Neither his breakthrough CD, Room For Squares (2001), nor its followup, Heavier Things (2003), provided any indication that John Mayer was capable of playing top-notch blues rock guitar. To fans of those two pop singer-songwriter releases that revelation may seem quite a shock. Recently Mayer has started jamming with the likes of Eric Clapton, B. B. King, and Buddy Guy and announced that he wanted to change his musical direction. Good for him! It proved he is a true artist who was willing to take risks instead of riding the commercial gravy train. Fortunately this risk worked. With Try!, John Mayer's power trio rocks the joint with this live set of rock and blues. The band features Steve Jordan on drums and Pino Palladino, John Entwhistle's replacement in The Who, on bass. The set includes reworkings of a couple of Mayer's earlier songs ("Daughters"and Something's Missing"), a hot version of Ray Charles's "I Got A Woman," and a few new originals including the great title track that is credited to the entire trio.Mayer's rough, gravely, voice was never suited to the kind of pop music he sang on his first two albums. It always seemed out of place, but here his vocal style suits the material very well.
Try! sounds as if Mayer was born to sing and play bluesy rock n' roll. Let's hope he gives us more in the future but don't be surprised if he changes directions again.
I couldn't stand his first 2 albums. I thought they were bland and quite boring.
ReplyDeleteThat song about fathers being good to their daughters was pure stool-water. I mean, yeah what he was singing was true, but it was also common sense. With that rationale, I could write a hit single about why tying shoes is a good idea lest you trip on the laces, or about how running with scissors is a really bad idea.
And then there was that overplayed song, "Your mommy owns a taco stand" oh wait, umm no "Your Body is a wonderland" that was it.
It's nice to hear that Mayer has abandoned that shit, because it was all arse-gravy! Anything else he does now can only be good by comparison.
Hmmm, maybe he set the bar low on the first two albums on purpose? Something to think about...
I've never been a big fan, but I'm glad that he is changing direction and trying to be a serious artist. Also, he respects the legends and wants to learn from them - as opposed to some kids who think they're better than Hendrix and have no clue who Buddy Guy is.
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