John Mayer - Waiting On The World To Change (Columbia)
UK release date: 9 October 2006
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John Mayer is one of those artists, like Dave Matthews or Matchbox 20, who are absolutely huge in the United States, but completely unknown over here. He's already won a Grammy, released three albums and he's not yet 30. So will his upcoming Continuum album see him pick up any new fans on this side of the pond?
If the opening single from the album is anything to go by, then probably not. Not that there's anything wrong with it of course - on the contrary, it's beautifully laid-back, expertedly played (as you'd expect with veteran session musicians like bassist Pino Palladino in the band), and some unusually direct and angry lyrics about the war in Iraq and general state of the world that seem a bit at odds with the blissful musical nature of the song.
There's just nothing about the song that reaches out and grabs you - it could easily float past you on the radio on a Sunday afternoon and it wouldn't register at all. A shame, as Mayer is an excellent songwriter and this song does show signs of progression (he usually steers well clear of the political), but this is likely to see him remain a cult name over here.
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