It’s a mixed blessing for the album as a whole. This sense that you’ve heard this stuff before isn’t helped by the fact that in several cases you have – in addition to Last Train Home three of the album’s 10 tracks have all been released as standalone singles since 2017’s The Search For Everything. Perhaps, as a self-professed student of comedy, Mayer just appreciates the value of committing to a bit? As Mayer himself put it to Blackbird Spyplane instead he wanted to “pretend someone made a record in 1988 and shelved it”.Īnd that’s exactly what Sob Rock is – a full-blooded tribute to an often-derided era of guitar music, ably assisted by a cast of musicians who remember it first-hand: from regular bassist Pino Paladino, to co-producer Don Was and particularly keyboardist Greg Phillinganes, who channels the spirit of his days working with Clapton, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder and yes, Kenny Loggins with aplomb. READ MORE: The Genius Of… Into the Great Wide Open by Tom Petty and the HeartbreakersĪnd this is no mere promotional device, obfuscating a slickly produced selection of modern pop songs calibrated to slot into your New Music playlists with focus-grouped ease.
From the cheesy music videos and billboard ads used in its promotion, to the authentically 80s discount stickers on the album’s cover, the pithily titled Sob Rock arrives on the back of a marketing campaign seemingly precision-calibrated to encourage you to not take things too seriously, and instead approach it with the sort of sardonic humour you would any other online meme. You might be forgiven for assuming that every copy of John Mayer’s new album comes packaged with a knowingly raised eyebrow from the man himself.