Best Albums !: John Mayer. Continuum (2006)

Continuum is the third major label studio album from John Mayer and was officially released in the United States on September 12, 2006. It marked a change in Mayer's musical style, and incorporated blues and rhythm and blues elements more heavily than before. He was heavily involved in the production of the album, along with fellow musician Steve Jordan.

Continuum was played live and broadcast on radio several times prior to its release. The album reached the top ten of the charts in several countries, and remained on the Billboard 100 in the US for more than a year, eventually reaching double platinum certification in that country. Critical response to the album was largely positive and helped to solidify Mayer's standing as a leading guitarist of his generation. The album garnered three 2007 Grammy Award nominations, and won two: Best Pop Vocal Album and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for the single, "Waiting on the World to Change". The single "Belief" was nominated for the 2008 Grammy Awards in the Best Male Pop Vocal Performance category.

Mayer made the decision to name his third album Continuum at least a year before the album was released. In his column in the April 2005 issue of Esquire, Mayer wrote, "I'm obsessed with time lately, constantly crunching the numbers to get some sense of where I stand in the continuum." In his column in the September 2005 issue of Esquire he confirmed the title, writing, "I've never experienced anything like the recording process involved in making Continuum, my third-album-to-be.

The album features mainly new songs, though "Gravity" and "Vultures" are available in live versions from John Mayer Trio's Try!, and "Bold as Love", which is a Jimi Hendrix cover: the first Hendrix cover that Mayer has ever recorded as a studio release (although Mayer has recorded other Hendrix songs over time in live settings such as "The Wind Cries Mary" and "Wait Until Tomorrow"). (Mayer had played "Bold as Love" live many times prior to the release of Continuum such as on the televised Tsunami Aid: A Concert of Hope which aired on January 15, 2005.) The album contains a collaboration between Mayer and 8-string guitarist Charlie Hunter on the tune "In Repair".