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John Mayer: Where the Light Is: Live in Los Angeles |
Contributed By: Beyond 2000
Created On: Monday, 07 July 2008
Hits: 124
 Where the Light Is: Live in LA Having a smash hit is great, but you didn’t spend all those years hunched over the frets just to wind up pigeonholed as the guy who did “Your Body Is a Wonderland,” and that’s exactly what it seemed like was going to happen to you after your first album was released. Adult contemporary ballads pay the bills, but they’re tough to come back from. Just ask the members of Heart, or Chicago, or Phil fucking Collins.
Here’s the thing, though: You’re really very good at writing those radio-friendly love songs. All right, so you’re also very good at playing guitar – we get it. We’re all very impressed. Do you have to keep tossing out live albums filled with extended versions of the songs we skipped past on Heavier Things and Continuum just to prove a point? And while we’re on the subject, what’s with all the live albums, John? You’re not the Rolling Stones. You’ve released three live albums in less than a decade, and two of them – Where the Light Is included – are double-disc sets. Come on, John. Is this necessary? Does anyone need two live versions of “Vultures,” or “Who Did You Think I Was,” or “Neon,” or “Daughters,” or…well, you get the idea.
Look. These two CDs do a fine job of presenting all the facets of your music that you clearly want people to understand – you’ve got an acoustic set, a trio set, and a full band set in here. And the performances are all very solid, although it’s at least a little suspicious that the booklet credits a Pro Tools engineer. But you need to get back to writing real songs. It’s obvious you want to make like Clapton, and put your music’s vibe ahead of hooks or melodies – but you haven’t mastered the art of doing that yet. (Shit, not even Clapton’s mastered it. Just listen to Reptile or Back Home.) Nothing in here sticks to your ribs the way your early stuff did. You don’t need to write another “Your Body Is a Wonderland” – seriously, you don’t – but you do need to do a better job of blending John Mayer the guitarist with John Mayer the songwriter. And stop with the live albums already.
 
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