Jason Mraz and the Relient

I'm sorry if I sound like I'm being nitpicky about songwriting, but for the last two days I've been listening to Mr. A-Z, the new album from Jason Mraz, and I have to say that I am disappointed.  It's sad, because Mr. AZ is a songwriter's songwriter, designing his own music and album covers the way that he likes them.  However, I get the feeling that he has begun to think he can just cram whatever he wants into his many-worded songs, and then put them together into an album.  Now, don't get me wrong, I like Jason.  Guys like him strike a special chord with guys like me, because I identify with him.  I identify with him in the same way I identify with songwriters like John Mayer, Damien Rice, and David Gray.  I identify with all of them because for them, songwriting is a journey.  They not only write a few songs, but they also want to design their album covers, their liner notes, their artwork, and everything else.  Their final project is extravagant and unique, showing their creativity in every artistic aspect of their profession.  But I just feel like this album from Jason is a bit... hastily produced maybe?  The songs are a bit all over the place, and while he does experiment with some variety in his production, he fails to do any one thing perfectly.  That's the difference between him and a John Mayer - John may be nerdy, but he uses his whit to word songs like nobody else can.  
Anyway…

The reason that ‘the Relient’ made it into the title of this post is that, at the same time, I also have the new album MMHMMM by Relient K in my playlist, and I have to say, there are few times that I have been more impressed with an album.  The Relient has progressed in their songwriting since their initial stardom over three years ago like few other musicians get the chance to do.  Usually – and unfortunately – the initial offering is the best the public gets to hear from a musician, the reason being that musicians in general get to spend their entire life writing their first album, but are only allowed a year in most cases for writing their second.  But Relient K was composed solely of teenagers upon their first release, and the band’s progression into the twenty-something era is apparently going to be a pleasant one.