
You and I Both
He's got a beautiful voice, chill guitar vibe, and a solid backing band. Without question, these songs stand on their own. I'm sure they were written on the guitar without any regard to the rest of the instrumentation. However, the bass, drums, and electric guitar really add to the overall feel of the track without it losing it's identity. Listening to a track like this forces me to truly appreciate how much this project has affected me. While I do enjoy this song, I don't as much as I used to. It's nice, it's fluff, but really it lacks ingenuity (not that that's a bad thing). Fluff is good (in moderation).

It's Mraz at his best. He does a lot of things right but I always adore his quick, witty lyrics. They're like Pokemon, there's no way you can catch 'em all - at least not on the first listen. Then, when you step back and really focus on the words, they're really good. Musically, he's solid. The big, soaring chorus allowed this to be a big radio hit.
The Boy's Gone
I chose this song to spotlight because it provides one of my favorite moments on any record. It's a solid song but the moments from 2:28 - 2:45 is absolutely money. The stuttering rocks my world. The rhythm puts me at a loss for words. While it's cool out of context, in the moment it's absolutely ridiculous. After all these years I still cite it as one of the most mind-boggling moments on any record. What possessed him to do it and how is it that every time it's so amazing?
All in all, I overplayed this album and yet it still stands up. I shelved this record for quite some time in favor of some of his later records and while I may not be pulling it out again soon, I do recognize it's a solid début album by a very special artist. Despite Mraz's image as just another guy with a guitar (which I still don't understand) his music is way better than public opinion gives him credit for.
No comments:
Post a Comment