Sleep Through the Static is Jack Johnson's fourth studio album. It was released around two years ago, February 2008, so it's not the most recent release, but I wanted to do a Jack Johnson review at some point. So now's as good a time as any.
For those of you familiar with Jack Johnson (and I'm assuming that most would be), you can expect a lot of classic "Jack" in this album. You can still find his soft acoustic tunes and his down to earth topics, but look for significantly more instrumental mixture in within this album. In addition to acoustic guitar, piano, and drums, listen for some horns, flutes, synth, a stronger focus on electric guitar, among others. Variety is often a good thing, but it seems that the best keep the instrumental simple and clean, giving focus to the content of the words.
Johnson keeps with his set array of down to earth topics: love, life, and war. As in the past, he manages to create a couple nuggets in each category. "If I had eyes" gives an upbeat ballad of chasing love. "Angel" slows the pace down, trims down to acoustics, and sets a mellow tune to speak of a valued relationship. "Sleep Through the Static", the title song, gets to American values. The chorus especially, gets to his point: "Who needs to see what we've done?/ Who needs 'please' when we've got guns?" Whether this song may be found a little too preachy to some, I applaud Jack for speaking his mind and heart in his songs. You can tell his hearts in every song, and I find that very refreshing. A song near the end of the Album, "Go On", is really his reflection to his kids, slowly growing up before his eyes.
So final verdict? Some of the songs I loved, notables being those that I mentioned. But some astonished me with strange instrumental choices and an awkward blend of tones. This is not a thoroughly brilliant album, but it has pockets of quality. I'd recommend listening to the better parts of it, but only such.
-Josiah
Showing posts with label Review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Review. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
John Mayer's Battle Studies-Josiah's take
John Mayer is no small player in the music industry. Having won several Grammys and achieved multiple top selling songs, Mayer has long since established a sizable following of fans. His smooth voice and excellent guitar skills, mixed with romantic themes and a light touch of blues have kept them coming. Battle Studies builds off Mayer’s regular formula, throwing in some additional musical variation, a song with Taylor Swift, and a cover of the classic rock song “Crossroads” for good measure. This album has already made some significant numbers, selling 286,000 copies in its first week alone. But the question is, “is the success of Mayer’s latest album due to quality or reputation?”
In a live performance prior to the album’s release, Mayer said, "The album is called Battle Studies and that's because it incorporates a lot of the lessons, a lot of the observations, and a little bit of advice. Like a handbook, like a heartbreak handbook." Listeners may draw from such a statement that the album is topically diverse. Not only do all the songs (as expected) have a very distinctive “John Mayer” timbre to them, but they’re all about the same thing. Well over half of the songs focus entirely on emotional conflicts in relationships. Getting in, staying in, getting out, or staying out; it’s really all the same. I suppose for Mayer, who has a reputation for off-and-on relationships with various celebrities, these very well may be “battles” that he’s gone through. However, it makes it hard to find a differentiating value in each song. And, unless you’re a die-hard Mayer fan, or someone who finds comfort in listening to constant emotional drama, you’re going to get tired of it all.
As a result, I would say that I really could only recommend purchasing Battle Studies as a whole to long-time Mayer fans. But, seeing as how the album has been out for a couple months now, the majority of the group should already have it. For those of you that really only value Mayer’s bigger hits, I’d suggest that you find one of the dozen of free music sites to find the nuggets. Those of you who are interested, but less motivated should look into “Heartbreak Warfare”, “Who Says”, and “Perfectly Lonely”.
In a live performance prior to the album’s release, Mayer said, "The album is called Battle Studies and that's because it incorporates a lot of the lessons, a lot of the observations, and a little bit of advice. Like a handbook, like a heartbreak handbook." Listeners may draw from such a statement that the album is topically diverse. Not only do all the songs (as expected) have a very distinctive “John Mayer” timbre to them, but they’re all about the same thing. Well over half of the songs focus entirely on emotional conflicts in relationships. Getting in, staying in, getting out, or staying out; it’s really all the same. I suppose for Mayer, who has a reputation for off-and-on relationships with various celebrities, these very well may be “battles” that he’s gone through. However, it makes it hard to find a differentiating value in each song. And, unless you’re a die-hard Mayer fan, or someone who finds comfort in listening to constant emotional drama, you’re going to get tired of it all.
As a result, I would say that I really could only recommend purchasing Battle Studies as a whole to long-time Mayer fans. But, seeing as how the album has been out for a couple months now, the majority of the group should already have it. For those of you that really only value Mayer’s bigger hits, I’d suggest that you find one of the dozen of free music sites to find the nuggets. Those of you who are interested, but less motivated should look into “Heartbreak Warfare”, “Who Says”, and “Perfectly Lonely”.
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