Try! John Mayer Trio Live in Concert
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CD Details
Brand: ColumbiaEdition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2005-11-22
Music Label: Sony
Soundtracks:
- Who Did You Think I Was
- Good Love Is On The Way
- Wait Until Tomorrow
- Gravity
- Vultures
- Out of My Mind
- Another Kind of Green
- I Got A Woman
- SomethingÂ?s Missing
- Daughters
- Try
Music reviews of Try! John Mayer Trio Live in Concert
Music Review: The man shows his true colors in shades of blue
Rating: 5 Stars
So the latest installment is also the debut. The first release by the John Mayer Trio (John (g,v), Steve Jordan (d), Pino Palladino (b)), "Try!" was recorded live in concert at the House of Blues in Chicago. It may seem like an unnatural step for Mayer, but in the truest sense, he has returned to his roots.
From pretty much day one of his pop-stardom, he has promoted the image of smooth-serenading acoustic troubador. And he did pretty well (I think that 3 Grammy's just told me this is an understatement). But underneath all that was John's foundation - a baddass electric guitarist. Influences ranging from Stevie Ray Vaughan to John Coltrane are melded with a fresh sound and serious chops (1 year at Berklee was plenty, apparently) to yield quite possibly the next real guitar hero. And "Try!" is the first big step towards that.
The album opens with JM3's first single, the all-too-appropriate query "Who Did You Think I Was?" And with it comes the huuuge electric sound (side note: John's rig was recently featured in premier gear-head newsletter The ToneQuest Report http://www.online-discussion.com/Tonequest/viewtopic.php?t=130). And when the bass and drums enter, it's on. Three guys crankin' it out right off the bat (and you can definitely see why Steve Jordan played for The Who). They continue with "Good Love is on the Way," a funky original composed collectively by the Trio that recalls the sounds of Grand Funk Railroad and other few-decades-old funksters, and features John quacking out on the wah-wah pedal. The next track features Hendrix's "Wait Until Tomorrow," which has one of the most fiery guitar solos laid down in this decade (Jimi is looking down proudly at his fellow Strat-master). The solemn "Gravity" places the well-framed 'John Mayer Ballad' nicely in the new Trio setting, complete with insightful lyrics and a tasty electric guitar solo. He continues with "Vultures," which bridges jazz and 80's pop a la The Police (something the once billed 'Jazz-Pop sensation' has done remarkably well), serving up lines about not conforming and plucking out a funky guitar jam down to the faded-out ending.
Then comes number six, going back to the home of the blues (John teases "Fairfield, CT, where the blues was born" to the Chicago fans who really know) with "Out of my Mind." And he plays out of his mind. The slow, classic changes of BB and T-Bone (that's King and Walker, respectively, for those wondering) let John speak his bluesy mind about what music was made for. And he sings:
I'm putting you, baby
I'm putting you right out of my mind
I'm putting you, baby
I'm putting you right out of my mind
So tired of running after you, girl
And being one and one half steps behind
Go and tell your friends now
Go tell your friends what Johnny did
Go tell your friends
go tell your friends just what Johnny did
If they don't tell you that you're crazy, baby
Lord, they as messed up as you is
(Lemme play my guitar, people )
From Ma Rainey to Robert Cray, them blues is the real deal. And the solo (with influence from Buddy Guy, but amazingly original, especially towards the end), and voice/guitar call-and-response do not disappoint. The 11-song set now over the hump, the Trio cranks out John's previously written (but unreleased) "Another Kind of Green," which keeps John's funky-pop stylings close.
Now the home stretch. Steve and Pino lay down the beat for John's guitar colors (he describes in another show as "icing all over it") and breaks out into a funked out "I Got a Woman" a la Kanye. Then he plays two of his 'older' ones, "Something's Missing" followed by "Daughters," which are complete with screaming and singing from the younger female contingent that has dominated John's fanbase since the YBIAW video went 'Spanking New' for 10 seconds between episodes in the Real World/Road Rules Challenge #26 Marathon Weekend. The songs are good ones and performed quite well, but almost seem anticlimactic with the craziness unleashed beforehand.
