My wife is absolutely in love with John Mayer. I have little doubt that, if we weren’t together, she’d be a travelling groupie who’d follow Mayer to no end. Well, maybe not, but ever since his first big hit, “Your Body is a Wonderland,” she’s grown passionate feelings for the young lad. And so have I.

Actually, it wasn’t “Wonderland” that did it for me. That song’s OK, but it’s a little too teeny-bopper for my likings. When I bought Christina a couple of John Mayer’s CDs, I’ll admit that I was impressed; with songs like “3×5″, “Come Back to Bed”, and “St Patrick’s Day”, the guy was obviously more talented that he lead people to believe with his poppy singles. It wasn’t until I saw JM live, though, that I really fell in love with him. It is for this reason alone that I wish gay marriage and poligamy were legal. (That’s a joke, folks.)

Between his last studio album and his latest, JM became a group of three with the John Mayer Trio. The Trio released a live album, Try!, which was full of wonderful blues and jams. It was around this time that John changed his image from clean-cut kid to dirty hippy, to match his new attitude and musical direction.

Last week, Johnny Boy released his third major-label studio album entitled Continuum. Upon first listen, I noticed that the album as a whole seems more personal. John seems more connected and blended to the music and lyrics, which are largely inspired by war but also, as any JM fan would expect, love and life.

The album’s first track (and first single) “Waiting on the World to Change” finds JM at unease with the current conditions of the world but feeling powerless to fight it; a feeling that many of us can certainly relate to. The music in “Waiting” is radio friendly, but also very retro sounding. “Gravity” and “Vultures”, both of which were first introduced to the masses on JM Trio’s Try!, couldn’t be much more different. While “Gravity” is a wonderful slow-paced song with beautiful vocals, “Vultures” is rather upbeat and even Bee Gees-ish.

The relaxing combination of JM’s guitar and voice on “The Heart of Life” sounds like something straight off of Jack Johnson’s Sing-A-Longs and Lullabies. On “Stop This Train”, John comes to terms with growing up (“Had a talk with my old man; Said help me understand; He said turn 68; You’ll renegotiate”), while he uses humor to recover from a bad relationship on the bluesy “I’m Gonna Find Another You” (“When I was your lover; No one else would do; If I’m forced to find another; I hope she looks like you; And she’s nicer too”).

I appreciate JM’s new musical direction. He’s an excellent guitar player, without question; my only concern with this album is that it’s a somewhat forgettable, which is a little disappointing considering how catchy the tunes on his other albums have been. Despite that, each song on Continuum is finely crafted and well planned. JM’s lyrics are clear and easy to relate to. What I like about JM’s lyrics is that he doesn’t necessarily write songs to be songs; he writes poetry which becomes music, and I really dig that.

Personally, I’m not sure if Continuum is the most appropriate name for JM’s latest album. Though excellent musicianship, vocals, and song-writing are still the cornerstones of the JM experience on Continuum, John brings more R&B flavors to the table here than in his previous efforts. Perhaps I would’ve named the effort Turning Point, as he’s obviously moving away from a more traditional “adult contemporary” rock styling into a blues style ala Eric Clapton. Then again, offering new flavors is what Johnny’s always been about anyway, and will - if this album title is any indication - continue to do.

My Experience: 9/10 - Good tunes all the way through.