Released
on July 1, 2008 John Mayer’s album, Where
the Light Is, was a live recorded album. The album itself consists of twenty-two
live versions of his songs that were original released in his prior albums with
the exception of three songs. Personally for me, I am not a fan of pop music at
all and lean more toward the genre of blues, and this album was musically on
the mark in my opinion. Having heard Mayer’s previous albums such as Heavier Things, Try!, Room For Squares, and
Continuum, it was understood that he
had great talent arranging, composing, and performing. However, in my personal
taste, the majority of the songs lacked a sense of emotion behind the songs. I
don’t know whether it was because the albums themselves were recorded in the
studio or not, but to my musical taste and understanding, there was something
missing in those albums.
In
this review of Where the Light Is,
the author does not disclose identity in the ABC News website. The author questions and answers him/herself, “Isn’t that a little much? Do we need this
much live John Mayer? The truth is um..no. No we don’t! He keeps releasing live
albums, though, and they serve a purpose. For those who see him as a wimpy,
sensitive singer-songwriter, these records allow him to prove himself by
flexing his blues muscle.” There is so much I can say just from this
statement itself. First, Mayer has released seven live albums prior to Where the Light Is. One of his live
albums, Live at Philadelphia, was
released into five different volumes, so technically, he has released just two
live albums and a huge live album. Adding on, only one of these albums, Any Given Thursday, is noteworthy of
receiving some kind of certification. Therefore, the author’s statement of “Do we need this much live John Mayer? The
truth is um..no.” does not seem to make much sense.
Secondly,
the author assumes she knows the intent of why Mayer releases live albums.
However, to my understanding and from what I can see in a musician’s
perspective, rather than Mayer trying to “prove a point,” I see Where the Light Is as a beautiful piece
of art where he is musically expressing himself as he pleases. Yes, there may
have been big hits in the past and he may have reused these songs for this
concert, but the point of reviewing music should not be to point out that what
was so good is so bad now. As an artist, I believe, the whole point of covering
and doing concerts in the first place is not to do the songs again verbatim as
it was written. However, I believe the whole point of live albums is to bring
out the personality of the artist, which is exactly what Mayer did.
From what I can see,
John Mayer is a superb musician who can incorporate blues and jazz into cheesy
pop songs. Listening to the song “Gravity” from the Continuum album in comparison to the song on Where the Light Is takes on a whole new meaning in his live album.
Watching the performance video itself shows so much emotion and character
behind his music. This album was a turning point for me on how I viewed John
Mayer as a performing musician.
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