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missxx · 12 years

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Just heard about the article below from my previous reblog. Posting again with certain parts in bold to highlight my favourite comments either for heart warming sweetness, or intrigue ahead of the release date 22/5/12. XX

"Reports are starting to arrive from a small group of fans who were invited to a listening party of Born and Raised last night in LA. Sounds like the very small group of listeners were pulled from the My Stupid Mouth community and invited to the studio. John sat and listened with the attendees, introducing the songs and occasionally adding some additional information after a track. Thanks to the MSM family for some of the reviews below!"

"First thing I’ll say is that I personally feel like this album is 100% different than anything JM has ever done. If you heard Shadow Days and thought you were going to get RFS Mayer back, you were wrong. After listening to the single, seeing the (single) artwork, looking at all of the new branding, I’d become convinced that this would be a country album. Not the case. Yes there are a few songs that feel a bit country, but otherwise I feel like it’s all over the place and impossible to pin into one genre.

Don Was produced the album. Take a look at his discography and that should give you an idea of what to expect. It’s kind of like Mayer had a little music baby with Dylan and The Stones and the later Beatles stuff. Someone earlier said that the album sounded very 70′s – I would agree. Some songs are very Mayer (Shadow Days, Something Like Olivia, Born and Raised, A Face to Call Home, Love is a Verb, etc), others are a bit more Mayer-with-an-edge (Queen of California, which I loved very much) and some come at you out of left field (Age of Worry, Walt Grace’s Submarine..).

The sequence felt very juxtaposed to me, I think just because of how different all of the songs are, and I liked it. The opening was insane – Queen of California has this great, warm California country kind of vibe, Age of Worry is completely different – it’s short and kind of dark with these big booming drums, and then you go right into Shadow Days. Every song is special and each is dotted with those great Mayer lines that we love, wondering why we didn’t think of them first..

Right before playing the album, John told all of us “you are about to hear a lot of information, so don’t try to put it all together after one listen.” There’s no way I can digest what I heard last night after one listen, which I think is exciting. I listened to Battle Studies once and felt like I totally got it, related to it, heard it loud and clear. It was thematic and cozy and this is the antithesis. These songs are going to get better with every listen. I think that big Mayer fans who truly get him are going to really dig this album, but I think that your run-of-the-mill standard fan will probably be confused by it all.

Also – what a cool thing to sit in a room with John and listen to these songs play out in sequence for the first time. I kept thinking how vulnerable I’d feel if I were in his shoes. Biggest thanks to RY and Mick for putting everything together for us – the whole JM camp did such a great job making sure last night was really great and special for all of those involved. Everyone was so nice and accommodating, they really made us feel like family.

I’m so excited to hear the album again and see how the world responds. This is for sure a new chapter.” – Lindsey

“The listening session took place at The Village Recorder in Los Angeles, which if you don’t know, is where some of the most famous records of all time were made. Continuum was pretty much all recorded there, and what have you. It’s a legendary and incredibly special place. We were taken inside studio D (everyone says thats the best studio at the Village), which is where all of Born and Raised was recorded. When we got in there, Don Was, and John’s Manager (Michael McDonald) were both just chillin out in there. There were about 13 of us MSM’ers in total, and we were all kinda shmoozing when John came out, and everyone was just very relaxed in talking to him. I remember him pointing out cool parts of the studio, in particular him saying, “yah I wrote dreaming with a broken heart in that vocal chamber” and “I recored vocals for In Repair in there.”

Once everyone was gathered and John had said hi, he came to the front and described how the night was going to go down: John would name each song before it started, we’d listen to it, and he’d say a few things about the track once it was done. Some of the songs were not 100% mixed yet, and one or two of them just had scratch vocals on it. But he said that this was pretty much how it was going to sound. So then he said lets start it off, and he sat down and cued Chad to play the first song.

Here’s where I’ll just go down the list of songs on the album and give you my thoughts/what I remember about each one:

1) Queen of California In my opinion it sounds pretty dead on to the arrangement done at the Tiger Jam performance. I love the hell out of this song. Great opener. On the solo he goes all Alman on it and harmonizes some of it. But other than that, the song is pretty much just like the live video on youtube. Sounds sooo good though.

2) The Age of Worry This is the one that sounds the most different from any of the stripped down versions we’ve heard. Unlike the bare versions, this track is an EPIC; with organs ringing, big oohs and aah’s and big mallet hits on symbols and toms throughout the whole thing. It definitely caught me off guard but I really thing you guys are gonna dig it. All the lyrics are the same, and it’s definitely not what you’d expect in terms of arrangement. Super sick though.

3) Shadow Days You guys have heard this now. But I love it. That chord change when he does that bend in the solo is where the song really takes a whole other take on things. I’m a big fan of it.

4) Speak for Me This song is simply beautifully recorded. It is very bare, and the kind of boyish sound that John sometimes has (especially on Continuum) is extremely present on this track. There are some incredibly rich vocal harmonies and the song is perfectly executed in my opinion. This was definitely one of my favorites. It really made me feel good.