But luckily, it finishes strong with the title track (which serves as the play-on-words which has become part of John's MO). Before the downbeat, many are yelling out "[Play] Comfortable!" which would make no sense whatsoever; so appropriately JM3 play the 'anti-comfortable', and totally rock it out. With the same electric energy that asked the question in the opening track, the Trio comes full circle to answer that THIS is me trying to be myself, when everyone else said it had to be acoustic guitars and 'bubblegum toungues....'
I talk much about John, but he's held up by (and accountable to) the two other guys on the stage. Steve and Pino are blues-rock veterans with unparalleled curricula vitae. And they not only feed John the background, they propel with him as a 3-man Tour de Force. The unit rocks, plain and simple, and it is John keeping up with the other two that shows just how good he really is.
Since he went major-label, I have been waiting for the day that the John I knew, doing the harmonized scat-guitar lines to "I Only Like You 'Cause Your Sister's Hot" at Cappucino Joe's to an audience you can count on two hands (and over my rhythm guitar - I mean, I couldn't write a JM piece without getting it in there ::smirk::), to come out and show his true colors to the rest of the world. He always had the live shows, the finger-throbbing backing tracks, and a couple guitar mag covers to remind us that it was in there somewhere. But this budding guitar hero has finally come to say "Oh yeah, I can play." And it seems that I'm not the only one enjoying it. The massive response the tour has received is heartwarming, knowing that there are people out there who still enjoy real music from one of the top musicians out on the scene today. I'm glad it's returned. Check out www.johnmayertrio.com.
Description of Try! John Mayer Trio Live in Concert
Longtime listeners have seen it coming: it was only a matter of time before John Mayer dropped the pop star pretense and proved he could really bring it. Chalk it up to one too many Dave Matthews comparisons, or the cupcake-sweet residue stuck to his image after the success of "Your Body Is a Wonderland"--but something convinced Mayer it was time to take him game to the next level. With help from studio pros Steve Jordan and Pino Palladino, he succeeds on Try. If the muscled-up covers of Jimi Hendrix's "Wait Until Tomorrow" and Ray Charles' "I Got a Woman" don't scream "no more Mr. Nice Guy" loud enough, the brawn of blues-rock opener "Who Do You Think I Was" does for sure. Mixed in with the Stevie Ray Vaughn and Eric Clapton-esque stuff are a few mellow numbers--"Daughters," most notably, returns from Heavier Things alongside "Something's Missing"--but even those songs seem hopped up on rock-God hormones. This newfound sizzle can't fix everything; that segment of the music-buying public that would accuse the singer of having a voice like "a whispering midget" (to quote a customer review of Mayer's work) won't want to add this disc to their collection. The good news for Mayer, though, is that anybody with an ear for genuine rock'n'roll chops will. --Tammy La GorceLongtime listeners have seen it coming: it was only a matter of time before John Mayer dropped the pop star pretense and proved he could really bring it. Chalk it up to one too many Dave Matthews comparisons, or the cupcake-sweet residue stuck to his image after the success of "Your Body Is a Wonderland"--but something convinced Mayer it was time to take him game to the next level. With help from studio pros Steve Jordan and Pino Palladino, he succeeds on Try. If the muscled-up covers of Jimi Hendrix's "Wait Until Tomorrow" and Ray Charles' "I Got a Woman" don't scream "no more Mr. Nice Guy" loud enough, the brawn of blues-rock opener "Who Do You Think I Was" does for sure. Mixed in with the Stevie Ray Vaughan and Eric Clapton-esque stuff are a few mellow numbers--"Daughters," most notably, returns from Heavier Things alongside "Something's Missing"--but even those songs seem hopped up on rock-God hormones. This newfound sizzle can't fix everything; that segment of the music-buying public that would accuse the singer of having a voice like "a whispering midget" (to quote a customer review of Mayer's work) won't want to add this disc to their collection. The good news for Mayer, though, is that anybody with an ear for genuine rock'n'roll chops will. --Tammy La Gorce
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