I’m Not Considering Divorce (Yet)
All right, here are some incoherent thoughts on my husband, Jason Mraz’s* sophomore album, Mr. A-Z. And some of this pains me to say, because I try to love my husband* unconditionally.
The first lines of the opening tune ("Life is Wonderful") have an incoherent melody and make it awkward to settle into listening the whole album. He tries to ramp it up nicely with the arrangement, but I'm still a little unforgiving of the entry.
"Wordplay" They’re playing this every twenty minutes on the radio. Like, could they kick the crap out of that song any more, please? The song doesn’t impress me and the video for it kind of freaks me out in a bad way. Unremarkable in the melody and annoyingly self-absorbed in the lyrics. Skip.
"Geek in the Pink" Has a really twee intro, like he thinks he's the Fresh Prince of Bel Air with his DJ Jazzy Jeff circa 1988. I really dig the rest of the song, though. I think it's fun. Perhaps not as much fun as "Waiting for My Rocket" or "Too Much Food", and I suppose comparisons to tracks from his first full-length album are inevitable, but I'd like to avoid them at all costs. Mostly, I guess I just dig this song because of the title.
"Did You Get My Message?" Annoying and repetitive. Skip.
"Mr. Curiosity" It's funny, I've seen Mraz slip into opera in a live show and it really works very well in that setting because his voice is beautiful and can fill up the space, but on an album? Maybe not the best choice by the producer. It's not the kind of clip you're going to want to hear on repeat, is all I'm saying.
"Clockwatching" + "Bella Luna" Both unremarkable. Although "Clockwatching" may grow on me.
"Plane" This one I am entirely sure would rock live. He could just dim down all of the accompaniment and belt the sucker out and make the hair on the back of my neck stand straight up. I don't know, maybe he just didn't jive with the producer. Maybe he just hates the recording studio. Maybe he was just over-ambitious... I don't know.
"O. Lover" I got nothing.
"Please Don't Tell Her" This one I know rocks live. There’s something about the way he grins “She’s a warrior”. And I think it's the best track on the album, despite the fact that the arrangement starts out like some Coldplay/Keane-hybrid-wannabe. That part pisses me off.
And then the album just sort of peters out. It's not a coherent ALBUM, either. The tracks don't pull together to give you a sense of plot, development, beginning, middle or end. Plus, dude is just really digging on himself throughout, and I like a cocky man as much as - or maybe more than - anyone, but he's losing universality with all the "me"-talk. (Dear Mr. Mraz, you are not a Hip Hop star singing about your cars and your women and your bling; please tone it down.)
With Rocket, I got the sense that Mraz was almost embarassed to have made a self-indulgent piece of work, what with all the pictures of the cocky ol' rooster acknowledging his presence throughout. I got the feeling that maybe next time around he'd strive for something deeper than his own surface psyche. That's why the theme of Mr. A-Z puzzles me. The jacket art is all about Mraz-as-student. But instead of being the diligent student committed to the subtle turn of phrase and the nuances of his big voice, he ends up coming off more as the class clown: totally into himself, begging for attention, whoring it up for a laugh and cutting corners on quality.
With the exception of about three tracks, I guess I don't like it. It's not as good as Rocket, and nowhere near the quality of his live album.
That said, he's still a thousand miles better than John Mayer (who I no longer enjoy,) with his "I hate the label of sensitive singer-songwriter" whining. Dude? Then stop singing songs about how fathers should raise their daughters properly so that they can grow up and have sex with John Mayer who will treat their bodies like wonderlands. I mean, REALLY.
*in no way is he really my husband.
The first lines of the opening tune ("Life is Wonderful") have an incoherent melody and make it awkward to settle into listening the whole album. He tries to ramp it up nicely with the arrangement, but I'm still a little unforgiving of the entry.
"Wordplay" They’re playing this every twenty minutes on the radio. Like, could they kick the crap out of that song any more, please? The song doesn’t impress me and the video for it kind of freaks me out in a bad way. Unremarkable in the melody and annoyingly self-absorbed in the lyrics. Skip.
"Geek in the Pink" Has a really twee intro, like he thinks he's the Fresh Prince of Bel Air with his DJ Jazzy Jeff circa 1988. I really dig the rest of the song, though. I think it's fun. Perhaps not as much fun as "Waiting for My Rocket" or "Too Much Food", and I suppose comparisons to tracks from his first full-length album are inevitable, but I'd like to avoid them at all costs. Mostly, I guess I just dig this song because of the title.
"Did You Get My Message?" Annoying and repetitive. Skip.
"Mr. Curiosity" It's funny, I've seen Mraz slip into opera in a live show and it really works very well in that setting because his voice is beautiful and can fill up the space, but on an album? Maybe not the best choice by the producer. It's not the kind of clip you're going to want to hear on repeat, is all I'm saying.
"Clockwatching" + "Bella Luna" Both unremarkable. Although "Clockwatching" may grow on me.
"Plane" This one I am entirely sure would rock live. He could just dim down all of the accompaniment and belt the sucker out and make the hair on the back of my neck stand straight up. I don't know, maybe he just didn't jive with the producer. Maybe he just hates the recording studio. Maybe he was just over-ambitious... I don't know.
"O. Lover" I got nothing.
"Please Don't Tell Her" This one I know rocks live. There’s something about the way he grins “She’s a warrior”. And I think it's the best track on the album, despite the fact that the arrangement starts out like some Coldplay/Keane-hybrid-wannabe. That part pisses me off.
And then the album just sort of peters out. It's not a coherent ALBUM, either. The tracks don't pull together to give you a sense of plot, development, beginning, middle or end. Plus, dude is just really digging on himself throughout, and I like a cocky man as much as - or maybe more than - anyone, but he's losing universality with all the "me"-talk. (Dear Mr. Mraz, you are not a Hip Hop star singing about your cars and your women and your bling; please tone it down.)
With Rocket, I got the sense that Mraz was almost embarassed to have made a self-indulgent piece of work, what with all the pictures of the cocky ol' rooster acknowledging his presence throughout. I got the feeling that maybe next time around he'd strive for something deeper than his own surface psyche. That's why the theme of Mr. A-Z puzzles me. The jacket art is all about Mraz-as-student. But instead of being the diligent student committed to the subtle turn of phrase and the nuances of his big voice, he ends up coming off more as the class clown: totally into himself, begging for attention, whoring it up for a laugh and cutting corners on quality.
With the exception of about three tracks, I guess I don't like it. It's not as good as Rocket, and nowhere near the quality of his live album.
That said, he's still a thousand miles better than John Mayer (who I no longer enjoy,) with his "I hate the label of sensitive singer-songwriter" whining. Dude? Then stop singing songs about how fathers should raise their daughters properly so that they can grow up and have sex with John Mayer who will treat their bodies like wonderlands. I mean, REALLY.
*in no way is he really my husband.
posted by nerdifer at 5:01 p.m.
1 Comments:
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