Man About Town (album)

Man About Town is the fourth studio album by American singer Mayer Hawthorne. It was released on April 8, 2016, by BMG Rights Management and Vagrant Records.

Man About Town
Studio album by
Mayer Hawthorne
ReleasedApril 8, 2016 (2016-04-08)
Length34:02
Label
Producer
Mayer Hawthorne chronology
Where Does This Door Go
(2013)		 Man About Town
(2016)
Singles from Man About Town
  1. "Cosmic Love"
    Released: January 14, 2016

Promotion

The album's lead single, "Cosmic Love", was released on January 14, 2016,[1] its music video was released on February 11, 2016.[2]

Critical reception
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
AnyDecentMusic?6.4/10[3]
Metacritic74/100[4]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[5]
Exclaim!7/10[6]
The Guardian[7]
The Irish Times[8]
PopMatters7/10[9]
Record Collector[10]
Uncut8/10[11]

Man About Town was met with generally positive reviews. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 74, based on eight reviews.[4] Aggregator AnyDecentMusic? gave it 6.4 out of 10, based on their assessment of the critical consensus.[3]

Mark Deming of AllMusic said, "Man About Town doesn't boast much in the way of radical steps forward. But it confirms the man is still very good at what he does."[5] Ken Capobianco of The Boston Globe said, "Highlights album come when the songs stretch beyond Hawthorne's solo comfort zone."[12] Mackenzie Herd of Exclaim! said, "There is an invigorating energy that shines through the lyrics and tempo of this album, so although lyrics about the finer things of California living aren't necessarily profound or entirely relatable, on Man About Town, Hawthorne's buoyant optimism for beginning anew in 2016 is utterly contagious."[6]

Colin McGuire of PopMatters said, "Like it or not, there aren't many people who can pull off what Mayer Hawthorne does best these days as well as Mayer Hawthorne does it. It fills a very real void in an increasingly crowded and grossly jaded pop music world. It is, in essence, important work."[9] Charles Waring of Record Collector said, "Containing 10 songs and with a running time of 30 minutes, it's tantalisingly brief but never short of quality."[10] Rachel Aroesti of The Guardian said, "For the most part, he remains in relatively banal lyrical territory on this fourth album, but what he's able to do with some aplomb is capture the majestic effortlessness of the Motown sound."[7]

Track listing
Man About Town track listing
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Man About Town"Andrew Cohen0:41
2."Cosmic Love"
3:13
3."Book of Broken Hearts"Cohen3:34
4."Breakfast in Bed"Cohen4:07
5."Lingerie & Candlewax"
3:37
6."Fancy Clothes"Cohen4:10
7."The Valley"
3:36
8."Love Like That"
  • Cohen
  • Bram Inscore
4:06
9."Get You Back"
3:36
10."Out of Pocket"
  • Cohen
  • Inscore
3:22
Total length:34:02

Personnel

Credits for Man About Town adapted from AllMusic.[13]

  • Joe Abramson – bass guitar
  • Hubert Alexander – fender rhodes, keyboards
  • Ambroise Aubrun – violin
  • Sam Beaubien – trumpet
  • Benny Sings – organ, pianette
  • Ben Bortelt – viola
  • Lola Delon – background vocals
  • Rhea Fowler – violin
  • Gerald Glecer – electric guitar
  • Mayer Hawthorne – bass guitar, cabasa, drum programming, drums, fender rhodes, glockenspiel, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, handclapping, marimba, soloist, string arrangements, synthesizer, tambourine, vibraphone, lead vocals, background vocals, wurlitzer, keyboards
  • Jim Hocker – trumpet
  • Brian Inscore – bass guitar, crumar orchestrator, drums, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, wurlitzer
  • Jimi James – saxophone, background vocals
  • Quentin Joseph – drums
  • Justin Jozwick – saxophone
  • Matt Martinez – trombone
  • Jimetta Rose – background vocals
  • Harlan Silverman – cello
  • Joe Splash – bass guitar, drums, string arrangements
  • Juan Turros – saxophone
  • Sam Wishkowski – string arrangements
  • Christian Wunderlich – electric guitar, soloist

Charts
Chart performance for Man About Town
Chart (2016) Peak
position
Japanese Albums (Oricon)[14] 61
US Billboard 200[15] 90
US Independent Albums (Billboard)[16] 7
US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)[17] 6

References
  1. Monroe, Jazz (January 14, 2016). "Listen to Mayer Hawthorne's "Cosmic Love"". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on April 12, 2019. Retrieved May 18, 2019.
  2. Legaspi, Althea (February 11, 2016). "Watch Mayer Hawthorne Play Detective in Smooth 'Cosmic Love' Video". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on September 20, 2020. Retrieved January 28, 2021.
  3. "Man About Town by Mayer Hawthorne reviews". AnyDecentMusic?. Archived from the original on November 3, 2016. Retrieved November 1, 2016.
  4. "Reviews for Man About Town by Mayer Hawthorne". Metacritic. Archived from the original on April 14, 2016. Retrieved April 16, 2016.
  5. Deming, Mark. "Man About Town – Mayer Hawthorne". AllMusic. Archived from the original on April 14, 2016. Retrieved April 16, 2016.
  6. Herd, Mackenzie (April 6, 2016). "Mayer Hawthorne: Man About Town". Exclaim!. Archived from the original on April 10, 2016. Retrieved April 16, 2016.
  7. Aroesti, Rachel (April 7, 2016). "Mayer Hawthorne: Man About Town review – kitsch soul nails 70s sound". The Guardian. Archived from the original on April 11, 2016. Retrieved April 16, 2016.
  8. Carroll, Jim (April 21, 2016). "Mayer Hawthorne – Man About Town review: on autopilot in the middle of the road". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on April 22, 2016. Retrieved October 27, 2018.
  9. McGuire, Colin (April 13, 2016). "Mayer Hawthorne: Man About Town". PopMatters. Archived from the original on April 16, 2016. Retrieved April 16, 2016.
  10. Waring, Charles (May 2016). "Mayer Hawthorne – Man About Town". Record Collector. No. 453. Archived from the original on May 3, 2016. Retrieved April 28, 2016.
  11. Scoppa, Bud (June 2016). "Mayer Hawthorne: Man About Town". Uncut. No. 229. p. 74.
  12. Capobianco, Ken (April 7, 2016). "Album review: Mayer Hawthorne, 'Man About Town'". The Boston Globe. Archived from the original on April 10, 2016. Retrieved April 16, 2016.
  13. Man About Town (Media notes). Vagrant Records. Archived from the original on May 20, 2016.
  14. "Oricon Top 50 Albums: 2016-04-25" (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved April 24, 2016.
  15. "Mayer Hawthorne Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved April 19, 2016.
  16. "Mayer Hawthorne Chart History (Independent Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved April 19, 2016.
  17. "Mayer Hawthorne Chart History (Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved April 19, 2016.
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