John Mayer: Sob Rock and a Pink Silver Sky

Ossyrocks

Hmm. I am a Mayer fan, I think. I have all his studio albums up to and including Paradise Valley. That last one is the one that put me off, I could never like it. I felt ambiguous about the previous one “Born and Raised” for a while, but it was a grower. I also have most if not all of the live stuff, which is basically brilliant.

This 80’s tune is not for me, although I wouldn’t mind listening to the album on my hifi just to check out the production, which I’m sure will be spectacular. Whilst the constant reinvention of himself is commendable, I just want the old Mayer back to entertain me with his amazing tone and chops.

Rob

TeleMaster

It's cool! Love seeing the Prophet 5 at the beginning. 

axisus

I really liked Continuum, I bought a couple of other studio albums and found them terminally dull. Not going back to his studio stuff. He seems a bit of an arrogant knob, and that puts me off somewhat as well.

Love his blues trio, I wish he'd do more of that. Top drawer. 

Where the light is is a fabulous live album.

ToneControl

Sadly, another bland JM song

I love Continuum, and have been to see him live, and I love his playing, I have his amazing triple-concert on blu-ray , but most of his material has been too bland and wishy-washy for me, which I assume is why he is more popular with female non-guitarists 

Having said that, most top solo guitarists release albums that have a lot of weak material. It's rare to find an extremely influentual and famous guitarist who also has consistent world-class songwriting ability 

At least many people like his blander songs, so I suppose he is still doing the great player plus great writer thing, just not writing many songs for my ear currently

koss59

The Synths have kind of grown on me, I don’t really like the fact he’s nicked claptons 80’s tone.
BUT it’s the minor pentatonic lick at the beginning that really bothers me.

TTBZ

I guess I just don't get Mayer. His voice really grates on me and this just sounds like Africa without a hook. 

Ossyrocks

koss59 said:

The Synths have kind of grown on me, I don’t really like the fact he’s nicked claptons 80’s tone.
BUT it’s the minor pentatonic lick at the beginning that really bothers me.

I almost mentioned that in my comment. He does it twice I think. It doesn’t sit well at all.

Danny1969

I like JM but then again I like good pop music and he does that very well. As a guitarist some of his stuff is stupidly hard to do well, quite annoying when your student wants to learn a certain track and says "can't be that hard he's singing at the same time"  ...... yeah well he's got 2 brains because normal people really can't do some of the stuff he does. 

Most non muso people I know are more familiar with his pop songs than earlier stuff. Guitarist tend to like Where the light is 

monquixote

ToneControl said:

monquixote said:

TINMAN82 said:

monquixote said:

TINMAN82 said:

Whatever you think of JM you can’t deny his massive positive influence on current guitar music. I happen to think he’s one of the most talented guitarist songwriters on the scene, last gig I saw pre COVID too.

I can honestly say I've never heard him mentioned outside of nerdy blues obsessed guitarists.

You haven’t investigated very far then, or attended any of his gigs.

No I haven't and that's the point.

He's mentioned every ten minutes on guitar related YouTube channels but I've never heard his name mentioned by anyone who doesn't play guitar.

I know many people who own bonamassa and Vai albums for example.

I think there is this myth that he's a big star and he's just not.

Unlike Vai and Bonamassa, his fanbase is not just (mostly old) male guitarists

Apparently Mayer is the 74th most famous pop artist
The most famous pop music artists in America | Entertainment | YouGov Ratings

the only other guitarists in the top 100 are Prince and Ed Sheeran
Therefore in this survey he is currently the most famous living electric guitarist 

If you play with the selections on demographic, he seems to be just as famous amongst women and younger age groups

Not disagreeing with anything you say.

My point was that like someone like Hootie and the Blowfish or the Dave Matthews group he's someone who does well in America but has very little impact over here.

I'm not sure why people have edited the bit out of my comment where I said he had sold a lot of records in America and then incredulously pointed out multiple times that he's sold a lot of records in America.

EricTheWeary

https://i.imgur.com/feElNRD.jpg

TeleMaster

Guys it's meant to be a homage. The Clapton tone, the licks, the style. You can't be annoyed when it's so clearly meant to be a homage. 

