John Mayer – Battle Studies

Columbia/Sony CD 2009
Bonus CD from Vinyl LP Edition
Rock-Pop | XLD Rip | FLAC, CUE, LOG | 312 MB

“

Battle Studies is the fourth studio album by American rock musician John Mayer, released November 17, 2009 on Columbia Records in the United States. Recording sessions for the album took place during February to August 2009 at Battle Studies in Calabasas, California, Capitol Studios in Hollywood, California, and The Village in West Los Angeles, California. Production was handled by Mayer and Steve Jordan. The album debuted at number 1 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart, selling 286,000 copies in its first week. Upon its release, Battle Studies received generally mixed to positive reviews from most music critics.

”

Background
During a live performance in June of 2009 Mayer said, "The album is called Battle Studies and that’s because it incorporates a lot of the lessons, a lot of the observations, and a little bit of advice. Like a handbook, like a heartbreak handbook." On October 1, 2009, Mayer posted via twitter: "Track listing on Battle Studies is complete! Very interesting order… 11 songs. 45 minutes. Hit ‘em hard and get out."

The album was leaked just hours before Mayer was scheduled to perform an official "radio leak" on 103.7 Sophie in San Diego. However, Mayer gave his listeners permission to download the leak, as long as they "registered" their copies by ordering the album.
Mayer will hit the road in 2010 on his Battle Studies World Tour. The tour begins on February 4, 2010 in Sunrise, FL at the Bank Atlantic Center and ends on June 2, 2010 in Amsterdam, NL at the Heineken Music Hall.

Singles
Noted on John Mayer’s official Twitter profile, "Who Says" is the first single off the album. It was released for preview September 25, 2009 at www.johnmayer.com. The official release for the single was October 13, 2009. The second single was "Heartbreak Warfare", which began being previewed on October 19, 2009. The first ever augmented reality video accompanies the second single, which was released on the same date on Mayer’s website.

Reception
The album debuted at number 1 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart, selling 286,000 copies in its first week. In its second week, it sold an additional 93,000 copies and fell to number 13 on the chart.

Upon its release, Battle Studies received generally mixed to positive reviews from most music critics, based on an aggregate score of 61/100 from Metacritic. Billboard magazine called Battle Studies "the best and most adventurous of his four studio albums". Despite stating that "Mayer dips too heavily toward the texture", Allmusic’s Stephen Thomas Erlewine gave the album 3½ out of 5 stars and commended Mayer for his musicianship. The Boston Globe’s Sarah Rodman wrote favorably of Mayer’s intimate expression on the album and wrote that he "continues to strip away the twinkly radio lacquer of his earlier work without sacrificing his pop sensibilities". Jackie Hayden of Hot Press gave Battle Studies a rating of 3.5/5 and called it a "classy pop opus for grown-ups". Los Angeles Times writer Randy Lewis gave it 2½ out of 4 stars and praised its production and Mayer’s melodies. However, Lewis viewed its lyrical content as subpar to its music and wrote that "For the most part, he expresses himself more eloquently through his guitar than his lyrics". The Independent writer Andy Gill gave Battle Studies 3 out of 5 stars and found its lyrical detail "ultimately tiresome".

Sputnikmusic critic Alex Silveri viewed Mayer’s songwriting depth as flawed and called the album "about as scholastically violent as a bunny in a pile of hay". However, Silveri commended Mayer for his "knack for dealing with universal themes in thoroughly down to earth ways, and without the layering of pop cheese that so many of his contemporaries indulge in". Despite writing favorably of the album’s craftsmanship, Rolling Stone’s Jody Rosen gave it 3 out of 5 stars and perceived the subject matter’s seriousness as a weakness. Entertainment Weekly critic Leah Greenblatt gave Battle Studies a B- rating and shared a similar sentiment, writing "Mostly, he noodles amiably toward Studies’ conclusion, apparently content to stay within the confines of the Dave Matthews/Jason Mraz (and yes, John Mayer) sensitive-dude rock template. In this Battle, it seems, one side never really stood a chance". The New York Post’s Dan Aquilante called it a "gritless record that’s too smooth for its own good" and gave it 2½ stars. USA Today’s Edna Gundersen gave the album 2½ out of 4 stars and wrote "While his guitar chops are impeccable on this well-crafted blues-pop album, the gravity and cautious noodling cry out for some input from that other Mayer: his cunning, irreverent public persona".

Both Slant Magazine’s Jonathan Keefe and The Washington Post’s Allison Stewart gave the album generally negative reviews and panned Mayer’s stylistic choice for Battle Studies. Chicago Sun-Times critic Jim DeRogatis gave the album ½ out of 4 stars, stating "Laden with laughable romantic-schlock lyrics and trite, sappy melodies, these songs aim for the pathos of classic Carpenters but come closer to maudlin Barry Manilow". Tom Hughes of The Guardian gave it 2 out of 5 stars and wrote "Mayer’s talents are obvious, but there’s so much more cheese than charm here that he would seem like a hard sell outside the Billboard heartland".[26] The Village Voice columnist Zach Baron stated that it "somehow avoids including any of the myriad things that actually make John Mayer interesting". Jon Caramanica of The New York Times wrote that "the album highlights the extremely blatant chasm between John Mayer the musician and John Mayer the public character, a divide Mr. Mayer said he was eager to maintain".

Track listing
All songs written by John Mayer, except where noted.

1. "Heartbreak Warfare" – 4:30
2. "All We Ever Do Is Say Goodbye" – 4:35
3. "Half of My Heart" (with Taylor Swift) – 4:10
4. "Who Says" – 2:56
5. "Perfectly Lonely" – 4:28
6. "Assassin" – 5:14
7. "Crossroads" (Robert Johnson) – 2:29
8. "War of My Life" – 4:15
9. "Edge of Desire" – 5:32
10. "Do You Know Me" – 2:30
11. "Friends, Lovers or Nothing" – 5:59

XLD CD log

X Lossless Decoder version 20100117 (115.3)

XLD extraction logfile from 2010-01-17 19:26:19 -0800

John Mayer / Battle Studies

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2 | 04:29:54 | 04:35:20 | 20229 | 40873
3 | 09:04:74 | 04:10:28 | 40874 | 59651
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7 | 25:53:59 | 02:29:29 | 116534 | 127737
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9 | 32:38:22 | 05:32:05 | 146872 | 171776
10 | 38:10:27 | 02:30:24 | 171777 | 183050
11 | 40:40:51 | 05:59:18 | 183051 | 209993

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2 | 42 | -6 | 2

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End of status report

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I will be posting the vinyl rip of this album in a day or two.
And for those wanting this as MP3 for your iPod http://avaxhome.ws/music/john_mayer_battle_studies_2009.html