Post by ledvedderman on Jun 30, 2008 15:11:56 GMT -5
John Mayer has grown leaps and bounds since his last live CD as a solo musician. His new live album shows Mayers stregths that we don't always get to see live. The set is broke up into three parts, 1) acoustic 2) John Mayer Trio 3) and then a true solo show with his backing band. All three are unique and fantastic in their own right.
The acoustic set opens up with possible the best version of "Neon" I've ever heard. "Daughters" and "Stop This Train" are some nice touches on the acoustic set. Mayer attempts a half assed cover of the Tom Petty classic "Free Falling", but falls just a little short. A acoustic original like "Not Myself" or "Home Life" would have fit in much better here. The true star of this set though is "In Your Atmosphere", a Mayer original that has never been given a proper release. It finally gets one and not only is it the stand out of the acoustic set, but possibly the whole disk. Truly a fantastic song that I hope makes a future release.
The second set features the John Mayer Trio. If you don't have their live album TRY!, do yourself a favor and pick it up. They don't let you down on that album, and they pick up right where they left off on Where The Light Is. Trio favorites like "Wait Until Tomorrow", "Who Did You Think I Was", and "Good Love Is On The Way" all show up again, with some new favorites of "Everyday I Have The Blues" and "Come When I Call". The Jimi Hendrix cover of "Bold As Love" takes the cake from the JM3 section of the album. To say that Mayer tears the shit out of this song would be a gross understatement.
The Mayer touring band is up next, and they stomp right through mostly Continuum based songs, with the exception of "Why Georgia" (Why? My question exactly, why not some sweet tunes from Heavier Things...like "Wheel") and the Ray Charles cover of "I Don't Need No Doctor" which would have fit in much more with the trio set. The Continuum songs are pretty much what you would expect live. A little more rocking with some extended guitar solos. My only beef with this set is that "I'm Gonna Find Another You" (never should have made Continuum) is the last song and not "In Repair". I was dying to hear John cut loose on this one.
Overall, I'm pretty impressed. Light years better than Any Given Thursday (though "Covered In Rain" would be nice here too), maybe not as solid as TRY!, but still a damn fine album to listen to. I give it a 7.5/10, and cannot wait to see what director Danny Clinch (Pearl Jam- Immagine In Cornice) did with the DVD side of this release.
The acoustic set opens up with possible the best version of "Neon" I've ever heard. "Daughters" and "Stop This Train" are some nice touches on the acoustic set. Mayer attempts a half assed cover of the Tom Petty classic "Free Falling", but falls just a little short. A acoustic original like "Not Myself" or "Home Life" would have fit in much better here. The true star of this set though is "In Your Atmosphere", a Mayer original that has never been given a proper release. It finally gets one and not only is it the stand out of the acoustic set, but possibly the whole disk. Truly a fantastic song that I hope makes a future release.
The second set features the John Mayer Trio. If you don't have their live album TRY!, do yourself a favor and pick it up. They don't let you down on that album, and they pick up right where they left off on Where The Light Is. Trio favorites like "Wait Until Tomorrow", "Who Did You Think I Was", and "Good Love Is On The Way" all show up again, with some new favorites of "Everyday I Have The Blues" and "Come When I Call". The Jimi Hendrix cover of "Bold As Love" takes the cake from the JM3 section of the album. To say that Mayer tears the shit out of this song would be a gross understatement.
The Mayer touring band is up next, and they stomp right through mostly Continuum based songs, with the exception of "Why Georgia" (Why? My question exactly, why not some sweet tunes from Heavier Things...like "Wheel") and the Ray Charles cover of "I Don't Need No Doctor" which would have fit in much more with the trio set. The Continuum songs are pretty much what you would expect live. A little more rocking with some extended guitar solos. My only beef with this set is that "I'm Gonna Find Another You" (never should have made Continuum) is the last song and not "In Repair". I was dying to hear John cut loose on this one.
Overall, I'm pretty impressed. Light years better than Any Given Thursday (though "Covered In Rain" would be nice here too), maybe not as solid as TRY!, but still a damn fine album to listen to. I give it a 7.5/10, and cannot wait to see what director Danny Clinch (Pearl Jam- Immagine In Cornice) did with the DVD side of this release.