After closely listening to John Mayers discography for last couple of months its become quite astounding just how underrated Mayer is in today's music. Over my many hours of listening I couldn't help but to think why when it comes to Mayer people only view him as the early 2000s heartthrob? It became evident ,even in the first hours of listening, that Mayer's been unfairly left out of the "great singer songwriter" conversation.
Very rarely do we see an artist able to paint such clear pictures with words, artists who are able craft songs bigger than the sum of their parts. There are few artists that can consistently do this, Neil Young, Paul Simon, Bob dylan etc. I was always the biggest Dylan fan and thought that no artist come close to what he does with a song...until now.
With each album, song, lyric it becomes very apparent the enormous amount of care Mayer puts into his songs. As an example Mayer's song Walt Grace's submarine test, January 1967. Listening to the song i was completely in awe of not only the instrumentation but just how clearly the lyrics fit, painted a picture and left me wondering even after the song had ended. That song could've been on free wheelin. Mayer achieved this while not sounding too "wordy" as some Dylan songs do.
This song is not an outlier, you could say the same for roll it on home, stop this train, your body is a wonderland etc. The thing about great songs is how they can be interpreted in many ways and still make sense. Mayer's songs have consistently satisfed this condition and all while having extraordinary instrumentation/playing.
Dylan has managed shift and change with the times but has still managed to consistently gives us his essence/dylan-esque twist no matter the decade. When looking at Mayer's discography we can see a similar pattern, an artist who has managed to carefully craft relevant songs no matter the decade, raising the bar with every album. Why does he not get the same praise as Dylan?? (I haven't even touched on how influential Mayers playing has been to modern guitar players).
When talking about artists like Neil Young, Dylan, Joni Mitchell, etc. Is it not fair to aslo mention Mayer up there?
List of Utah Jazz All-Stars can be found here
From wiki leaks :
Re: Apollo Astronaut, Dr. Edgar Mitchell’s, Request for Meeting to discuss Disclosure*
Dear John Podesta:
As we move into the last half of 2014, the need for extraterrestrial disclosure intensifies. Thank you for your kind consideration and response to my email.
This 4 July weekend I will meet with President Obama’s friend, Ambassador Hamamoto, at the US Mission in Geneva during their Independence Day Celebration. While in Geneva I will also speak at the UN and the European Space Agency regarding why we must move forward with disclosure and specific programs such as manned moon missions, since some scientists and others are calling for moon colonization due to what they perceive is happening on Earth.
John, with this email I am requesting a conversation with you and President Obama regarding the next steps in extraterrestrial disclosure for the benefit of our country and our planet.
Fifty years ago Battelle, Brookings and RAND studies on UFOs convinced the government to remove knowledge of the extraterrestrial presence from the citizens of our country. These organizations advised with their best information. However, today much, if not most, of the extraterrestrial reality they examined is known by our citizens. These organizations' resultant strategies and policies of 50 years ago no longer hold credibility or benefit.
Five decades of UFO information have dramatically shifted the public awareness of an extraterrestrial presence. And yet, our government is still operating from outdated beliefs and policies. These are detrimental to trust in government transparency, science, religion, and responsible citizenry embracing the next step in our country’s space travel and research.
Three disclosure issues are prominent: 1) planet sustainability via next generation energies such as zero point energy, 2) galactic travel and research undertaken as an advanced species aware of the extraterrestrial presence, not as uninformed explorers who revert to colonialism and destruction and 3) the example of a confident, engaged government who respectfully regards the wisdom and intellect of its citizens as we move into space.
I respectfully receive your response to my request for conversation on disclosure.
Warmest Regards,
Edgar D. Mitchell, ScD
https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/15052
