Continuum

iTunes Review

“Waiting on the World to Change,” the opening song on John Mayer’s impressive Continuum, is an observant reflection on the political detachment and ambivalence many people of his generation share: “Now we see everything that’s going wrong/With the world and those who lead it/We just feel like we don’t have the means/To rise above and beat it,” he sings. Aside from being an excellent single, the song also marks a noticeable maturity in Mayer’s songwriting and arranging, and the rest of the album lives up to its promise. Rather than try to overpower listeners with the kind of flashy guitar he’s capable of (for proof, check out his two live albums), he and his stripped-down rhythm section (along with some guests on piano, organ, and horns) set up these introspective, mostly low-key songs slowly and deliberately, and it’s clear that considerable effort went into the lyrics and the song construction. All of the songs were written or co-written by Mayer, with the exception of the Jimi Hendrix’s classic, “Bold as Love,” which gives him a chance to boost the volume and show off his considerable guitar chops. With a pair of platinum-selling albums and three Grammys already under his belt, one might have expected Mayer to coast a bit here. Instead, he did the opposite, making Continuum a soulful, sincere release from an artist determined not just to get bigger, but better.