Kilgore

Inoffensive 80's style pop rock.

 No doubt he's a talented guitarist but personally I prefer more innovative and progressive players, like Bonamassa. 

mburekenge

TeleMaster said:

Guys it's meant to be a homage. The Clapton tone, the licks, the style. You can't be annoyed when it's so clearly meant to be a homage. 

Exactly

EricTheWeary

TeleMaster said:

Guys it's meant to be a homage. The Clapton tone, the licks, the style. You can't be annoyed when it's so clearly meant to be a homage. 

It is ( no one else mentioned the Soldanos yet?) although it would be nice if it also stood up as a choon - especially for that part of his audience who won’t get the homage. Maybe with repeated plays but it does seem like it needs a better hook. 

EricTheWeary

monquixote said:

ToneControl said:

monquixote said:

TINMAN82 said:

monquixote said:

TINMAN82 said:

Whatever you think of JM you can’t deny his massive positive influence on current guitar music. I happen to think he’s one of the most talented guitarist songwriters on the scene, last gig I saw pre COVID too.

I can honestly say I've never heard him mentioned outside of nerdy blues obsessed guitarists.

You haven’t investigated very far then, or attended any of his gigs.

No I haven't and that's the point.

He's mentioned every ten minutes on guitar related YouTube channels but I've never heard his name mentioned by anyone who doesn't play guitar.

I know many people who own bonamassa and Vai albums for example.

I think there is this myth that he's a big star and he's just not.

Unlike Vai and Bonamassa, his fanbase is not just (mostly old) male guitarists

Apparently Mayer is the 74th most famous pop artist
The most famous pop music artists in America | Entertainment | YouGov Ratings

the only other guitarists in the top 100 are Prince and Ed Sheeran
Therefore in this survey he is currently the most famous living electric guitarist 

If you play with the selections on demographic, he seems to be just as famous amongst women and younger age groups

Not disagreeing with anything you say.

My point was that like someone like Hootie and the Blowfish or the Dave Matthews group he's someone who does well in America but has very little impact over here.

I'm not sure why people have edited the bit out of my comment where I said he had sold a lot of records in America and then incredulously pointed out multiple times that he's sold a lot of records in America.

The nerd audience is still a reasonably sized thing. Bonamassa can sell out 5,000 seater gigs in the U.K. and has had five albums in the U.K. top ten. I suspect that Mayer is too big internationally to bother chasing that here now but that guitar audience is out there. 

Bidley

Have to say, I've never been (knowingly) exposed to any of his music outside this forum. Which is probably a good thing because he's as far away from something I'd want to listen to as I can imagine.

dindude

Bidley said:

Have to say, I've never been (knowingly) exposed to any of his music outside this forum. Which is probably a good thing because he's as far away from something I'd want to listen to as I can imagine.

Thanks for letting us know. 

TeleMaster

EricTheWeary said:

TeleMaster said:

Guys it's meant to be a homage. The Clapton tone, the licks, the style. You can't be annoyed when it's so clearly meant to be a homage. 

It is ( no one else mentioned the Soldanos yet?) although it would be nice if it also stood up as a choon - especially for that part of his audience who won’t get the homage. Maybe with repeated plays but it does seem like it needs a better hook. 

I think it's one of those, if you know you know.

I don't mind the song at all. 

EricTheWeary

TeleMaster said:

EricTheWeary said:

TeleMaster said:

Guys it's meant to be a homage. The Clapton tone, the licks, the style. You can't be annoyed when it's so clearly meant to be a homage. 

It is ( no one else mentioned the Soldanos yet?) although it would be nice if it also stood up as a choon - especially for that part of his audience who won’t get the homage. Maybe with repeated plays but it does seem like it needs a better hook. 

I think it's one of those, if you know you know.

I don't mind the song at all. 

I’d also say I don’t mind the song but that seems to be damming with faint praise. Although I don’t think John is going to worry too much about my opinion. 

Boromedic

I love the comments about the lack of hooks or needs better hooks, the whole thing is full of hooks, it's a pop song!!

Mayer proved his chops a long long time ago, now he's just having a great time playing his guitar and lovin life. You might not like the song, or the dude, but you can't fault his playing or his songwriting.