John Mayer
Sob Rock
Stellar songwriter and guitarist releases a taste of the 80s for this concept album
It’s the 1980s (and a little bit of 90s added in for good measure) that sets the theme for this, John Mayer’s first release since 2017’s The Search For Everything. The track that opens the album, Last Train Home gives the 80s game away immediately as it conjures up the sounds of Clapton’s August and Journeyman albums from the Soldano-infused guitar tones, gated drums and Greg Phillinganes’ (Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder) yesteryear synth sounds. It’s an album about love gone bad that Mayer insists is, “Sweet but never sappy… but never to the point where it gets cloying and syrupy. I like to teeter on that line.”
As you might expect from a multiple-Grammy winner, the album’s production is slickness personified, the songs hanging around in your head hours after listening. One parlour game we played during our first listen was to trace each song’s sonic ancestry – we’ve already mentioned Clapton, but check out Wild Blue’s tip of the hat to Mark Knopfler in the guitar solo. While we’re on the subject of the guitar playing, it’s hard to tell how far Mayer’s adoption of the PRS Silver Sky has changed his style, which is poised and eloquent as ever. Crystal-clear Strat-alike tones are the order of the day – and they’re in the hands of a modern master. [DM]
Standout track: Shot In The Dark
For fans of: Clapton, Don Henley, Dire Straits