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His vocals here are mostly murmurs, and the musical accompaniment, though skillful throughout, lacks the punch of his previous albums.
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Instead of the dynamic sound Mayer is capable of, he has instead continued along the same nicely-paved road he has ridden his whole studio career, a path that has always elicited the same reaction from this writer – a shrug.
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His latest mundane disc lacks edge despite sometimes aiming for U2.
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It would be unfair to call Battle Studies an outright misfire, but it’s undoubtedly a regression on his winding, forward-moving path toward artistic maturity. Two steps forward, one step back then.
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Q MagazineWhile Heartbreak Warfare and War Of My Life chug pleasantly along in their Police-lite way, and Taylor Swift makes the briefest of cameos on the bittersweet half Of My Heart, true inspiration, as ever, remains a conspicuous absentee. [Jan 2010, p. 120]
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Battle Studies is terrific when Mayer drops the seriousness, pondering and sending up his reputation as a rake.
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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.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 56 out of 76
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Mixed: 14 out of 76
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Negative: 6 out of 76
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KaiRNov 30, 2009
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LisaBNov 30, 2009
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RichardMNov 29, 2009