Continuum (album)
| Continuum | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio album by John Mayer | ||||
.jpg&filetimestamp=20091229154817&) |
||||
|
Publication |
||||
|
admission |
January 2005 to July 2006 |
|||
| Label (s) | Aware Records ( Columbia ) | |||
|
Format (s) |
||||
|
Title (number) |
12 |
|||
|
running time |
50:00 |
|||
| occupation |
as well as on individual titles
|
|||
|
John Mayer, Steve Jordan |
||||
|
Studio (s) |
|
|||
|
||||
Continuum is the third studio album by guitarist and singer John Mayer . It was released on September 12, 2006 on Columbia Records . The album was released in Germany on January 19, 2007.
In contrast to its predecessors, the album is strongly influenced by the blues and puts Mayer's guitar playing in the foreground. In 2006 Mayer won the Grammy for the best pop album of the year with Continuum .
Emergence
After releasing his second studio album Heavier Things in 2003, John Mayer toured and released the live album As / Is . At this time he increasingly turned away from the pop music for which he was known until then and began to work with jazz and blues musicians such as Buddy Guy and Herbie Hancock . At the same time, Mayer began preparing for his third studio album, Continuum .
On January 15, 2005, John Mayer appeared on a telethon for victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake . Together with drummer Steve Jordan and bassist Pino Palladino , he presented the Hendrix - Cover Bold As Love . After this performance, the three musicians founded the John Mayer Trio , which toured that same year and the live album Try! published. This change in style to blues rock was seen by critics as an important step in Mayer's musical development and had a major influence on Mayer's upcoming third studio album.
Recordings
Continuum began recording on January 16, 2005, one day after the John Mayer Trio's first television appearance, at the Right Track / Sound on Sound Studios in the immediate vicinity of Times Square in New York City . Further studio sessions on Continuum took place in the course of the year at Avatar Studios (also New York) as well as the Royal Studios in Memphis and at The Village Recorder in Los Angeles .
John Mayer, Pino Palladino and Steve Jordan, who play on all twelve titles, were repeatedly supported by guest musicians . Among others, Ben Harper , jazz trumpeter Roy Hargrove and guitarist James Valentine ( Maroon 5 ) can be heard on Continuum .
In his column in the US magazine Esquire in September 2005, Mayer said he was enthusiastic about the ongoing work on Continuum , he had never experienced anything like it. In an interview he said at the same time that his Columbia label did not give him any guidelines and that he would only present the album there after the recordings were finished.
production
John Mayer produced the album himself in order to be able to implement his own ideas unadulterated. John Mayer hired drummer Steve Jordan, who had already worked on the previous album Heavier Things , as co-producer . Jordan was mainly responsible for drums and bass, while Mayer took care of vocals and guitars. According to John Mayer, Continuum was only possible through this collaboration, Jordan on the one hand gave him a new understanding of studio work and on the other hand developed the right grooves for his music. Mayer also said in an interview that Jordan will help him find his own "Sound" (German sound to find) and implement.
The main sound engineers were Chad Franscoviak and Joe Ferla . Franscoviak, who was also involved in Heavier Things and works as a live mixer for the artist, also accompanied the studio sessions for songwriting . They were supported by John Alagía , who had produced Mayer's debut album Room for Squares , and Dave O'Donnell . Continuum was mixed by Michael Brauer and Manny Marroquin , the mastering was done by Greg Calbi .
Songwriting
While most of the titles were already written at the beginning of the recording, some were created in the studio. Thus evolved in repair at a one-day jam session with guitarist Charlie Hunter and Steve Jordan, Vultures comes from the pen of John Mayer Trio and was in preparation for its tour of 2005.
Looking back, John Mayer explained that before Continuum he could not imagine that he would be able to compose and record such an album as a musician. His self-image has changed fundamentally through the recordings and the success:
"What makes music so exciting is that if you try hard or commit yourself completely to the spirit of the matter, you can become more than you originally thought."
Title of the album
The title of the album was already fixed before the recording began. Mayer chose Continuum (German continuum , "something seamlessly coherent, something steady") because it was a further development compared to its predecessors, but was still in direct musical connection with them. He also wanted to record an album that will stand the test of time and “won't go out of style ”.
