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CRITIC REVIEWS
80
The arrangements, which are reminiscent of the deft pop of Elvis Costello and the Police, are built around Mayer’s guitar but make free use of a rhythm section and keyboards.
80
Room for Squares proved to be a well-timed album, quietly heralding the end of teen pop's glory days with clever wordplay, savvy chord progressions, and mature songwriting.
80
The end result is a complete package of infectious tunes ripe with moving vocals and nakedly honest sentiment. This remarkable effort signifies Mayer as the genuine article: a pop recording artist certain to achieve recording popularity.
80
John Mayer capably straddles the funk and folk camps on his major-label debut. With lovely acoustic rock tunes that draw on the jazzy flavour of the album's namesake (Hank Mobley's No Room For Squares).
78
Room for Squares, for all of its baggage, remains a little guitar-pop utopia where it’s OK to keep discovering ourselves as we go along.
I know this album isn't exceptional, I'm gonna guess most wouldn't call this album anything special but come on... This is amazing. John is obviously an insanely good guitar player and his vocals are really good. Yeah ok so maybe the lyrics are pretty corny and maybe not the best but with the energy that John brings it just works for me. If Your Body Is a Wonderland wasn't on this album, I would actually consider giving this a 100. It's an album I just keep coming back to and I just don't seem ... read more
In second grade I guess I had just bought John Mayer's first album Room For Squares one weekend, and brought it into school the following Monday. The teacher looks at the tracklisting
Teacher: (reading) My..... Stupid Mouth? Bobby, Aren't you too young for songs like that?
Me: VH1 taught me. I like COOL music.
I still stand by this. Great debut release.
John Mayer is a huge staple on my childhood, and when I think back to when I was 5 or 6 all I can hear as background music is this album. Sure, it may serve as nostlagia and happy times for me, but this is still a solid pop rock album with some excellent guitar playing.
Full disclosure, this is my first pop-rock album review. I have given this album about 3 spaced out listens to solidify my thoughts on it.
I will say that this album transported me to the 2000s, it definitely sounds like several tv shows when I was growing up were soundtracked by this kind of music.
John is so earnest and I find that very charming. The songs are also very conversational, storylike and introspective which I really enjoyed.
The crown jewel on Room For Squares is absolutely Your ... read more
This album finds its greatness within its execution rather than its conception. There are a million ways to write and produce an acoustic pop-rock album. Still, with how self-aware, charming, relatable, and infectious an aura each song presents, it's almost ridiculous how consistent of a project Mayer achieved before he was ever exposed to fame.
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Track List
| 1 | No Such Thing 3:51 | 85 |
| 2 | Why Georgia 4:28 | 91 |
| 3 | My Stupid Mouth 3:43 | 88 |
| 4 | Your Body Is a Wonderland 4:09 | 82 |
| 5 | Neon 4:22 | 84 |
| 6 | City Love 4:00 | 83 |
| 7 | 83 4:50 | 80 |
| 8 | 3X5 4:49 | 83 |
| 9 | Love Song for No One 3:21 | 82 |
| 10 | Back to You 4:01 | 93 |
| 11 | Great Indoors 3:36 | 82 |
| 12 | Not Myself 3:36 | 85 |
| 13 | St. Patrick's Day 5:21 | 89 |
Total Length: 54 minutes
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Added on: July 13, 2014