1. LenT.

   10

   I spent the last 30 years listening almost exclusively to one artist - James Taylor. Sometimes months at a time with the same cassette in my car. I haven't heard anyone in all those years that I could imagine liking as much - and it will take many CD's to compete with JT, but Jason Mraz is as close as I have seen anyone come. He is a brilliant songwriter, fantastic voice and very unique and creative. I just hope he catches on! Len… Expand

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2. jw

   5

   What IS it about sophomore albums, anyway? This is the SECOND hip neo-songwriter bandwagon I've been unceremoniously thrown off of in as many years. I get that narcissism is the new black and all, but this disc, like "Heavier Things," is completely ridiculous. Both Mraz and John Mayer arrived on the scene so brilliantly it's almost impossible to believe how far they fell with these two albums. Both seem to have listened too closely to their own hype. In Mayer's case, he seems to have swallowed whatever was left of that "Wonderland" pill and gone off the deep end. Apparently buoyed by the swoons resulting from that single, he is tireless in the assertion of his man-ness. Radio play refuses to let us forget the mind-numbing chant of "Daughters," with the immortal lyric: "On behalf of every man looking out for every girl/You are the god and the weight of her world." Are women really okay with lines like that? Enough of them must be. But please John - never speak on my behalf again. Mraz is similarly basking in the glow of himself here - though admittedly it is not so much offensive as it is annoying. Obviously he has made an effort to feature what he had heard were the top selling points of his first effort (i.e., his clover-honey falsetto and the ever present "wordplay," which is now featured as a topic unto itself). Wordplay, wordplay, wordplay..."It's all about the wordplay," he tells us. Nevermind that the wordplay of the first album was based on what were generally useful and exciting lyrics. These songs are scarcely more than a topic sentence followed by prolonged Brat Scat. And there are so many of them! All attesting to the brilliance of the first album without ever duplicating it. The opening track, "Life Is Wonderful" is a fake-out, much like the better "Clarity" was from Mayer. Both songs seem remnants left over from the debut albums, and both belie the silliness to come.… Expand

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3. [Anonymous]

   3

   Mraz has an exclusive fanbase of white girls and mommies, and he knows it well. His cocky, self-adoring behavior comes off far too easily in his songs, as does his background in musical theater, which may be the reason this album is so awful. Or maybe it's that one could easily imagine him strumming his guitar during lunch break while in costume for "Guys & Dolls," singing "Wordplay" and melting the collective heart of the girls in the Chorus.… Expand

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