John Mayer Battle Studies

I’m not going to sit here and say I always knew John Mayer was a great blues guitarist. But at the very least, once I discovered this fact, I kept waiting for the day his blazing skills would transfer over into an incendiary, old-school blues studio album. First there was the live album, Try!, released in 2005. With searing covers of Jimi Hendrix and Ray Charles and lick-heavy reinterpretations of Mayer originals, it looked like the Bridgeport-based media magnet was finally ready to unleash his Slowhand. Didn’t happen.

Then, in 2007, Mayer was invited to join the stage with the likes of Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy, Derek Trucks and Steve Winwood for the 2007 Crossroads Guitar Festival. Again, Mayer didn’t disappoint, more than holding his own among the instrument’s godfathers. But still no studio album.

Part of me believes that an artist really isn’t serious about an idea until they embed it onto a record in the studio, making it canon, so to speak. Anyone can goof off on stage (I’ve seen Third Eye Blind play Stairway to Heaven, furgodssake!). When Mayer announced Battle Studies, his latest studio album, what had in the past been anticipation turned into skepticism on my part. After Battle Studies, I’m now skeptical Mayer even wants to be a blues guitarist anymore – at least on record.

Of course, if I were to only expect great blues music from a Mayer record, I would be denying a huge part of Mayer’s professional career – as an adult alternative/contemporary pop singer. This is the area he has received the most success, and his audience in this niche will undoubtedly enjoy Battle Studies. Heartbreak Warfare borrows the echoing melody of U2’s Bad and molds it into a nostalgic ballad; Half Of   My Heart churns out a rustic, Tom Petty two-note motif surrounded by a pleasant pop jangle to create one of the most single-ready songs on the record.

However, if you don’t fall into that 27-45 year old female demographic that is keeping the Mayer pop machine going, you’ll probably wonder where all the kickass licks and the my-lover-left-me-for-the-mailman blues went. I’ve been wondering the same thing. I can only come to one of two conclusions about this: either Mayer’s passion really is with his pop songs and he has reached the realization that he needs something more up-tempo for a live show, or his baptism into the world of blues rock by Eric Clapton and co. took him completely by surprise and he simply did not want to disappoint the big guys.

Either one of these scenarios is plausible, but one part of Battle Studies really leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Throughout the 11 tracks, there are a few flares of bluesy attitude, some of which are very Claptonesque (opener Friends, Lovers or Nothing). But Mayer could not have possible fucked up Crossroads any worse than what appears on this record. He takes a crack at the oft-covered Robert Johnson song towards the end of Battle Studies, obviously studying Cream’s version of the song. But the riff is flat and puny, the solos derivative, the vocals neutered of any emotion. How could Clapton ever possibly approve of this cover? I just can’t see it.

Crossroads crosses me as nothing more than a half-assed attempt to please the fans of his blues guitar stuff. Coming from someone with his history, that’s simply unforgivable. I don’t want to let one song ruin my experience of a whole album, though. Battle Studies could have gone one of two ways, and it has continued Mayer’s chosen path of pop songs. That can hardly come as a surprise, but it is still a bit of a disappointment given the man’s talent. Instead of the dynamic sound Mayer is capable of, he has instead continued along the same nicely-paved road he has ridden his whole studio career, a path that has always elicited the same reaction from this writer – a shrug.