As we stumble our way through these early years of the new millennium, it's still an awfully big challenge to nail down exactly which musical trends are taking the reins for tomorrow's world of popular music. So many musical trends have jumped into the spotlight, only to shrivel and waste away in the space of a scant few years or months. One style that seems to have a firm foothold in the record stores and on the airwaves is that of the guitar-driven male singer/songwriter. In the wake of the Dave Matthews Band, it seems like any twenty-something guy can throw on some casual clothes, grab an acoustic guitar, write some deeply personal but uplifting songs, and with the help of a capable producer (usually John Alagia), crank out a pretty successful album. It's a formula we've seen work too many times to count in recent years, and it shows little sign of slowing down.

Of course, once a strong formula like this gets established, it's only natural that things start to drift toward mediocrity. It's impossible to maintain standards as more and more people sign onto something. At the first listen to his debut album, Waiting for My Rocket to Come, Jason Mraz sounds like just another one of these Johnny-come-latelies who are just leaping onto the bandwagon.

The album opens with You and I Both, a song rife with sharp acoustic guitar chords, a light, but steady drum beat, and Mraz's sweet tenor voice. Lyrically, the song is a bit sappy, singing of your typical "love that only you and I truly understand." The music is well put together, and shows that Mraz and company and skilled musicians, but it feels like a cookie cutter, by-the-numbers job. Several of the other songs on the album, including Sleep All Day, Absolutely Zero, and Tonight, Not Again fall into this skilled, but formulaic, saccharine pop vocal category. It's possible to focus on songs like these and conclude that Jason Mraz is just following in the footsteps other male singer-songwriters.

Give the album a few listens, though, and certain songs start to stand out as not just a little different, but also refreshing and invigorating. Take for example, I'll Do Anything. We've still got the acoustic led instrumentation and the sticky-sweet tenor voice, but this time around the musical arrangement has a light reggae influence. Suddenly the album has a musical twist strong enough to grab our attention. No Stopping Us adds some 1970's AM radio horn arrangements to put a further spin on the album's style, and The Boy's Gone brings in a latin, bossa nova feel for an atypically mellow point on the album.

The abovementioned songs sneak in enough stylistic variety to prove that Jason Mraz isn't just jumping on the singer/songwriter bandwagon, as he first appears. Two other genre twisting songs, though, really stand out as the album's high points. The Remedy (I Wont Worry) has a soulful funk sound that brings to mind the music of Stevie Wonder or Jamiroquai as Mraz sings about coping with the problems of the world. The other stand out track, the semi-autobiographical Curbside Prophet, also displays the same funky influences, but further mixes things up by layering everything over a base of catchy hooks played on banjo and pedal steel guitar, making for a genre mish-mash that still manages to work quite successfully. The vocals on these songs also stand out as something a little different. While I wouldn't go so far as to say that the lines have a rap feel to them, they have an undeniable flow to them that can't help catching your ear.

Once you notice the stylistic twists that Mraz has thrown onto his album, you also start to hear the clever work that has gone into his lyrics. Consider lines like these:

Are you in the mood for some dude, are you in the mood to be subdued
Or would you rather just mingle?(I'll Do Anything)

The remedy is the experience. It is a dangerous liaison
I say the comedy is that it's serious. Which is a strange enough new play on words (The Remedy)

Or listen to the song Too Much Food, in which Mraz uses fast food imagery to create dozens of metaphors for life. Mraz sprinkles enough clever, unexpected wordplay throughout the album to get listeners grinning and singling along before they even realize what's going on.

All together, here is our track listing:

1. You and I Both
2. I'll Do Anything
3. The Remedy (I Won't Worry)
4. Who Needs Shelter
5. Curbside Prophet
6. Sleep All Day
7. Too Much Food
8. Absolutely Zero
9. On Love, In Sadness
10. No Stopping Us
11. The Boy's Gone
12. Tonight, Not Again

While Waiting For My Rocket to Come proves itself to be a pretty strong album after a few listens, it's not absolutely perfect. There are a few too many formulaic singer/songwriter tracks among the more clever, genre-tweaking songs. There's an awful lot of potential here, though. Give Mraz time to realize that his strength lies in incorporating elements of funk, reggae, and other diverse styles with traditional acoustic vocal pop, and he should be able to put out a fantastic sophomore album. In the mean time, fans of artists like John Mayer or Jude will get plenty of what they enjoy in Jason Mraz's debut album.

Recommended: Yes

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