken in a text exchange late last week.
Me: I’m having a hard time with Continuum. Like it’s making me wish I were listening to Genesis. But, I’m trying.
Ken: Lol, I figured it might be a bit difficult for you. It’s a blues album that Mayer makes into a blues/pop album. But listen to the vocals and the cleanliness of the instrumentation. And when John solos he’s as good as anyone around.
Me: So we’re calling this blues?
Ken: Many of the songs have blues chord progressions, so yes.
Me: Okay. Letter of the law, I suppose.
I deferred to Ken on the musical definition of the blues because he knows a lot more about that stuff than I do, having actually played an instrument. But, this issue still nagged at me.
Is blues a musical genre or is it a feeling?
I’m going to argue for the latter. As I’ve mentioned before, I love seeing live blues. Doesn’t matter if it’s famous acts doing famous music, unknowns covering famous music, or unknowns trying to make their music known. When it’s really good, it leaves me feeling wrung out. Like I just don’t have any emotion left to give.
Great blues music stews in heartbreak, despair, frustration and emotional crisis. The only time someone in Fairfield County experiences emotional crisis is when the local Panera runs out of tomato bisque.
That’s not to say that someone from Connecticut can’t be a ground-breaking blues artist. And John Mayer certainly gives it a go. I recognized “Waiting on the World to Change” and the Ken-recommended Hendrix cover “Bold as Love”. Other songs on the record sounded familiar and were not unpleasant. But, I just didn’t get that spent feeling that I want from the blues.
The whole affair reminded me of my daughter’s Taylor Swift albums.* There were thinly-veiled shots at ex-lovers, some teenage spite and a smidgin of remorse. It was immature blues. A Blues Jr., if you will.
I’m sorry, Ken. But, sometimes all gravity does is bring you crashing back to earth.
Pitch Failed (Stop slow dancing, for Pete’s sake! The room is burning!)
* I’ve come to learn that Mayer had a Jerry Lee Lewis-esque relationship with Swift, so I’m feeling pretty good about this analogy.
Mitch’s Response:
Sometimes I wonder if authenticity is overrated.
A lot of times I think the “fake” versions of things are actually better than the authentic versions. For example, Chinese food is my favorite cuisine in the world and I’ll try (almost) anything, but if I’m being honest, I’d rather eat chicken wings than duck’s feet, even though I’m pretty sure duck’s feet are way more authentic.
The same thing applies to music, especially the blues. I’ve always prefered blues-rock to straight blues, because straight blues can be pretty boring and repetitive, while blues-rock takes the best parts of blues (the raw emotional core and the pentatonic scale) and makes it even better. I own The Complete Robert Johnson. I play the blues harp. I know how to dust my broom. But I’ll admit that I don’t love listening to Robert Johnson. It’s just too old and basic and simple. Sure, there are exceptions like Taj Mahal (Taj is awesome) and that thicc boi from Blues Traveler (j/k), but in general, straight blues bores me at best and annoys me at worst (see: Stevie Ray Yawn).
Big Mouth Mayer doesn’t create "authentic blues." He barely even creates blues-rock, more like blues-pop. But he’s a fluid, lyrical guitarist with a beautiful tone. He’s a great singer and an extremely deft songwriter, both musically and lyrically. I’ve enjoyed all of his albums and Continuum is the best of a very strong catalog. And he writes about what he knows: millennial ennui, celebrity culture, dating in the digital age, his family, and himself. Listen to “Stop this Train” and tell me that he doesn’t authentically capture what it feels like to fear aging and losing your parents. It’s a gorgeous song that only gains more power with the passage of time.
Maybe I’ve been thinking about authenticity the wrong way. While John may, er, not be an authentic practitioner of traditional blues, his art is definitely authentic to his lived experience, and that’s good enough for me, and good enough for the Newbury St. Collection.
I still like Swedish Fish better than regular fish, though.
Pitch Successful (Walt Grace passed his submarine test)
Ken’s pitch was not successful and John Mayer’s Continuum has been exiled!
Run through the halls of your high school straight to the comments section and let us know whether Continuum deserves to be in your atmosphere or if you’re moving on and getting over John Mayer.
Please join us next week as CJ busts out his old schoolboy uniform, learns a power chord, and pitches AC/DC’s Highway to Hell.
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I agree with CJ. I'd go anywhere (and have 3 times) to see Mayer play guitar with Dead and Company. They let him rip THEIR songs, not his, and he is damn good at it. Fortunately, his whiny, lazy vocals are not heard when with the Dead, but oh man is his guitar heard - better than with Anastasio, and at times, Garcia. I went back and listened to this album again before shooting my mouth off, and to confirm that I do not care for Mayer on his own. With the exception of "Bold As Love" and possibly "In Repair," this album seems more like Mayer on qualudes. It's too bad because he is an amazing guitar talent and he just wastes left to his own. This album in not worthy and Mayer is not a blues player. Blues, Jr. - I like that.