John Mayer: Continuum (2LP) [AWARE/COLUMBIA]

Why you'll love it

Continuum debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and won the Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Album. "Gravity", "Slow Dancing in a Burning Room" and "Stop This Train" are the songs every guitar student learns next.

This edition

• 2LP set
• Aware/Columbia pressing of the 2006 album
• Produced by Steve Jordan, with Pino Palladino on bass

About the album

John Mayer is known for crowd-pleasing soft-rock polish, but the fact remains the dude is a pretty serious guitar player. He can, thus, hold his own with some of the best musicians in the game, as he does on his third album, 2006's Continuum, which corrals bassist sans pareil Pino Palladino and future Rolling Stones drummer Steve Jordan (who also produced) in service of Mayer's smooth-as-silk blue-eyed soul vision.

The three of them had already road-tested the sound as the John Mayer Trio, and you can hear the bluesy confidence all over "Gravity," "Vultures" and a slinky take on Hendrix's "Bold as Love." He's a bit deeper than you think.

Also at Kops: more John Mayer on vinyl · browse Rock

Tracklist

Listen

On Aware/Columbia, a reissue of the 2006 album.