Bigger than my body (John Mayer) (LP 3130 - 3139)

John Mayer  Inside Wants Out (CD, Columbia Records, 1999 (re-release version)) ***  

John Mayer  Room For Squares (CD, Sony Music, 2001) *** 

John Mayer  Heavier Things (CD, Columbia Records, 2003) **** 

John Mayer Trio  Try (CD, Columbia Records, 2005) **** 

John Mayer  Continuum (CD, Columbia Records, 2006) ***** 

John Mayer  Where The Light Is: John Mayer Live in Los Angeles (2CD/ DVD, Columbia Records, 2008) ****

John Mayer  Battle Studies (CD/DVD, Columbia Records, 2009) ****

John Mayer  Born And Raised (CD, Columbia Records, 2012) ***

John Mayer  Paradise Valley (CD, Columbia Records, 2013) ***

John Mayer  The Search For Everything (CD, Columbia Records, 2017) ****

Genre: Pop, rock, blues

Places I remember: Virgin Megastores, Fopp, HMV, JB Hi-Fi

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Something's Missing (Heavier Things)

Gear costume: Neon (Live); The Heart Of Life (Continuum); Assassin (Battle Studies)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5

Active compensatory factors: I think it was the Heavier Things album that got me started, I love Something's Missing, so, yes, it was Heavier Things. Or was it Continuum?

Whatever, John Mayer's music quickly put its hooks into me when I first heard it, and I needed to pick up the early releases, which included his first EP (Inside Wants Out) with Neon on it, and then his debut album, Room For Squares (which also has Neon on it). That album went on high rotation in our household because Jacky loved it too. A rarity.

The guy is super talented - superb voice, plays guitar like a dream and looks cool. I understand he may have some personality quirks but nobody's perfect and show me an artistic person that isn't a little different.

Heavier Things is where it got really interesting (or maybe it's that thing where your first exposure to something is the best?). It's not perfect - not every song is a gold-plated winner/ masterpiece, but it's close. 

Favourite songs: Something's Missing gets me every time, and Clarity kicks the album off on a high. Daughters was the third single and it's catchy but it's a bit too self-consciously clever to my way of thinking. Maybe that's a tad harsh.

Try! is a live album that showcases a bluesy power trio approach with Steve Jordan (drums) and Pino Palladino (bass). The cover and packaging all point to the classic jazz and blues covers of old.

Although he does include a few covers (Hendrix and Ray Charles), the songs mostly come from his previous albums, but with Vultures and Gravity they look forward to the giant leap that is Continuum as well (ironically titled as it is).

I think Continuum is the first album where he feels wholly comfortable in his musical skin. Steve Jordan and Pino Palladino probably have a lot to do with that, but he starts playing a lot more fluid guitar on this album.

His music has developed a more bluesy and soulful feel on Continuum (Slow Dancing In A Burning Room is a superb example), and it all works as a whole - hence my 5-star award. 

The whole album feels cohesive and a step forward. As one reviewer put it, Continuum is 'a devastatingly accomplished, fully realized effort that in every way exceeds expectations and positions Mayer as one of the most relevant artists of his generation'.

Special mention to the Hendrix cover of Bold As Love, which is a great vehicle for his guitar virtuosity and his soulful vocals. It certainly doesn't feel out of place on Continuum.

His second live album, Where The Light Is: John Mayer Live in Los Angeles is a big double CD experience. I also have the separate DVD version of the concert.

He gives three looks - an acoustic set, the John Mayer Trio (with Jordan/ Palladino) and a band set. It's an epic journey!

The acoustic set includes an amazing Neon and a Tom Petty song, the trio performance is (I think) better than on Try! and the band set cooks! It's hard to fault the music. 

I do struggle with the spoken bit in Bold As Love. Makes little sense. But if you are after a well-rounded and career summation to this point, this is hard to beat!

Battle Studies took a while to emerge after the success of Continuum. It's an album about seduction/ love affairs/ and the fall out from same. Mayer is a playa, or was during the naughties (see what I did there?). So, in the grand wounded artist tradition (Madonna, Marvin, David Gray) he meditates on love's fallout.

He's good at this stuff too. Man, he's a talented guy! The first two tracks (Heartbreak Warfare, All We Ever Do Is Say Goodbye) set the scene brilliantly. Then you just have to go with the flow and admire his approach.

Steve, and Pino continue their association with JM, and Ian McLagan provides some keyboards to effect, and is even, dare I say it, tastefully done. Taylor Swift also appears on Half Of My Heart. Plenty of highlights but I particularly like Assassin.

Studio album number 5, Born And Raised, took another lengthy time to emerge - 3 years in this case. After shooting himself in the foot with an ill-advised and nasty interview for Playboy, this time he was into an Americana approach with a folky tinge in an attempt to restore his credibility. 

He mostly does so with a (for him) more humble setting. Never a good idea having Tay Tay as an enemy though - a no-win situation if ever there was one. Lead off song Queen of California has some nice pedal steel and I like the judicious use of harmonica on a few tracks - he definitely has a Neil Young Comes A Time style album in him. 

The hat, acoustic guitar and facial hair image is definitely a down homie change for him that he continues on his next album - Paradise Valley, which followed quickly afterwards. That cover has him out standing in a field with a pooch (the inner sleeve photo shows him with a fresh haircut and cool dude shades though, so who knows). 

Chuck Leavell reappears from Born And Raised, and there is a cover of JJ Cale's Call Me The Breeze (which is fine but I'm not sure why he's done it).

The final album on my list is The Search For Everything. Okay. Sure - the search for everything. That's vague as all get out as an album title but why not. He returns to Steve and Pino and the jazz/soul of Continuum after the Americana of the two previous albums and it's all the better for it. Some much needed muscle on what is essentially another break up album.

Where do they all belong? I haven't bothered with his latest album, Sob Rock, which is bizarre, and I have none of his albums on vinyl, so that has to change!