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Jason Mraz's debut joins a long line of what could now be considered a bona fide trend: mostly acoustic records by sensitive male solo singer-songwriters.  Following high-profile and well-received recent albums by John Mayer, Rhett Miller, David Gray, Ryan Adams, and more, it would be easy to write off Waiting for My Rocket to Come as just another jangly, poppy album with a pretty face attached.  But that would be a shame, since Jason Mraz's music is expressive, uplifting, occasionally goofy, and above the whims of a fickle music-buying public.

Mraz's songs sound full but not overly lush.  It's definitely the sound of a band and not just one guy with a guitar, plus it includes surprising instrumentation like, for instance, ukulele and celesta on "Who Need Shelter."  He's also in possession of one of the best voices among the current crop of male singer-songwriters.  More commanding and higher than John Mayer, more controlled than Ryan Adams, Mraz also can sound a bit like the late Jeff Buckley on his ballads, especially on the beautiful "Absolutely Zero."  Nearly every song on the album includes some sort of melisma, and hearing him caress a single word with multiple notes--as he does with the word "side" in "No Stopping Us" or "lovely" in "Tonight, Not Again"--is, well, lovely.

Also setting Mraz apart from the other sensitive guys: this album is genre-bending musically, defying strict categorization.  Excellent first single "The Remedy (I Won't Worry)" is uplifting, jangly pop with speak-singing verses and a soaring chorus ("I won't worry my life away" being the salient line), but other songs prove that Mraz a bit tougher to pin down than at first glance.  Case in point: standout track "Curbside Prophet."  This seemingly autobiographical song is a head-bobbin', funky, clever good time, with speak-singing that approaches (but doesn't really reach) rap territory... and then the banjo kicks in, followed by a Willie Nelson name-check.  I challenge you to listen to it and remain still.  A few tracks later there's "No Stopping Us," a nice slice of white-boy soul goodness complete with a funky guitar riff, a horn section, and a keyboard solo that seems lifted right out of Stevie Wonder's "As."  And there's also the reggae-tinged "I'll Do Anything."  And the subtly jazzy "Sleep All Day."  As Mraz himself puts it in "Curbside Prophet," he's "geared to freestyle, look at my flexibility."

Then there's the lyrics.  Clever and funny when he wants to be, sweet and sensitive when he wants to be, this is one album where you really do need to stop and listen to the words.  The best seem to be on the clever side: "So step on up to the plate, get a date with Mraz / See you better act fast because supplies they never last / Now did you know, this is a limited time offer" from "I'll Do Anything," and even better, the opening line from "Too Much Food" (as in "too much food on my plate"): "You can say that I'm the one curly fry in the box of the regular / Messing with the flavor, oh the flavor that you savor / Saving me for last but you better not eat me at all."

So why not five tocks?  The ballads simply don't work as well as the upbeat, at least to my ears.  Mraz has the voice to pull off good balladry, but he seems more at home with the lighter, more lyrically clever material.  The slow tunes are by no means bad, but they don't reveal the originality that bursts around the seams of songs like "Curbside Prophet."  Mraz clearly has the musical flexibility to inject that individuality into the slower songs, so for now that minor shortcoming is more like a reason to look forward to a second album than a reason not to enjoy the first.

That's a small complaint, indeed, as the vast majority of this album is excellent, uplifting, intelligent, hook-laden, and often quite funny (the photo in the liner notes of Mraz wearing 3-D glasses and holding a chicken wearing chicken-sized 3-D glasses is priceless).  The music's good, there's an individual identity behind it, and it's just darn fun to listen to.  A good listen for anyone who's up for jangly pop delivered with humor and soul.

Matthew Luter   2/15/03