NEW RELEASE: Sob Rock - John Mayer

 There's a few reasons I must cover the new John Mayer album. For one, rather than choosing originality, he copied one of his own old album covers. He just has longer hair now. Secondly, we all know about Taylor Swift and the whole "Dear John" score. Let's be real: John Mayer is a complete asshole for a lot of things beyond that, but he does occasionally release some okay music. It is usually a little slow and mellow for me, but I wanted to hear the homage...to himself? I'm not sure what he was going for there. 

"Last Train Home" already left me baffled with the synth keyboard. Is this still a John Mayer song? Or is he actually attempting to be an 80s pop/rock wannabe? What other damage will they do to 80s music trying to be cool enough? 

"Shouldn't Matter but It Does" sounds like a GOOD John Mayer song. The lyrics actually draw me in and it has his signature melody style. 

It's happening again. "New Light" is showing me Sob Rock is apparently mixing John Mayer with synth 80s vibes and calling it something new. I never imagined I'd have a right to complain about John Mayer changing his signature sound, but apparently I am. 

It goes from bad to worse with "Why You No Love Me" which starts off with a bad Santana impression and some unfit vocals. 

Now "Wild Blue" sounds like a bad karaoke bar Dire Straits with someone too drunk to realize his voice isn't deep enough for that chosen key. 

I swear I actually went into this with good intentions. I have John Mayer CDs. I respect his musical legacy. WHAT IS THIS ALBUM. "Shot in the Dark" is dull and uninspired. 

If you play "I Guess I Just Feel Like" in your headphones, they're not dead, it's just poor mixing I thought we left in the 2000s. 

"Til the Right One Comes" is the second song thus far I did enjoy. It is different from his signature but not so far from it that it sounds like he recorded this while drunk and thinking he was something he wasn't. 

"Carry Me Away" is also good, albeit I feel like John has written this song about 3 times with different ways of saying the same thing. 

I will close this with remembering this album was a mistake, because "All I Want is to be With You" has a country guitar twang to it and all I could do was laugh at this point. Is this the sobbing part? 

Lyrics: 6/10 - his lyrics are never terrible but never quite original either.

Music: 3/10 - just no. 

Overall: 4/10 - this album was a mistake. I don't know who said yes but someone fire them.