John Mayer's Continuum
Yep, I'm back in the States after two years in Japan. Back home in Pittsburgh, finishing off my last semester at Pitt. Lots of little things to report on, like the new "futon" sofabed, playing lots of games, trying to exercise regularly, and tried yoga for the first time recently (power yoga, even).
But the reason I thought to blog after such a long absence wasn't to talk about the boring details of my life, but to recommend to you kind readers John Mayer's forthcoming album Continuum. I'm infamous among my friends and family for my unbridled and unabated fanboyism I have shown for him for the last seven years or so. It's to the point that I'm surprised my ex-girlfriends and fiance haven't gotten jealous. I think John is perhaps the most gifted songwriter and guitar player of my generation, and he often doesn't get credit because the radio stations chose to play the hell out of a few of his early songs which didn't show the world his full potential.
Being an uberfan, I have bought pretty much every CD, single, DVD, and sheet music he's ever put out, been to four of his shows, learned how to play a lot of his music (albeit in a simplified way), memorized all the lyrics, and downloaded all the live (i.e. legally-taped) shows sanctioned by his management on etree.org. In all that time, I have heard an awful lot of vocal and guitar solos, and heard the full gamut of his performances, and through repeated and careful listenings I came to realize what enormous potential and talent he has.
Even so, I never had heard one performance or album that was absolutely perfect...until now. He DJed his forthcoming album Continuum on STAR 98.7, an L.A. radio station, a few weeks ago. Apparently somebody taped it and made it public as a torrent file, and I happened to find a link when checking a fansite hoping to download a television interview I had missed. I wondered about the morality of downloading it but I went for it anyway.
In short, it's perfect. Every song is a masterpiece, beautifully sung and beautifully arranged. I've already pre-ordered the album on iTunes but come September 12th, I think I'll pick up another copy for two reasons: (1) so I can pour over the lyric booklet and (2) because it's good enough to own two or three. He's talked a lot about the album in various interviews over the 10 months or so, and while it just about killed me, it was worth the wait.
John, good work on an amazing album. Readers, you owe it to yourselves to at least give it a listen.
But the reason I thought to blog after such a long absence wasn't to talk about the boring details of my life, but to recommend to you kind readers John Mayer's forthcoming album Continuum. I'm infamous among my friends and family for my unbridled and unabated fanboyism I have shown for him for the last seven years or so. It's to the point that I'm surprised my ex-girlfriends and fiance haven't gotten jealous. I think John is perhaps the most gifted songwriter and guitar player of my generation, and he often doesn't get credit because the radio stations chose to play the hell out of a few of his early songs which didn't show the world his full potential.
Being an uberfan, I have bought pretty much every CD, single, DVD, and sheet music he's ever put out, been to four of his shows, learned how to play a lot of his music (albeit in a simplified way), memorized all the lyrics, and downloaded all the live (i.e. legally-taped) shows sanctioned by his management on etree.org. In all that time, I have heard an awful lot of vocal and guitar solos, and heard the full gamut of his performances, and through repeated and careful listenings I came to realize what enormous potential and talent he has.
Even so, I never had heard one performance or album that was absolutely perfect...until now. He DJed his forthcoming album Continuum on STAR 98.7, an L.A. radio station, a few weeks ago. Apparently somebody taped it and made it public as a torrent file, and I happened to find a link when checking a fansite hoping to download a television interview I had missed. I wondered about the morality of downloading it but I went for it anyway.
In short, it's perfect. Every song is a masterpiece, beautifully sung and beautifully arranged. I've already pre-ordered the album on iTunes but come September 12th, I think I'll pick up another copy for two reasons: (1) so I can pour over the lyric booklet and (2) because it's good enough to own two or three. He's talked a lot about the album in various interviews over the 10 months or so, and while it just about killed me, it was worth the wait.
John, good work on an amazing album. Readers, you owe it to yourselves to at least give it a listen.
posted by jeremy at 3:50 PM
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