Track list
- Waiting On The World To Change (Mayer) - 3:21
- I Don't Trust Myself With Loving You (Mayer) - 4:52
- Belief (Mayer) - 4:02
- Gravity (Mayer) - 4:05
- The Heart of Life (Mayer)
- Vultures (Mayer, Steve Jordan , Palladino ) -
- Stop This Train (Mayer) - 4:45
- Slow Dancing In A Burning Room (Mayer) - 4:02
- Bold As Love ( Jimi Hendrix ) - 4:18
- Dreaming With A Broken Heart (Mayer) - 4:07
- In Repair (Mayer, Hunter ) - 6:09
- I'm Gonna Find Another You (Mayer) - 2:43
Music genre
All twelve tracks on Continuum are held at medium tempo , but sometimes differ significantly in style .
In contrast to John Mayer's previous studio albums, which are mostly considered to be part of the pop genre , Continuum is heavily influenced by rhythm and blues . However, it differs significantly from the blues rock of the John Mayer Trio. A precise stylistic classification was difficult for the criticism, so the music on Continuum was described as demanding pop, but also as a mixture of blues and soul in the tradition of Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan . Soft funk and folk were also mentioned as other influences .
In an interview, John Mayer, who basically sees Continuum as a pop album, described the sound of the album using the title Gravity :
“This song [“ Gravity ”] really determines the sound of the album to me. This soulful, dense and in a certain way also simple way. "
"Simply" is to be understood in the sense that musically he restricted himself to the essentials, so he could have played more. This simplicity is particularly evident in the restrained instrumentalization, which in turn brings Mayer's bluesy guitar playing to the fore. Critics and Mayer himself named Eric Clapton as a role model .
With Belief and Waiting on the World to Change , however, there are also two elaborately arranged titles on Continuum . Belief is clearly influenced by jazz and is carried by a six-note guitar riff. A large choir is used in Waiting on the World to Change .
content
Many of the songs on Continuum deal with failed love affairs, but John Mayer also deals with age and, for the first time, politics.
The first track on the album, Waiting on the World to Change (German: “We are waiting for the world to change”) deals with the apparently apolitical attitude of the so-called Generation Y , to which the musician himself belongs . Mayer explains that his generation does recognize the grievances in the world, but see no opportunities to do anything about it:
It's not that we don't care,
We just know that the fight ain't fair
So we keep on waiting
Waiting on the world to change.
It's not that we don't care,
we just know that the fight isn't fair.
So let's keep
waiting Let's keep waiting for the world to change.
Waiting On The World To Change
In an interview, Mayer said that many people probably have this thought and can understand it. however, nobody would talk about it. He also criticizes the media for deliberately manipulating information and thus preventing people from forming their own, independent opinion.
In the song Belief (German: "[der] Glaube") John Mayer deals with faith . Everyone has an idea of what the world should look like and it is difficult to be dissuaded from this conviction. Basically, belief is something beautiful, but as long as it is the reason why people wage war, there will never be peace.
In six titles, John Mayer on Continuum devotes himself to love relationships that are mostly failing or have already failed. Only In Repair has a positive mood.
In I Don't Trust Myself (With Loving You) (German: “I don't trust myself [to] (to love you))”), Mayer describes the worry that he will destroy a relationship that is just beginning in the future. This has always been the case so far, so he does not trust himself in his love. In an interview, Mayer said that the song could be understood as a kind of warning to a woman.
Slow Dancing in a Burning Room (German: "[We dance] standing blues in a burning room") is about a relationship that is about to fail. Mayer uses the title line as a paraphrase for the situation in which both partners recognize this.
In the ballad Dreaming With a Broken Heart (German: "Dreaming with a broken heart") Mayer describes his experiences with lovesickness , which comes over him especially after getting up.
In The Heart of Life (German: "The heart of life," mutatis mutandis: the core of life ) Mayer notes that for all the pain perceived life still basically " good " (German: good ) (was something like: life has a good heart ). In an interview, Mayer stated that he rarely wrote such a good song. He is very happy that he was able to take up this title at the beginning of his career.
