I Guess I Just Feel Like is another recycled track, this time from 2019, and its plaintive bluesy balladry again feels somewhat out of place here, although the theatrical Gilmour-ish solo gives suitable stadium-rock pomp to the closing passages.Įlsewhere, we imagine the 80s music video fans were blowing at full tilt in the studio on the day Shot In The Dark was recorded, as his dramatically soaring slides and searing bends, punctuate another gentle ballad – this one with killer accompaniment from country chart-topper Maren Morris – while Til The Right One Comes combines the bluesy doublestops that Mayer made his own on debut Room For Squares with gently parping keys and Hammond that feels like a lost soft-rock road trip classic. For example, late-night drive bopper New Light is a highlight, but part of that might well come from the enjoyment of revisiting a song first released back in 2018. It’s a mixed blessing for the album as a whole. This sense that you’ve heard this stuff before isn’t helped by the fact that in several cases you have – in addition to Last Train Home three of the album’s 10 tracks have all been released as standalone singles since 2017’s The Search For Everything.
Perhaps, as a self-professed student of comedy, Mayer just appreciates the value of committing to a bit? As Mayer himself put it to Blackbird Spyplane instead he wanted to “pretend someone made a record in 1988 and shelved it”.Īnd that’s exactly what Sob Rock is – a full-blooded tribute to an often-derided era of guitar music, ably assisted by a cast of musicians who remember it first-hand: from regular bassist Pino Paladino, to co-producer Don Was and particularly keyboardist Greg Phillinganes, who channels the spirit of his days working with Clapton, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder and yes, Kenny Loggins with aplomb.
From the cheesy music videos and billboard ads used in its promotion, to the authentically 80s discount stickers on the album’s cover, the pithily titled Sob Rock arrives on the back of a marketing campaign seemingly precision-calibrated to encourage you to not take things too seriously, and instead approach it with the sort of sardonic humour you would any other online meme. You might be forgiven for assuming that every copy of John Mayer’s new album comes packaged with a knowingly raised eyebrow from the man himself.
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