A Strange Arrangement

Great Range of Soul Styles
Mayer writes, sings, and plays just about everythings album that spans soul styles from the Delfonics to Curtis Mayfield to the Motown sound.

Best $ spent
I couldn't be happier with A Strange Arrangement. Best music purchase in quite some time. This kid is going places. Mark my words. :-)

Thank you for your lack of irony.
I had read the reviews, seen the pictures, saw that he was on Stones Throw and all I could think was, great...another ironic artist copping a classic musical genre so he can be funny. I was wrong. Mayer, regardless of his initial motivations, has made a picture perfect piece of undeniable pop music that shines as a reminder of how sorely we need real music back on the radio. I would personally send my "hit" local radio station a dozen roses if they replaced the repetition of things like "Do the Stanky Leg" or the new Lady GaGa single with "Your easy lovin' aint pleasin' nothin" or "Make Her Mine". Also, this album is a great example of proper song constraint. I'd much rather have a 40 minute long album that I listen to on repeat without skipping a song rather than having to cut out half the album to listen to the 3 good songs. Kudos to Mayer Hawthorne and PBW for noticing the possibilities in Mayer's early singles and ponying up the cash for a full album.

I couldn't stop playing this album
If it weren't for the message board I was visiting, Mayer Hawthorne's debut album, "A Strange Arrangement" would of went unnoticed by me(at least for awhile). Maybe if I had saw it in a year end recap of best albums of 2009, it would pique my curiosity. Luckily for me I didn't have to wait 'til such a time and discovered the album on my own(somewhat). Prior to the release of the album, I heard samples of the album and was very interested and impressed with the album. Finally once I got my hands on the actual album, I couldn't stop playing it and virtually have not but I have given it a slight rest so I won't wear it out as fast. The album is very good and in a very surprising way. I love the "Prelude" and the harmonies and how it goes right into the lush title track which is ever so dreamy and nostalgic. I actually like every song but some more than others such as "Shiny and New", "I Wish It Would Rain" and "Just Ain't Gonna Work Out". I strongly recommend this album and it would be a shame if this album gets ignored(which I'm sure it might but hopefully not). I will even go as far as to say that this is like the male version of Amy Winehouses' "Back To Black" but not quite as dark.

Reinventing R&B
The evolution of "neo-soul" and the reinvention of funk and R & B has been the unspoken blessing of the past decade. The slow mutation from Jill Scott to the British throwback queens of Duffy and Amy Winehouse have shown you don't have to reinvent the wheel, just take the old one and paint it a different color. Mayer Hawthorne's debut on Stones Throw Records, thankfully, finds an untapped niche in this genre with great results. "A Strange Arrangement" isn't your older brothers booty-shaking R & B, your uncle's old Earth Wind and Fire records, or your dad's collection of Al Green. This record has a lot more in common with the Temptations and Otis Redding. Combining Motown soul and funk breaks and instrumentation, Mayer Hawthorne's music owes a lot to the classics and the easy listening sound of the early 60s and their favorite topic: love won and lost. Hawthorne plays every instrument on the record and has been quoted as having to learn how to sing for this record. It is easy to hear why: the melody lines frequently dip into falsetto and sometimes he executes it, sometimes he doesn't. No matter. The effort he pours into it makes up for the lack of training. The title track oozes along with vocal harmonies to create the lushest arrangement (no pun intended) on the record, first single "Just Ain't Gonna Work Out," despite its sparseness of arrangement or melody, just feels great. The horns of the cover "Maybe So or Maybe No" jump out of the record as well. As a whole, A Strange Arrangement feels familiar and nostalgic in a good way. Of course there are drawbacks to his approach and style. I can't help but wishing Burt Bacharach or Hal Mooney (if he was alive) could toss their arrangements onto these sparse compositions and make them really fly. Very few multi-instrumentalists (Beck, Jon Brion, or Prince are excluded) can really put a session musician's technique on each instrument and careful listeners can hear this lack of polish. But for most listeners, "A Strange Arrangement" is an intimate, informal collection of love songs that goes down easier than your favorite nightcap. Recommended