In the song In Repair (German: "In Reparatur"), written together with Charlie Hunter , Mayer describes the feeling of gradually leaving a "phase of darkness" behind. In the song, the singer describes how, after a long heartache, he met a woman with whom he could imagine a relationship. However, Mayer is only cautiously optimistic, in the chorus he sings:
But if I take my heart's advice
I should assume it's still unsteady
But if I listen to my heart's advice, I
should assume that it is not yet permanent
In repair
To write the song for In Repair , Mayer met Charlie Hunter and Steve Jordan at Avatar Studios in New York. While Hunter played bass runs on an 8-string guitar, John Mayer used a special arrangement of effects devices that made his guitar sound like an organ. The full title was created in just one day. A documentary about the development of the song was released in 2007 under the title In Repair: One Song, One Day with the download version of the EP The Village Sessions .
The last track on Continuum , I'm Gonna Find Another You , expresses the hope of experiencing a similar relationship again after overcoming lovesickness.
Stop This Train is about the changes that come with getting older. Mayer brings up, among other things, the increasing difficulties and the aging of his parents. In the chorus he always expresses the wish that the "train", which symbolizes the aging process, should stop, but at the end he realizes that this is not possible. Content and mood stand in contrast to the song 83 published on Room for Squares , in which John Mayer looks back “ nostalgically ” on his childhood.
The ballad Gravity , (German: " Gravitation "), a slow blues, John Mayer described several times as the most important song he had ever written. The title is “ simple ” (German “simply” ) and the content is open. In the chorus it says something like:
Gravity
Is working against me
And gravity
Wants to bring me down
Gravity
works against me
and wants to bring me back to the ground
Gravity
According to Mayer, this describes the wish not to want to lose a happy situation. Thus the piece can be reinterpreted over and over again. At a concert in December 2005, Mayer said, for example, that Gravity was also about how difficult it was at times to deal with being known. There are always people who try to rob him of his success.
In Vultures (German: " Vulture "), John Mayer describes the feeling that others take something from him. According to the singer, the song does not specifically address certain people, nor is it necessarily related to his success as a musician. The refrain that Mayer sings in falsetto is:
Down to the wire
I wanted water but I'll walk through the fire
If this is what takes me even higher
Then I'll come through like I do
When the world keeps testing me, testing me, testing me
I wanted water until the last minute , but I'm going through fire
if that's what brings me up
I'll get through like I do
when the world tests me.
Vultures
The " funky " track was written by John Mayer, Steve Jordan and Pino Palladino in 2005 for the John Mayer Trio and is the only track of the trio that has been adopted for Continuum .
Publication and Marketing
On August 23, 2006 Continuum was played in full length on the radio for the first time, on September 12, the album was released in the USA . On January 19, 2007, Continuum was released in Germany. Waiting On The World To Change , Gravity and Dreaming With A Broken Heart were released one after the other as singles . A music video was also shot for the first single, showing Mayer strolling along the East River in New York .
To make the album known, the music was used in various television series . On the day Continuum was released, the track Gravity was played in an episode of House . On September 21, 2006, Mayer had a cameo on an episode of the US crime series CSI and presented Waiting On The World To Change and Slow Dancing In A Burning Room .
In October 2006 Mayer was invited to record a session in the Abbey Road Studios in London as part of the TV series Live from Abbey Road . Together with parts of his tour band he presented Vultures , Gravity , Belief and Waiting On The World To Change , and he also spoke about the individual songs in interviews.
In November 2007 a special edition of Continuum was released , which contained a live recording of Vultures , Belief , Waiting On The World To Change , Dreaming With A Broken Heart and Gravity on a second CD . Also included was a recording of "I Don't Need No Doctor", a song by Ray Charles , which was also made during the Continuum Tour . In addition, there was a 20-page booklet with photos of the tour and a voucher for downloading the song "Say", which Mayer had written for the film The best comes at the end .
In 2008 the album was re-released as Continuum (Revised) , this version containing Say as a regular 13th track.
Cover design
The US cover shows the title "Continuum" in white capital letters on a gray background. The first two letters are linked and are reminiscent of the mathematical symbol for infinity . The other letters are also partly connected to one another. "Music by John Mayer" is written in turquoise under this lettering .
For the publication in Germany, the lettering was adopted and mounted on a black and white photo by John Mayer, which shows the musician in front of a bridge.
Reception and awards
|
Chart positions Explanation of the data |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Albums | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Singles | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Continuum has received positive reviews across the board. The successful amalgamation of pop and blues and Mayer's skills as a songwriter was emphasized again and again . Overall, the album is a big and important step in Mayer's development as an artist, which corresponds to Mayer's own assessment.
