Continuum

John Mayer is an accomplished musician and singer, but let's face it folks, what we have here is so goddamn *generic*. Of course, the musicianship being what it is, you have stellar arrangements once in a while -- most specifically on the bridges and conclusions of some of the tracks in the first side-- but the songs themselves are way too predictable. With everything that was going on at the time of this album's release, and worse, with everything that had *already* occured, you can't help feeling this is just neatly-packaged and shrewdly-marketed soft-rock, with bluesy flourishes convenient enough to give an air of "authenticity" to the whole thing. Ultimately, said authenticity comes off as rather artificial anyway. This record is way too conventional, refuses to take meaningful risks, and so fails to inspire me. For me, it's more a simulacrum than a "continuum", and it gives the impression that John Mayer is just John Mayall for amnesiac millennials. Or maybe he's just a less lively clone of Lenny Kravitz, himself a generally boring clone of greater seventies rock stars. Next album, please. 1.5/5 for the purposes of this list of essential albums, rounded up to 2. 6.5/10 for more general purposes (5 for the production and musicianship + 1.5 for the artistry) Number of albums from the original list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 465 Albums from the original list I *might* include in mine later on: 288 Albums from the original list I won't include in mine: 336 ---- Number of albums from the users list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 10 Albums from the users list I *might* include in mine later on: 12 Albums from the users list I won't include in mine: 19 (including this one)

John Mayer seems like the type of guy to find mayonnaise too spicy.

John Mayer is pretty bland and annoys me for not making 'better' use of his undeniable talents, and Continuum is a great example of that. With everything he can do he chooses to make boring middle of the road soft rock to appeal to an everyman (or everywoman) demographic, and fair enough, it's made him pretty famous and pretty rich, but this all goes nowhere very slowly. Music for sad/romantic sitcom moments or budget films; when I look back on what I wrote and gave for David Gray's White Ladder back in November, I don't think this is as good as that, and that was properly average stuff of an adjacent styling. 2/5 I guess?

I thought this was just ok. Not particularly bad, but nothing really struck with me. Pretty standard pop/soft rock. Not much more to say. 5/10

I will never ever truly understand the appeal of John Mayer. Yeah, he has a couple decent tunes but overall he just bores me to tears. Remember when he was in that skit on Chappelle's Show? If only his music entertained me as much as that did.

John Mayer can certainly play the guitar, but the songwriting here is so inoffensive and bland that the instrumentals hardly matter. I certainly don’t miss this radio-friendly soft rock era of the early aughts, as it’s so common denominator focused that every track becomes a similar brand of melodic mush designed to be just pleasing enough to be memorable but not so bold as to be offensive. This LP deserves to be forgotten - the list is supposed to be a collection of artistry and creativity, not the place of mainstream mediocrity.

Det här är ju pissdåligt. Lyssnar hellre på en kör bestående av bulgariska kulstöterskor som opererat bort tonsillerna.

Incredibly boring and safe.

Boring adult contemporary. I'm pretty sure my mom loves this album.

Somehow manages to be both boring and annoying, a tricky combination to pull off. Sounds like Train (or Toploader), with the last vestiges of any soul or grit removed. He presumably didn't aim to make the blandest album of all time, but he might have done it. Might not have been exclusively sold in identikit coffee shops from Seattle to Santiago, but perhaps should have been. Whiny voice, irritating guitar, ineffectual production, boring songs. A commission should be established to decide who gets to cover Jimi - Mr Mayer does not deserve this permission. A rip-off of a bunch of other (better) albums, which isn't even a good representative for the nonsense that people occasionally used to pretend to like, usually while drinking cheap wine. No.

Boooo! Hisssss! This guy sucks. I don't care what his fingers can do to a guitar, I don't like him.

Harmless