John Mayer – The Search for Everything

I hate when albums play better on shuffle than in the constructed track listing.

 

Great review. The quoted lyrics make me wanna revisit some of the songs, didn't pay too much attention the first time.

 

This is a great review/summary of the album, how I feel about the album, and how I think most people feel about the album. It's so close to being a John Mayer great, but he just kind of stumbles over himself, but overall a very enjoyable release.

 

I will always give new John Mayer a listen; love him or hate him, he's got talent. While I can find moments that I enjoy, his last two albums fell a bit flat for me. So, I was super excited to hear that he was going to be releasing a lot of new music this year. And while the roll out has been very confusing, it almost feels as if he was forced by the label to downsize his vision last minute. All that said, I really like these songs (For me, the standout track is Rosie. That song has got enough groove to last for days).

Like you said, you can see, hear, and feel the influences across his entire discography. I, too, am left scratching my head at the sequencing of the record. I was expecting the first two waves to be sequenced sequentially, with the last wave bringing up the end of the record. Maybe I'll create my own sequence in a spotify playlist or something? Either way, great write up!

 

Mayer said on Instagram Live recently there will be additional waves coming this year. But with how many times the release strategy has changed already, who knows what that will entail or when it will happen. And he keeps mentioning putting out studio versions of older unreleased songs, i.e. In Your Atmosphere. Maybe those will be included, too? He's probably sitting on hundreds of songs on hard drives at this point, so hopefully we'll get more than these 12.

I agree the sequencing does this album no favors. Emoji, Changing and Roll it on Home are all decent songs by themselves, but don't quite fit here and should have stayed on the Wave EPs. And the fake drum/clap sound drives me crazy on the otherwise stellar In the Blood.

 

I might be getting a little too metta, but I actually like the tracklisting. The entire record speaks thematically about breakup, and the sequencing kind of mirros it. You have those days when you're grooving right along (still feel like your man) and then you wake up the next morning and you're in this sort of blasé reflective state that people dho don't know you would confuse as peace (Emoji). You get some manic energy driven by feeling down (helpless), you think you've found someone new and all feels right (love on the weekend), and then you're like "who the hell am I and how do I become less screwed up" (in the blood). I might be stretching to find reasons to like the record (which I unashamedly and proudly do), but the disjointed nature seems to support the content, rather than detract from it.
Well written, as always.

 

I'm thinking the label maybe had a say in how he's releasing his music... I don't think the "waves" were getting much press in the mainstream

 

Yeah, I can imagine it'd be pretty difficult to get any major publication to sign on to giving John Mayer's EPs a new review every single month.

 

Diggin the record, not sure which tracks are standouts yet.

I generally HATE when artists release EPs that end up connecting to a full album, or when they release one song a month for a year.

 

Really enjoy this record but agree that the track sequencing is terrible.

 

Read the first line. I love Continuum, everything else about John Mayer can slag off.

 

EPs are stupid. That's why EDM artists love them.

 

My ranking:
Continuum
Battle Studies
[Try!]
The Search for Everything
[Where The Light Is]
Heavier Things
Born and Raised
Paradise Valley
Room for Squares
[Any Given Thursday]

 

I feel like he's lost some focus after Born & Raised. Paradise Valley and this new one just seem all over the place. Not bad, I guess... just not gems like Born & Raised and Contiunuum were. To me, that's as good as it gets when it comes to listening to an album beginning to end.

 

I listened to this on my ride to work this morning and liked it a good bit. Felt like a nice return to form after a couple albums I didn't get into.

Track listing definitely felt kinda pieced together. I didn't listen to the EPs at all, but I just assumed the first 4 songs were EP1, the second 4 were EP2 and the last ones were the new ones, and that's why it was a little off. Was that not the case?

 

Same. That's a big part of the reason this is a "Recommended" instead of a "Highly Recommended."

Definitely revisit those songs. "In the Blood" in particular is worth your time.

Exactly. He's almost there, but it feels like it wasn't quite finished.

I've been toying around with an alternate tracklist in my mind. I haven't actually tested it out yet, but I've mentally pieced some songs together after hearing them together on shuffle. I think "Still Feel Like Your Man" should lead into "Helpless" to start the record. That would have been killer.

I wonder how I'd feel about a studio "In Your Atmosphere" at this point. The version on Where the Light Is is so perfect that I'm not sure he should mess with it.

I think the songs are hewed around the same theme enough that you'd get a semi-cohesive record no matter what order you put them in. I personally don't feel like it follows an arc as well as something like Continuum or Battle Studies does. Those records are sequenced in ways that make them feel really massive and cathartic. Comparatively, this one feels almost minor to me.

I bet you're right, but you'd think he would have talked to the label about it before he announced the waves.

My ranking of just the studio records at this point is probably:

Continuum>Born & Raised>Heavier Things>Battle Studies>Room for Squares>Search for Everything>Paradise Valley

No, it's actually the first three tracks from EP 2 to start, then the lead single from EP 1, then a new song, and so on and so forth. The closer is also the closer from the first wave.

 

Played this several times over the weekend. It's a really enjoyable listen for me.

 

Couldn't agree more with this review, Craig. I find myself really loving the songs individually, but can't get into the album as a whole. On some days, I feel just as good about these songs as anything on Heavier Things while on others, I'm wishing I was listening to anything else by Mr. Mayer to get that comfort feeling I associate with his best work. I think this will end up sitting towards the middle of his albums for me. I'm definitely missing the groove of Continuum and hope he gets back to that again (or releases another Trio album).

 

Man I really dig Paradise Valley, probably in my Top 3 releases of his haha

New album is good, agree with the comments about it being awkward/disjointed but I enjoy the majority of the songs and have found myself going back to them a lot.

 

I like most of this album, but man, the "strongly implied" release strategy definitely taints it a bit for me.