The New York Times found Mayer to use Try! the path he has taken, but successfully connecting it with his earlier work. Nevertheless, he still seems to be looking for his way, which is reflected in both the subject matter and the music style. So be Bold As Love , a cover , the strongest tracks on the album.
The music magazine Rolling Stone also praised the synthesis of pop and blues, it fits Mayer's personality. His solos are much more mature and compared to Try! more cautious that he had matured as a musician. In 2008, the magazine named the title Gravity as one of the 100 most important guitar songs of all time. The piece combines Mayer's different styles like no other.
Bold As Love has often received positive reviews. The choice of this title testifies to great self-confidence, sometimes Mayer's guitar playing is equal to that of Jimi Hendrix. Mayer himself said, on the other hand, that he only partially achieved a level similar to Hendrix, but could not maintain this for a long time.
Continuum won the 2006 Grammy in the “Best Pop Vocal Album” category, while the title Waiting On The World To Change was recognized as the best pop song by a male artist “(Best Male Pop Vocal Performance)”. The work was also nominated as “Album Of The Year”. During the award ceremony, Mayer played his next single, Gravity .
In addition, Continuum was also very successful commercially. In the US, the album debuted at number 2 on the Billboard 200 and stayed in the charts for a total of 85 weeks , for which it was certified twice platinum . Of the singles, only Waiting On The World To Change was able to achieve a good placement in the Hot 100 and was awarded platinum for over one million copies sold. The other singles were only in the categories “Adult Pop Songs” and “Adult Contemporary” among the first 20 titles. The new edition Continuum (Revised) published in 2008 could also enter the charts.
In Germany, Continuum was in the charts for five weeks and, with 39th place, was significantly better than Mayer's previous releases. In Switzerland and Austria, however, the album could not enter the charts.
Web links
- David John Farinella: John Mayer - Taking Chances With His Trio report on the recording of Continuum (English)
- John Mayer: In Repair: One Song, One Day. Video documentation about the making of the song In Repair with Charlie Hunter
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Continuum Released Today; New Songs Added To Media Player . ( Memento of the original from November 29, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. johnmayer.com; Blog post on September 12, 2006.
- ↑ a b c d John Mayer - Continuum. ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. sonymusic.de
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k Anthony Decurtis: John Mayer: Continuum Published on September 11, 2006 on the website of the music magazine Rolling Stone .
- ↑ a b c Mark Small: John Mayer '98: Running with the Big Dogs Published in Berklee Today , Vol. 17, Issue 2, Fall 2005.
- ↑ Jonathan Keefe: John Mayer - Continuum ( Memento of the original from December 22, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Review for Slant on September 25, 2006.
- ↑ a b John Mayer - Past GRAMMY Awards, GRAMMY.com (English)
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j David John Farinella: John Mayer - Taking Chances With His Trio ( Memento of the original from October 16, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Published on mixonline.com on October 1st, 2006.
- ↑ a b Stephen Thomas Erlewine: Try! John Mayer Trop Live in Concert Review for allmusic.com .
- ↑ a b c d e Matt Collar: Continuum Review Review for allmusic.com .
- ↑ a b In the booklet for the European edition of Continuum , the following handwritten note is printed on page 19, which is dated December 15, 2004: “ My record is called“ Continuum ”. ”(German:“ My album is called 'Continuum'. ”) The recordings began on January 16, 2005 (see above)
- ↑ a b YouTube : Bold As Love ( Memento from June 5, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) recording of the television appearance from January 15, 2005.
- ↑ a b c d Chris Jisi: Pino Palladino ( Memento of the original dated February 2, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Released November 3, 2006.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i Giuliano Benassi: John Mayer - "Continuum" Review for laut.de .
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Booklet for the European release of Continuum .
- ↑ John Mayer: The Giveaway: Music Lessons with John Mayer ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as broken. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Published September 1, 2005 in Esquire .
- ↑ a b John Mayer | Continuum Interview Part 1 ( Memento of the original from December 26th, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. fuse.tv
- ^ A b c d Marcel Großmann: John Mayer: "Continuum" Review for SWR3 .
