Room for Squares

1	No Such Thing 3:51
2	Why Georgia 4:28
3	My Stupid Mouth 3:45
4	Your Body Is a Wonderland 4:09
5	Neon 4:22
6	City Love 4:00
7	83 4:50
8	3x5 4:50
9	Love Song for No One 3:21
10	Back to You 4:01
11	Great Indoors 3:36
12	Not Myself 3:40
13	[Untitled]
14	St. Patrick's Day 5:21

All Music Guide

Producer John Alagia's fingerprints are all over this major-label debut for Atlanta-based singer/songwriter John Mayer. On songs like "Not Myself" Mayer seems almost to be parroting Dave Matthews, whom Alagia produced on several albums, including Crash and Before These Crowded Streets. The fault is not Mayer's — his songs are always heartfelt, occasionally poignant, and sometimes even funny, but the jazzy hooks, echoed lyrics, and occasionally forced falsettos that adorn them sometimes seem to be a little much. Despite this, Room for Squares is an easy album to like. Mayer has a soulful voice and he opens himself up emotionally, showing a vulnerability that makes all of the slick production seem forgivable. From the contrite reflection of "My Stupid Mouth" to the sweetly sensual "Your Body Is a Wonderland" to the closing song, "St. Patrick's Day" (which, ironically, is about not wanting to end things), on this album, it's the thoughts that count. ~ Stacia Proefrock

All Music Guide

After making minor waves with his 1999 debut, Inside Wants Out, John Mayer hired veteran producer John Alagía (a longtime associate of the Dave Matthews Band) to lace his first major-label effort with commercial appeal. Released in September 2001, Room for Squares proved to be a savvy, well-timed album, quietly heralding the end of teen pop's glory days with nuanced wordplay, a relaxed gait, and intricate (although nevertheless accessible) songwriting. Songs like "No Such Thing" and "Neon" mixed jazz chords with digestible choruses, fashioning a sort of brainy, college-educated pop hybrid that found a home amongst discerning listeners and mainstream fans alike. Of course, it didn't hurt that Mayer also loaded the album with more straightforward numbers -- particularly "Your Body Is a Wonderland," a bubbling piece of bedroom pop that helped swell his female audience. Mayer's heralded guitar solos and bluesy, Stevie Ray Vaughan-styled flourishes were sorely absent from the mix, though, as he initially limited the bulk of his fretwork to the acoustic guitar. It would take a jam-friendly concert album -- 2003's Any Given Thursday -- to introduce the breadth of Mayer's axeman skills to the public, but Room for Squares still provides a nice introduction to the songwriter's catalog, highlighting his blend of collegiate pop/rock and sensitive acoustics while only hinting at the eclectic, genre-hopping chameleon he would later become. Andrew Leahey