5) Something Like Olivia The story behind this is really cool. He said everything in this recording was done live (except when they redid the lead vocal and the vox harmonies). Without a doubt his favorite part is the guitar solo, because when he took the solo, he ran to his guitar which was on a stand (the volume knob was on 4), started the solo, then midway, turned it up to 10, but he wanted to keep that take because he loved the solo so much, and he thought, “it doesn’t get much more raw than that.” So you can hear him turn up the guitar mid solo. It’s SO dope.

6) Born and Raised When he introduced this you could really tell he takes a lot of pride in this song and I totally get why. Crosby, Stills, Nash are on this, and the harmonies will fuck you up. Its insane. This song deserves to be the title track. I can’t really put how awesome this arrangement is into words, so I won’t

7) If I Ever Get Around to Living He introduced this song by saying, this is where this album just gets pretty twisted and goes haywire. I totally agree. If I had to pick a favorite, this was it. It’s so unlike anything I’ve ever heard from him. And it’s really something else. I seriously can’t wait until May 22nd to hear this again. It’s so incredible. I encourage you all to NOT listen to it when the 30 second previews come out on iTunes whenever that may be, because this song deserves to be listened to from the start to finish. Seriously. It kind of has like 3 separate parts, not really VCVC or AABA or anything like that. It’s beautiful. He also intro’d the song by saying he wrote this in Electric Lady Land studios, and that that place just has rooms that lend themselves to spooky and just crazy songs. I can’t explain enough how cool and gorgeous I thought this song was.

8 ) Love is a Verb The first time I heard this song on youtube I was really taken back by the overall message. The track is still pretty bare, but theres more harmonies, and its just a little more fleshed out and full now. Its 2:12. I think this song just speaks truth. No surprises here though.

9) Walt Grace’s Submarine Test, January 1967 I need to listen to this again. But its SO. COOL. holy shit. If I had to describe it, it would be like the 83 of Born and Raised. Then again, I might call myself and idiot for saying that once I hear it again. Its really story driven, and I have a feeling no one will really know what its about unless John tells us. He definitely didn’t give us any hints. Its really dense lyrically. I do remember a verse (3rd maybe?) where he talks about when he was 17 and didn’t have any tattoos. Same goes for this one – don’t listen to the preview, wait till you hear the whole thing. Cool title though ah?

10) Whisky, Whisky, Whisky When I heard this song stripped down, I really wasn’t sure what I thought about it, but now, this song kills. Don told me this is one of his favorites. The chorus just creeps up on you, and hits you hard. The acoustic guitar sounds really open in terms of voicing. I remember loving it a lot more than I thought I would.

11) A Face to Call Home This song just makes me so happy. It’s such a great piece of work. They really bring out the message of the song in the arrangement. for the “Maybe I could stay a while” part, it gets really big and rock-esque. John called it the last song on the record, and even though theres technically the reprise at the end, this song signifies the end of the album. I remember at the end the lyrics “maybe I can stay a while” go over “Face to call home” kind of like how on All We Ever Do, he sings over the long drawn out “All we ever do is say goodbye.”

12) Born and Raised (Reprise) So I was real skeptical when he mentioned this. I was kinda like, wow you sure you don’t want to just end with A Face to Call Home? But after I heard it I thought it was genius. Musically the vibe is kind of similar to when he plays Who Says electric (the way he played who says at Tiger Jam) very singsongy, and lighthearted. The lyrics are different, and the theme behind the lyric is the idea that “I AM Born and Raised.” Such a cool way to end it. He really is a grown up now, and I’m happy for him.

*13?) It Takes a Fool* So one thing I’m a little confused about, is the fact that he actually played us this song last night. But it didn’t make the track listing on his blog this morning… Fishy. I want to say it came right after Wisky, but I’m not sure. I dug it a lot though. PHAT GROOVE ON IT. I’m hoping the blog post is a typo and he’s forgetting this one.

to clear up some questions: -No, unfortunately Break in the Clouds will not make the record. He made a statement saying that, “yah if you don’t hear it on the record, you’ll never hear it again!” So that kinda sucks, cuz I love the hell out of that song, but I love the album so much that I trust him. And I don’t think that this was the one Don Was was talking about in that interview… that song is definitely not radio friendly. -There were I think 13 MSM’ers in total -he played all of the harmonica on the record (which theres a lot of) and lap steel. He said he learned those two instruments specifically for the record. -Overall, there is just a ton of gorgeous vocal harmony on this album. It’ll kill yah.

So thats what we heard and I hope that my run-through gives you guys a nice grasp on what to expect. This record is just the truth. The real John, no BS.

When we were done listening everyone got up and talked to each other, John stayed around and chatted, same with Don, and Michael McDonald (who mentioned briefly to me that there will be more tour dates to come. and some surprises apparently). Then we all got to take pictures with John and talk to him individually. I won’t give you guys details about what he and I talked about, but I will say he was just so warm and loving. But one thing that was cool was right after the album ended he came up to me and said “I really enjoyed watching you listen to my album man.” I’ll never forget that.

It was a night to remember and thanks SO MUCH to RY and John’s management for making this happen. Like, big time thanks.” -Alex

Thankyou Lindsey & Alex for sharing!

#jhnmyr #born and raised #iomn

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