Album Review: John Mayer - Born & Raised

Mayer is the Johnny Depp of the music charts, with perfect looks and guitar virtuosity; he is a chameleon like Depp, covering different genres. On Born & Raised he proves his songwriting credentials, with a batch of wonderfully home-grown tunes. This acoustic-based roots record is a wonderful change of genre for Mayer who employs his talents to good measure this time around.

At the helm of the album's production is Don Was and he gets nice and close to Mayer's heart by keeping things really acoustic. Speak For Me is a clever yarn that points his finger at the whimsical nature of the stars in the music industry and their lack of depth. It's a thought provoking song. Queen Of California captures the music scene of the '70s in true California style and Mayer's reference points all check out.

The humble nature of Mayer's approach seems to make up for lost ground, having toed the commercial line for a little too long. On this record he is questioning himself and those around him. On the title track, Mayer gets bluesy and hits his stride with a gravelly vocal and loose feel. There is a similarity to James Taylor, particularly when Mayer gets all self-reflective in the lyrics department. The funkier Love Is A Verb is a simple yet perfectly-chimed tune that lets Mayer match his guitar playing with his lyrics. It really is a new John Mayer we are hearing here.

This is a record that is a perfect career changer. Forget the good looks and guitar licks; Mayer is close to perfect on this record.