- ↑ a b c d e John Mayer | In Depth Talk About His Album, Continuum ( Memento of the original from December 30, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Part 1) fuse.tv
- ^ John Mayer | Chad, audio engineer, Talks About Battle Studies. ( Memento of the original from November 25, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. fuse.tv
- ↑ a b GRAMMY Rewind: 49th Annual GRAMMY Awards. GRAMMY.com (English)
- ^ A b John Mayer: In Repair: One Song, One Day. (Movie). Released on May 15, 2007 with the download version of The Village Sessions . fuse.tv ( Memento of the original from November 7th, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ “ [W] hat makes music so exciting is that, at any moment, if you try hard enough or if you commit yourself to the spirit of it, you can actually become more than you originally thought you were. ”In: David John Farinella: John Mayer - Taking Chances With His Trio ( Memento of the original from October 16, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. mixonline.com, October 1, 2006.
- ↑ Lexicon of Foreign Words. Serges Medien, Cologne 2001, p. 162
- ↑ a b c d e Werner Laibusch: Further development: John Mayer: "Continuum" . ( Memento of the original from October 10, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Released January 2, 2007.
- ↑ a b c John Mayer | Continuum Interview Part 2. ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. fuse.tv
- ↑ " And that song [" Gravity "] for me really set of the sound of the record. That kind of soulful, thick and simple in a way. " Mayer Defines Gravity . livefromabbeyroad.com; Interview during the Live from Abbey Road session on October 22, 2007.
- ↑ a b c d Mayer Defines Gravity . livefromabbeyroad.com; Interview during the Live from Abbey Road session on October 22, 2007.
- ↑ a b The 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Times. Rolling Stone
- ↑ a b c d e f Mike Joseph: John Mayer: Continuum Review of September 21, 2006 for popmatters.com
- ↑ a b c d Jody Rosen: Continuum Review, September 11, 2006 for Entertainment Weekly .
- ↑ a b c d Nate Chinen: John Mayer - Continuum. In: New York Times , September 11, 2006, Critic's Choice: New CD’s
- ↑ a b c d John Mayer | In Depth Talk About His Album, Continuum ( Memento of the original from December 30, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Part 2) fuse.tv
- ^ John Mayer: "The Village Sessions" EP available for digital download. ( Memento of the original from November 29, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Blog post from May 15, 2007.
- ↑ a b John Mayer commented on Gravity in December 2005 at a concert in "Eddie's Attic" . A recording was released on October 17, 2006 on YouTube as John Mayer Gravity History . His statements can be found here in the text version (from “ this is the most important song… ”).
- ↑ The translation was done by phrasen.com . The English expression “ down to the wire ” (literally: down to the wire ) describes a situation, the outcome of which is open to the end and therefore charged with tension. See: Michael Quinion: Down to the wire
- ^ Continuum First Play Airs Tonight; Sneak Peek Begins Tomorrow . ( Memento of the original from November 29, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. johnmayer.com; Blog post on August 23, 2006.
- ↑ a b John Mayer. ( Memento of the original from January 26th, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Columbia Records
- ↑ # 302 “Cane and Able”. House MD Episode Guide
- ↑ John Mayer to perform on 'CSI' premiere . MSNBC / Associated Press , Aug 25, 2006.
- ↑ Scotty Crowe: 10/23/06 - London. ( Memento of the original from January 3, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Blog entry from October 24, 2006.
- ^ Artists - John Mayer. livefromabbeyroad.com
- ↑ Continuum (Special Edition) to be released on November 20; Includes 6 live tracks and a new single, “Say”. ( Memento of the original from November 29, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. johnmayer.com, November 14, 2007.
- ↑ John Mayer's new hit single. ( Memento of the original from August 3, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Jam Radio News; March 26, 2008.
- ↑ Charts DE Charts UK Charts US
- ^ Corinne Bailey Rae, John Legend & John Mayer 2007 Grammys HQ. ( Memento of February 14, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) YouTube ; Recording of the performance on February 11, 2007.
- ^ A b John Mayer Chart History. Billboard.com
- ^ Database Search Results for John Mayer - Continuum. RIAA
- ^ Database Search Results for John Mayer - Waiting On The World To Change. RIAA
- ↑ John Mayer - Continuum. hitparade.ch
- ↑ John Mayer - Continuum. austriancharts.at
