John Mayer Album Preview

In the last couple weeks, 2 new John Mayer songs have come out, off of his upcoming album, Battle Studies. At this point, I'd say this is my most anticipated album for the rest of the year, so I wanted to post the two tracks, album cover, and track listing.

John Mayer - Battle Studies is out November 17th.

1. "Heartbreak Warfare"

2. "All We Ever Do Is Say Goodbye"

3. "Half of My Heart" (feat. Taylor Swift)

4. "Who Says"

5. "Perfectly Lonely"

6. "Assassin"

7. "Crossroads" (Robert Johnson cover)

8. "War of My Life"

9. "Edge of Desire"

10. "Do You Know Me"

11. "Friends, Lovers or Nothing"

Listen to the first single, "Who Says", as well as "Heartbreak Warfare":

Who Says

http://www.zshare.net/audio/694864696dd27723/

Heartbreak Warfare

http://www.zshare.net/audio/694865010f401912/

The album cover is lame. I like the design aspect of it, with the vertical type and the tracks listed, but that picture is awful. He looks like he's training to be Obi-Wan Kenobi. They should have used the "Who Says" single artwork as the album artwork, because it's pretty sick (see below). As far as the music goes, I really love both songs. The only thing that worries me is that they are both on the slow side. There's not much upbeat about them, and not much in the way of crazy guitar work or instrumentals. I really want some great technical instrumental work, like Continuum had. It's just two songs, though, so I'm hoping the album will have a nice balance.

Who Says - Single Artwork:

Phish - Joy

9/10

Wow. I really didn't expect to like this album as much as I did. I had the wrong idea about Phish. I always pictured them as being a dirty hippie band with long, disjointed jam sequences. Turns out I love them. "Joy" is their 14th studio album (first in 5 years), and I had never listened to any of the earlier stuff, but now I can't wait to. The music is so much more pleasant and melodic than I thought it would be. It's really catchy, but also really well written, well sung, and well played. There are solos and instrumental bridges, but nothing to drawn out. Everything works. It's almost perfect. Slower songs like "Joy" aren't too slow to bore you to death, but slow enough to provide a nice change of pace. I can't say enough about how catchy, but good, the music is. I always feel like catchy songs sacrifice quality; generally the lyrics aren't as thoughtful or meaningful. But that is definitely not the case here. It's also very rare that bands with great songwriting have great instrumentals, including some really great guitar solos. These guys are just so much more talented than I ever gave them credit for. The only song that does go a little too long is "Time Turns Elastic", which kind of loses me halfway through. The album is a little bit short, too, which is ironic for a band known for epic 3+ hour live shows.

Regardless, it's great, and definitely worth a listen. Check out the tracks "Backwards Down the Number Line" and "Joy", and let me know what you think.

Backwards Down the Number Line

http://www.zshare.net/audio/694867506d0cd1aa/

Joy

http://www.zshare.net/audio/69486766d3ff3c6d/

State Radio - Let It Go

8.5/10

State Radio is a Boston-based band featuring Chad Urmston (of Dispatch fame). This is their third studio album, and I just don't think they can ever live up to how much I loved the first, "Us Against the Crown". They're really political for the most part, although they do seem to stray a little more away from that in this album than in the other two, probably because of the way things seem to be turning around. The band does a ton for charity and did a ton of work campaigning for Obama. Anyways, the album is really solid. Like I said, I think its better than their second album, but not as good as the first. Its not too short or too long, and they still have this great mix of reggae/ska/rock going on. Too many bands ditch their reggae/ska influences when they are trying to make it big, and these guys are just always going to stick to their roots, which I love. Sure there are a couple of filler tracks, but most of them really made an impression. I'm hoping it grows on me a little bit. I've only listened twice as of right now. Good stuff.

The album was released 9/29, and is actually streaming free right now on www.myspace.com/stateradio . If you are even remotely interested, you should listen to "Arsenic and Clover" and/or "Doctor Ron the Actor." I've posted both below, so you can listen easily. So check them out and let me know what you think.

Arsenic & Clover
http://www.zshare.net/audio/69486826a03677d4/

Doctor Ron the Actor
http://www.zshare.net/audio/69486854fd5d1366/

And so it begins

Welcome to "One Good Thing About Music", where you can find the latest in album reviews, concert reviews, and more.

All coming soon... very soon.

I back-logged all my short album/concert reviews from my old blog, which I hadn't updated in about a year, but I wanted all my stuff in one place.