With his new studio album, "Continuum", John Mayer continues to demonstrate his impressive guitar chops, a more mature songwriting style and a richer, deeper sound. The socially conscious first single "Waiting for the World to Change" reminds us that "it's hard to beat the system when you're standing at a distance", while the likely second single "Gravity" is a soft, slow blues jam on which Mayer plays some fantastic guitar. "I Don't Trust Myself" features a gorgeous sound and some nice fretboard work, while the outstanding track "Belief" showcases some strongly emotional lyrics. "Vultures" is slinky and moves to a smooth beat and "Dreaming With a Broken Heart" is an an elegant ballad sure to make the ladies swoon. A powerful guitar solo highlights "In Repair", and closing track "I'm Gonna Find Another You" has shades of the early Mayer song "Comfortable", but with the addition of horns and electric guitar.

The Essential Gloria Estefan: Gloria Estefan (Sony)

"The 2006 Essential Gloria Estefan" is a very long, overdue definitive hits collection that spotlights her longevity as the most successful crossover female Latin/Pop artists ever. The double album does a very good job at highlighting her career throughout three decades in the spotlight. The collection, though, is similar to other greatest-hits records like Whitney Houston's 2000 collection, where one disc is all about the dance tracks and the other disc is all about her pop ballads. The collection here highlights her career very well, and includes all her big hits from the classic covers "Turn The Beat Around" and "Everlasting Love", to dance beats from the classic "Conga", "Mi Tierra" and "Heaven's What I Feel", all the way around to her soulful ballads such as "Music of my Heart" with N'sync and "I See You Smile".

All in all, the songs for the record have all been re-mastered very well, and highlight each song beautifully.

12 Gardens Live: Billy Joel (Columbia)

"12 Gardens Live" is a fine representation of the show. He plays to both the casual fans and the die-hards, including plenty of old hits such as "You May Be Right", "We Didn't Start the Fire" and "Piano Man", along with some obscure stuff ("Laura", "Zanzibar", "Miami 2017"). Joel's voice is still remarkable and hasn't lost much of its range, and his piano work is as always tremendous. The big surprise here is the sleeper hits; by rights, they should sink like stones amidst a sea of universally loved signatures. The double disc is home to two hidden tracks. On disc one, a rocked-up version of "A Room of Our Own" returns the entertainer to the Madison Square Garden stage, where he is duly howled over. And on disc two, after delivering a goosebump-raising rendition of "And So it Goes", he busts back out with "It's Still Rock & Roll to Me". He's having an absolute blast and you can hear it in every note.

Duets: An American Classic: Tony Bennett (Sony)

The album consists of relatively obvious classics in standard big-band arrangements, and Tony Bennett himself is in top form at age 80, so much so that he doesn't need anybody else to handle "I Left My Heart in San Francisco". His voice is in excellent form and he picks some of the best artists to accompany him. The Dixie Chicks provide wonderful Andrews Sisters-type harmonies on the percolating version of "Lullaby of Broadway" that opens the festivities. The best songs tend to be the ones where Bennett's slightly craggy voice is juxtaposed to smooth female ones, like Diana Krall on "The Best Is Yet to Come", familiar accomplice kd lang on the sultry "Because of You" and Streisand on "Smile". Among the less expected guests, soulman John Legend is a revelation on the hard-swinging "Sing, You Sinners", while George Michael confirms he's quite the crooner on "How Do You Keep the Music Playing?" Elvis Costello, Celine Dion or Juanes don't sound as comfortable, and sometimes it feels as if they overdo it to compensate, but overall this collection is among the best of its kind.

www.nationmultimedia.com/special/soundbytes

by mr badboy