Maps of Music

Continuum (2006)

Where the lyrics of Continuum take you, and where it was really made.

Mayer settled on the title Continuum at least a year before release, and his April 2005 Esquire column already circled the idea of time and the continuum.

Key places

Recording at The Village Recorder, Los Angeles (2006)

Recording site Village Recorders — The album's sessions ran from January 2005 to July 2006, and one of the studios used was The Village Recorder in Los Angeles. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Recording at Right Track, New York City (2006)

Recording site MSR Studios — Sessions for the album also took place at Right Track in New York City, one of the studios named for the album's recording period. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Recording at Royal Studios, Memphis (2006)

Recording site Ardent Studios — Royal Studios in Memphis, Tennessee, is listed among the studios used for the album, and the point is placed at the city centre. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Continuum: third studio album by John Mayer
• Released 12 September 2006 by Aware and Columbia Records
• Produced by Steve Jordan, a singer and drummer
• Shifted Mayer's style toward blues and soul, more heavily than his earlier pop rock work
• Bassist Pino Palladino also performs on the album
• Debuted at number 2 on the US Billboard 200; over 5 million copies sold worldwide

Background

• Mayer chose the title at least a year before release
• His April 2005 Esquire column wrote of being obsessed with time; he confirmed the title in a September 2005 column
• Most songs are new; Gravity and Vultures appear in live versions from the John Mayer Trio album Try!
• Studio versions of two songs from Try! appear on Continuum
• Bold as Love is a Jimi Hendrix cover, the first Hendrix cover Mayer released as a studio recording
• 8-string guitarist Charlie Hunter collaborates on In Repair
• Stop This Train was written while Mayer had double kidney stones and lived in a hotel

Recording

• Sessions ran from January 2005 to July 2006
• Studios: The Village Recorder in Los Angeles; Avatar Studios and Right Track/Sound on Sound in New York City; Royal Studios in Memphis, Tennessee

Cover

• The title typography was customized so the C and o look like an infinity symbol
• Several releases differ slightly in artwork, including a silver cover and a Local 83-only version
• The inside sleeve includes a beach photo of Mayer with Pino Palladino and Steve Jordan

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · es.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• John Clayton Mayer, born October 16, 1977, in Bridgeport, Connecticut, American singer, songwriter, and guitarist.
• Attended Berklee College of Music in 1997, then left for Atlanta with guitarist Clay Cook to form the short-lived duo Lo-Fi Masters.
• Released the independent EP Inside Wants Out (1999) and was later signed by Aware Records, a Columbia Records imprint.

Career

• Debut album Room for Squares (2001) produced hits including "Your Body Is a Wonderland", which won Best Male Pop Vocal Performance at the 45th Grammy Awards.
• Heavier Things (2003) peaked atop the Billboard 200.
• Shifted toward blues and rock, forming the John Mayer Trio; Continuum (2006) won Best Pop Vocal Album at the 49th Grammy Awards.
• Withdrew from public life in 2010 after controversial interviews; later albums include Born and Raised (2012), Paradise Valley (2013), The Search for Everything (2017), and Sob Rock (2021).
• Member of Dead & Company since 2015 alongside surviving Grateful Dead members.
• Ranked number 61 on Rolling Stone's 250 Greatest Guitarists of All Time (2023).
• Sold over 20 million albums worldwide by 2014.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Metacritic average of 67 from 18 mainstream reviews
• AllMusic (Matt Collar): gorgeously produced album that blends blues, soft-funk, R&B, folk and pop
• Mojo: called it a great blue-eyed soul record
• Los Angeles Times (Ann Powers): Mayer is best when treading softly, rather than on angst-filled songs
• Now (Bryan Borzykowski): his melodic voice, warm production and thoughtful lyrics
• MSN Music (Robert Christgau): three-star honorable mention, praising Waiting on the World to Change and The Heart of Life
• Rolling Stone (Anthony DeCurtis): a smart, breezy album that fuses old-school blues and R&B with sharp melodies
• Slant Magazine (Jonathan Keefe): mixed review, not convincing as a soulful rock album
• Entertainment Weekly (Jody Rosen): called Mayer too classy, with songs that dissipate into a soft-rock haze

Reappraisal

• Rolling Stone ranked it the 11th best album of 2006
• In 2020 Rolling Stone placed it at number 486 on its updated 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list

Records

• Debuted at number 2 on the US Billboard 200 with 300,186 copies in its first week
• Four million copies sold in the US as of August 2018, Mayer's third consecutive multi-platinum studio album
• Over 5 million copies sold worldwide
• Canada: debuted at number 2; platinum for 100,000 copies
• Australia: debuted at number 12, his lowest debut there; gold for 35,000 copies
• Three Grammy nominations, two wins: Best Pop Vocal Album and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The album held the record for the most album downloads in history, with over 326,000 copies downloaded until June 2008, when Coldplay's Viva la Vida took the record.
• Bold as Love was played live many times before the studio version, including on the televised Tsunami Aid concert on 15 January 2005.
• The special edition released on 20 November 2007 added a bonus disc of six live tracks, produced by Chad Franscoviak.
• The Australian debut was weak because there was no lead single there; the album debuted at number 12 on the ARIA chart.
• The iTunes pre-release included the exclusive bonus track Can't Take That Plane.
• The front sleeve of the Aware Records release is plain white with a glossy white print of John Mayer.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · www.discogs.com

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