Battle Studies Review, Pt 4

This November, when Battle Studies was finally released near the five-year anniversary of John and I's introduction, I was anxious, for both entertainment and nostalgia's sakes', to hear the record I had been so long anticipating. John's first single from the album was released in early October, and when I first heard "Who Says," I honestly had immediate mixed feelings. While the song showed definite promise, it sounded almost too similar to two tracks on John's last album, Continuum, which already sounded a lot like each other: Stop this Train and The Heart of Life. Since I was hoping to see a more creative side of John emerge on this album, I remained skeptical after this song was released, even though I did like the acoustic feel that the song had, much like the early songs on the live album, Where the Light Is.

I pre-ordered the album in order to get benefits when ordering concert tickets, and chose to order the actual LP rather than the iTunes digital version, literally using the logic: "so I can give this to my children."

I have issues.

SO, when the "keepsake" album arrived just after its release, I put it in the player as my roommate and I drove to the nearby grocery store. The first track, "Heartbreak Warfare," which was released as the second single for the album (and the better one, in my opinion), is great. It morphs the sounds of classic John Mayer from the Heavier Things era with a sort of U2 sound which really works and is an excellent intro track, and I think what a lot of us were expecting to hear as the culmination of its predecessor albums. If the entire album was more along these lines, I'd give it an A++, hands down.

The following track, "All We Ever Do is Say Goodbye" is another glimpse at a promising tune. Mayer's falsetto says it all in this simple acoustic tune akin to much of what was heard on early Mayer recordings, but with a matured style which fits both the writer and the concept for the album well.

Classic Mayer reappears on tracks "Perfectly Lonely" and "War of My Life," and the final track, "Friends, Lovers or Nothing" follows more along the lines of the Continuum era bluesy style rather than the more pop sound seen in Mayer's early work.

Album Lows:
1. Mayer's attempted publicity stunt with popular teen country singer Taylor Swift is the worst mistake of this album.
This song is low quality, and Taylor's cameo appearance seems to serve no other purpose than to make Mayer's album appear to a younger teen demographic. This song does not belong on a Mayer album, it would have been more successful appearing on a Swift album, and it breaks up the flow that the album would have much more successfully achieved without it.

2. "Crossroads" cover would have been better suited on a different album.
While this track showcases the harder blues sound that appears on the Trio album and that John has verbally expressed greater interest in performing, the style does not mesh with any of the other tracks on the album and is always a surprising inconsistency with each listen. Not a bad song, just a wrong album choice.

3. "Do You Know Me" acts as a 2 1/2 minute interlude but doesn't seem to fit or make sense.
Seems like a filler and not very substantial.

Album Highs:
1. The most creative track on the album is successful in showcasing Mayer's ability and the level of creativity he is capable of.
The track, "Assassin," uses a variety of instrumentation as well as John's creative lyrical metaphors to communicate its message, and the end result is something unique and promising to the caliber of work John is able to produce.

2. The song Edge of Desire wins my vote as the most well written and overall best song on the album.
John's ability to connect with the human condition and to vocalize its deepest desires and fears comes to fruition in this unassuming song. The beautiful thing about this song is that it is FULL of emotion. It demonstrates the passion that Mayer is so very capable of conveying in his music, and drives itself powerfully into the hearts of every listener. This is the song I'm most looking forward to hearing live in March.

This has been a long time in coming, but here are my final words on the subject (which I'm sure you're all* very relieved to hear): The album was not what I expected. After three years of waiting for a studio album release, I was moderately disappointed. BUT, I didn't hate the album as a whole. It was not a bad album. There were several songs on it which I think can rival John's previous work as some of his best. But I think that there is no question that he's capable of much, much better. John is still my number one love. While he has come a long way from the chords of "Why Georgia," I think that he only has room to improve from here. This is a learning project, and I think while he made some mistakes, I think he did a lot of things write which affirm the promise of his gifts.

Overall, I give the album a B-.
John Mayer himself, I give an A++.




*Lindsey