Reviews.

The album Continuum by John Mayer is your ideal lullaby to sleep album. The flowing lyrics mixed with slow-moving guitar riffs and occasional solos are a perfect combination and they piece together perfectly on this album. Mayer's honey-sweet voice is pinpoint perfect on the album and his clean-cut guitar parts make the album as good as it could be. John Mayer, the 31-year-old Connecticut native, had released two solo albums previous to Continuum. The two previous albums had been very successful, so Mayer had a lot to live up to. Fortunately, Continuum did not disappoint all the hype it had been receiving before its release date. Mayer can be compared to Mat Kearney, whom he toured with in winter 2006. Both of them have the same style of music; slow-moving, soft rock type music. However, Kearney just can't compare. Mayer has that something about him that draws the listener in and makes them crave more. One particularly strong song on the album is the song "Slow Dancing In A Burning Room." Not only does the song have metaphorical messages, but its smooth flowing lyrics and soft guitar chords create a perfect melody which effortlessly show the height of Mayer's talent as a vocalist, writer, and guitarist. One other strong point on this album is the song "Bold As Love." Mayer covered Jimi Hendrix, a legendary artist. Mayer attempted to fill a huge pair of shoes, and he did it quite successfully. Mayer obviously doesn't have the same voice as Hendrix, but their guitar styles are similar. This album is definitely worth the $14 or so you'll pay for it. It perfectly embodies what you'd look for in a slow-moving soft rock album. Mayer is an extremely talented guitarist, vocalist, and writer, and his talent shines through very brightly on this album.


Amnesty International tried to do a very daring thing by getting different artists of all different styles to cover The Beatles, and I'm not quite sure how well it worked out for them. The original songs, by both John Lennon alone and The Beatles, are phenomenal in their originality. Lennon's voice and keen sense for words craft his songs together flawlessly. However, getting artists amont the likes of Avril Lavigne and Christina Aguilera to cover these songs was, in my opinion, a huge mistake. I don't see how anyone could think that a new punk-pop artist like Avril Lavigne could compare at all to the name The Beatles had built for themselves. I'm not denying that Lavigne is a talented singer; I do think that she has potential to be great. However, her voice just does not flow well with a song like "Imagine," which she covered for the album. There aren't many other compilations that try to do the same thing as this album; this is pretty much the first of its kind. However, all the songs can be compared to the original versions made by The Beatles and John Lennon. A particularly low part on the album is the song "Mother," covered by Christina Aguilera. Aguilera attempts to do too much with her voice, dragging out notes that really did not to be dragged out in that manner. However, there are a few songs worth your time on this album. The Jack Johnson cover of "Imagine" turned out better than anyone expected. Johnson's usually playful style of music turned serious for his cover of the classic song. Johnson was able to divert the image of Curious George that usually comes to mind when people hear his name and show off his raw talent in this song. Overall, this album did not cut it for me. Artists trying to hard to compare to something that is just uncomparable was not a good move. There are a few good songs, but in general, this album was a nice attempt at something that could never be.