Album Review: How Do You Do by Mayer Hawthorne

I've talked a lot in the reveiws over the last couple of years about all the retro stuff going on in music. Mayer Hawthorne falls into the retro soul movement, but I think what's interesting about this particular album is he is taking most of his inspiration from early to mid 70's groups who were doing their own retro soul thing at the time. Bands like Steely Dan, The Doobie Brothers, The O'Jays, etc. seem to be the inspiration for a lot of this album. That layered retro inspiration holds the album together, but the disparity of all those sounds also makes the album feel more like a fun project than a legitimate album.

This is a fun listen, especially if you grew up in the 70's and I could see throwing it on while cleaning the house or washing the car, but I can't see it falling into heavy rotation for anyone.

I really enjoy his use of Snoop Dogg on this album. The man who appears everywhere, appears here as a singer and it's an interesting touch to a good song.

Following the Rhapsody rating method I give it 2 out of 5 stars for Not Bad.