Issue date: 11/19/09 Section: Arts & Entertainment

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undeniably unique musician in the prime of his career. John Mayer had a definitive acoustic style since his first album, a sound which has been emulated by other musicians trying to get a hit like "Your Body is a Wonderland" and "Daughters." With his last album, Continuum, he molded a distinctive blend of blues, rock, hip-hop, and jazz; with Battle Studies, he has perfected that sound, and even blended both of his signature sounds.

Every song without exception has an ambiance. Each song effectively puts you into a certain mood. The atmosphere of most of the songs are similar to Continuum but up a notch. For this alone, it would be worth a listen, but he uses these moods like the artist he is; in "Perfectly Lonely," the mood is happy, even uplifting, but also has minor chords that darken the mood, ingeniously reflecting the contrasting feelings in the lyrics. Lyrics over the whole album are on-par with his other efforts. Songs like "All We Ever Do Is Say Goodbye" lyrically sound like they can easily be on Continuum; they share topics and moods. He might repeat a little too much, as he is susceptible to do sometimes, especially when layering vocal and guitar lines as he has done many times in the past. Continuum was jam-packed with great lyrics, an amount tremendously difficult to match; he doesn't match that lyrically, but there are some gems in Battle Studies.

So many sounds, some easily identifiable and some not so much, contribute to the John Mayer sound. It is not entirely electronic but not acoustic either; it is a blend that no one else has found. Fans of John Mayer will be mostly comfortable with the seemingly familiar sound, yet everything is improved or expanded. He still records background vocals himself in his usual style, though the background lines seem a little less intrusive than in albums past. His acoustic guitar is still the basis for some songs, like "Who Says," that has the same sort of moving groove as "Stop This Train" from Continuum. His guitar work is scarce, as is usual in his studio albums, but tasteful as always. He experiments with different effects on his Stratocaster that give quite a different sound but they avoid being outlandish.

When "Bold as Love" appeared on Continuum, I was surprised to admit somebody could cover a Jimi Hendrix song, and he did it in his own style no less. He continues this into a streak by including "Crossroads" on Battle Studies, a Robert Johnson blues standard. Eric Clapton and Cream recorded a version that ended all versions, for no band wanted to have theirs compared to Cream's. Forty years later John Mayer has put up an adaptation so different and well-done that even the most die-hard Clapton fan cannot insult it. (It also might help that this album only reiterates Clapton's great influence on Mayer; a few guitar licks sound like they could have been played by Slowhand himself.)

Anyone who has impression of John Mayer as playing cute songs like "Your Body is a Wonderland" will be forced to reconsider after hearing this extremely well-crafted album. A great mixture of heart-felt ballads and hip, grooving tunes show Mayer to be a titan of music. He has distinguished himself with a truly unique sound that he has perfected in Battle Studies.

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