Inside Wants Out

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Inside Wants Out
Inside Wants Out cover
EP by John Mayer
Released September 24, 1999 (original)
August 2, 2002 (re-release)
Genre Folk rock
Length 31:51
Label self-released
Producer John Mayer
Glenn Matullo
David LaBruyere
Professional reviews
John Mayer chronology
Inside Wants Out
(1999)		 Room for Squares
(2001)

Inside Wants Out is a self-released debut album by John Mayer, initially distributed in the Atlanta, Georgia area. It later led to his major-label record deal with Columbia Records, Room for Squares. The first four songs from this album made it to the latter. After the Room for Squares commercial re-release, Columbia re-released the EP with the omission of the second version of the song, "Neon".

Despite having released several albums since Inside Wants Out, Mayer continues to play all of its songs in regular rotation in his current shows.a[›]

Contents

[edit] Production and history

Mayer enrolled in the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, at the age of nineteen.[1] After two semesters, he chose to cut his studies short, and at the urging of his college friend and Atlanta native, Clay Cook, the two moved to Atlanta, Georgia.[2] Quickly making a name for their two-man band, LoFi Masters, they began their career in earnest there, frequenting the local coffee house and club circuit in venues like Eddie’s Attic.[3] Cook has said, however, that they began to experience musical differences due to Mayer’s desire to take the duo in more of a pop direction.[4] The two parted ways, and Mayer embarked on a solo career.[2]

With the help of local producer and engineer Glenn Matullo, Mayer recorded the independent EP Inside Wants Out. Cook is also cited as the co-writer of four of the songs from the EP, most notably, Mayer's first commercial single release, "No Such Thing".[4] The EP includes only eight songs, all with Mayer on lead vocals and guitars, with the exception of “Comfortable” in which Mayer only recorded the vocals. For the opening track, “Back To You”, a full band was enlisted, including the EP’s co-producer David "DeLa" LaBruyere on bass guitars.[5] Mayer and LaBruyere then began to tour throughout Georgia and the surrounding states.

[edit] Reception

[edit] Critical

Critical response to Inside Wants Out, that came mostly after the Columbia re-release, was warm and optimistic. David Thigpin (with Rolling Stone) called the album's sound, "curving, melodically rich tunes that weave folk, blues, rock and wisps of jazz [and] place him in the company of David Gray and Jeff Buckley, minus the melancholy."[6] Gavin Edwards gave the album four out of five stars, and said, "Mayer's gift for melody was already in full effect on this record".[7]

[edit] Commercial

 Please help improve this section by expanding it.
Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion.


[edit] Track listing

[edit] Original EP release

  1. "Back to You" (John Mayer) – 4:00
  2. "No Such Thing" (Clay Cook, Mayer) – 3:51
  3. "My Stupid Mouth" (Mayer) – 4:16
  4. "Neon" (Cook, Mayer) – 3:56
  5. "Victoria" (Mayer) – 3:49
  6. "Love Soon" (Cook, Mayer) – 3:39
  7. "Comfortable" (Cook, Mayer) – 5:00
  8. "Neon 12:47 AM" (Cook, Mayer) – 2:45
  9. "Quiet" (Mayer) – 3:20

[edit] Columbia re-release

  1. "Back to You" (John Mayer) – 4:00
  2. "No Such Thing" (Clay Cook, Mayer) – 3:51
  3. "My Stupid Mouth" (Mayer) – 4:16
  4. "Neon" (Cook, Mayer) – 3:56
  5. "Victoria" (Mayer) – 3:49
  6. "Love Soon" (Cook, Mayer) – 3:39
  7. "Comfortable" (Cook, Mayer) – 5:00
  8. "Quiet" (Mayer) – 3:20

[edit] Personnel

The following personnel worked in the studio on Inside Wants Out:[8]

  • John Mayer - vocals, guitar
  • Casey Driessen
  • Clay Cook - guitar, background vocals
  • David LaBruyere - bass, loops
  • Matt Mangano - bass
  • Sigurdur Birkis - drums
  • Stephen Roberson - drums

[edit] Notes

^ a: John Mayer's Official tour page records all of his concerts from August 2006 to present. From these, each song from Inside Wants Out has been included at least once. However, "Quiet", "Victoria", and "Love Soon" are far less common than the other five.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Ruth Shaut (ELLE)(2006)."Blues Brother" J-mayer.org. Retrieved on 2006-08-03.
  2. ^ a b Small, Mark (2005). "John Mayer '98: Running with the Big Dogs" Berklee.edu. Retrieved on April 23, 2007.
  3. ^ (2005). "Men Of The Week: Entertainment - John Mayer" AskMen.com. Retrieved on April 12, 2006.
  4. ^ a b Guthrie, Blake (2003). "Mayer of Atlanta: John Mayer plays Philips Arena, and all I got was this lousy cover story" CreativeLoafing.com. Retrieved on February 17, 2007.
  5. ^ Alter, Gaby (2007). "Tour Profile: John Mayer" MixOline.com. Retrieved on April 23, 2007.
  6. ^ Thigpen, David (February 14, 2002), "JOHN MAYER". Rolling Stone (889):45
  7. ^ Edwards, Gavin (October 31, 2002), "Inside Wants Out (Music release)". Rolling Stone (908):154
  8. ^ Inside Wants Out CDUniverse.com Retrieved 2007-11-20


v • d • e
John Mayer
Discography
Studio albums
EPs
Inside Wants Out · The Village Sessions
Live albums
Singles
Other songs
John Mayer Trio
Try! · "Who Did You Think I Was" · "Live @ Yahoo! Music"
Languages