A Preview of John Mayer's Continuum

A Preview of John Mayer's Continuum

I am, somewhat against my will, a John Mayer fan...let me explain. We’re both from the same town and damn if I wasn’t supposed to be the guitar player from Bridgeport who made good. I'm pretty sure that the current situation worked out as it has because while I thought about being the guitar player from Bridgeport who made good, John Mayer actually was being the guitar player. Oh well...it happens.

Anyway, I was poking around iTunes and noticed that there was a new John Mayer single out called Waiting On The World To Change. I went looking for info and, somewhat ashamed to admit, someone’s pre-release copy floating around on the net somewhere. Well, I didn’t find a copy but depending on where I checked, the release date for his new album Continuum was either sometime in July or September 12, 2006.


I also happened to stumble on a Bittorrent file at bt.etree.org purported to be a recording of a “secret” John Mayer show at the Hotel Café in West Hollywood, CA on 04/10/06 where he debuted songs from Continuum. So I download the file and was pleasantly surprised by twelve FLAC files just as advertised. According to “glass_slipper,” who taped the show, “This was a "secret" intimate show in a 140 person-capacity venue previewing "Continuum" material. John Mayer was publicly billed as "Bill Buchanan."" and the set list for the show was as follows:

Intro
I Don’t Trust Myself (With Loving You)
Waiting On The World To Change
Slow Dancing In a Burning Room
Vultures
Dreaming With A Broken Heart
Stop This Train
Good Love Is On The Way
In Repair
The Heart Of Life
I’m Gonna Find Another You
Gravity

This show at the Hotel Café gives you a glimpse of the new material in a stripped down setting with John working through some of the new songs on both electric and acoustic guitar with Pino Palladino providing accompaniment on bass. Hearing them in this context helps create a picture of what the first run through of the songs must have been like after the writing was finished. It’s a very intimate picture.


Mayer’s playing is near flawless as are his vocals. He seems relaxed and comfortable with the new material and just itching to share it. Pino Palladino’s performance is spot on, as always, and adds a nice dimension to what is essentially a solo performance. The tracks are accompanied by John Mayer’s trademark sense of humor which helps make the experience all the better, especially the wonderfully rank reference at the end of the song In Repair.

I look forward to hearing the songs here in the context of a studio album, though if for some reason that was never to happen, hearing them here would be enough. That’s for two reasons. The first reason being both Mayer’s and Palladino’s performances are excellent. The second reason is the wonderful job “glass_slipper” did in capturing them. The audio is clean and clear and even the captured crowd noise lends itself to the great performance. Who ever you are, you have my sincerest thanks for a job well done.

As far as the new songs themselves, you can expect to hear lots of John Mayer on the radio when the album is officially released. There are several excellent new pieces previewed here. However, I’m already very partial to In Repair, The Heart Of Life and the beautifully worded Stop This Train, which also comes with a great story behind it. In listening to him talk about the song, you could be led to the conclusion that Mayer is more than a bit insecure about it, and while listening to the intensely personal lyrics, his fear is understandable but completely unnecessary. Stop This Train is an outstanding snapshot of what Mayer is capable of as an artist.

In my personal opinion, Mayer is an amazing artist and his new material takes full advantage of that fact. He has managed to stay the same endearing writer as heard on Room For Squares, captures the lyrical maturity of Inside Wants Out and the musical maturity of Try. More than any other musical artist that I’m aware of, John Mayer is a work in progress. He manages to constantly evolve…and does it successfully at that. His writing, his singing and his playing have all evolved, taking with them the best parts of who John Mayer is and leaving the unneeded remnants by the wayside.