Album: Continuum
Artist: John Mayer
Release Date: September 12, 2006
Genre: Blues Rock
Length: 0:49:34
Label: Aware/Columbia Records
Producer: John Mayer/Steve Jordan
Rolling Stone Top 500 (2012): N/A
Rolling Stone Top 500 (2020): #486
A strong overall record but with some boring similarities...
Singer-songwriter John Mayer, with his third studio album and arguably his most famous, Continuum showcases Mayer's growth as an overall musician. Containing hit singles such as "Waiting on the World to Change", "Gravity" and "Slow Dancing in a Burning Room", the record reached #1 on the Billboard US Top Rock Albums and certified platinum four times in the US.
The relaxed drum groove followed by Mayer counting off "One. Two. One, two, three..." leading into the piano melody and Mayer singing in the song "Waiting on the World to Change" was the best possible way to open up the entire album. The raspy vocal style of Mayer is perfectly showcased throughout this track, especially given the content of the lyrics. Mayer is singing at the youth of 2006 (even though the lyrics can be applied to any generation) about how even though the world has issues, it's hard for young people to do anything because of their fear and ignorance. Clearly an anthem of 2006, the lyrics have aged like fine wine and still holds up to this day.
The fourth track on the album "Gravity" opens up with the drone of an organ and the simple, yet emotive drum beat with John Mayer singing through his guitar. The tone of the song is overall laid back but the lyrical content is heavy. Mayer announces his singing presence with "Gravity, is working against me" and even though the song has few lyrics, the emotion exuding out of his vocal chords is impressive on top of the otherwise basic backbone of the song.
Although the lyrical content of the entire album is deep and definitely worth paying attention to, the overall feel of the album stays stagnant across all twelve songs. The laidback, optimistic feel overwhelms the entire record and makes some songs hard to listen to fully. An exception is the track "Slow Dancing in a Burning Room" due to the guitar solo and just how big the song feels as it continues to build.
Continuum does contain hints of greatness, strongly contributing to the strength of Mayer's songwriting, but overall falls a little flat because of the similarities between each song to the next. Each song does sound different, but the feel is the same. For example, "Vultures" is slightly heavier with the bass and organ but the beat is nearly the same as "I Don't Trust Myself (With Loving You)". The songs don't contain enough differences to keep me attentive and entertained for the entire fifty minute run-time.
The style of Mayer's singing is extremely unique and the talent in his voice is hard to go unnoticed. The raspy, yet dreamlike tonal quality of his voice, complements the entire album perfectly even if it does start to feel repetitive. The one aspect that really shines through on this album, as mentioned previously, is the lyrics. During the time of the album's release, Continuum would have been overwhelmingly fantastic, but in 2021, it isn't exciting enough, which shows more about the times than it does the record. I do think everyone should explore this record fully at least once, because there is a mood for John Mayer in certain situations, and I may have missed that mood when I listened to it this time...
Favorite Songs: "Waiting On the World to Change", "Slow Dancing in a Burning Room", "In Repair"
Least Favorite Songs: "Bold as Love"
Production Quality:
Mix = 9/10 (Great mix that you can clearly hear everything within the songs)
Innovation = 4.5/10 (Doesn't push the genre forward but doesn't hold it back either)
Songwriting Quality:
Arrangement = 5/10 (Some songs are too similar to others)
Lyricism = 10/10
Instrumentation Quality:
Vocal Timbre = 8.5/10 (The raspy dreamy quality of his voice screams 2000s)
Instrumental Timbre = 7.5/10
Group Chemistry = 7.5/10 (Many artists that aren't specifically part of Mayer's band but they fit in each song very well)
Overall Likability:
My Personal Rating = 5/10
Overall Rating: 7.1/10
Any confusion on how the rating is weighted/calculated, please look at my "About" page.