With the title based off of a 19th Century war tactic book, John Mayer wanted to create a record based on the hardship in relationships and the everyday battles we face in life. In a rented out Los Angeles mansion/home studio far away from the paparazzi, John accomplished exactly what he set out to do. John wanted to step away from what made his previous record, Continuum, so successful and go in a completely different direction and show his audience there is more he needs to add to his musical repertoire.

Battle Studies starts off with a U2 style guitar effect and breaks in the "love is a battlefield" theme in "Heartbreak Warfare." It is interesting that John selected an acoustic ballad as the second track, but "All We Ever Do Is Say Goodbye" fits here perfectly and is one of the saddest songs on the record. The third track, "Half Of My Heart," is a Fleetwood Mac inspired song featuring Taylor Swift and has "Grammy/Big Time Radio Hit" written all over it. "Who Says," the record's first single, is a simple folk song about having control of the pleasures in your life. "Perfectly Lonely" is one of the best on the record, and brags of his great guitar skills. It's a break in the clouds from the heartbreak stating "I don't need anybody." The next track, "Assassin," is my favorite on the record. It is a dark yet sexy song filled with very deep lyrics about a player who has the tides turn on him. The guitar solo shows his Stevie Ray Vaughan influence and this song has great potential to grow live. His cover of "Crossroads," the Robert Johnson song made famous by Cream, is very different from the rest of the record. John plays this song great live, but the studio version just seems very dumbed down. The next song "War Of My Life" is a very chill and great "road trip" song about the battles we face in life. "Edge of Desire" is probably the most emotionally charged song on the record and is about the deep wanting of love from a lonely soul. "Do You Know Me" is a very simple and short song (2:30) which is very open-ended and can get repetitive, yet it has an philosophic feel to it lyrically. The final track, "Friends, Lovers Or Nothing," is an upbeat and great closing song which shows the final battle of love and proclaims that "friends with benefits" is a bad idea.

I could have gone into greater detail in my review but I didn't want to overload you all. Overall, I think this is a great record. I can't really compare it to any of his previous work because it is completely different. It seems to start the story of heartbreak with the sun out, then the record gets darker and deeper, and then the sun comes back out at the end. I do like Continuum better musically, but Battle Studies is much more mature lyrically and his vocals are much more improved. I would have to place Battle Studies somewhere between Continuum and Room For Squares/Heavier Things. Tickets to the Battle Studies World Tour go on sale for the general public tomorrow, November 21, and expect me to be one of the first to guarantee a spot to see him. John continues to influence me as a musician and I am glad to be along for the ride.

"Clouds of sulfur in the air / Bombs exploding everywhere / It's heartbreak warfare."