Lets talk about Crush

I like Crush, and as the time goes by, I find myself liking it even more. It's a good pop-record. I'm not going to review each and every song here but tunes like It's My Life, Two Story Town, Next 100 Years, Just Older, One Wild Night and even Captain Crash + SIIS appeal to me.

After Crush, everything went wrong (IMO). I mean, Bounce is just BAD, in every possible way. Might be that I expected too much from it but the last time I listened to it was back in 2002.

As I learned from Bounce, I have no expectations of the new album, this way I can only be positively suprised.

I like Crush too except for She's a Mystery. The rest are great songs!!! I prefer the 2001 version of OWN also....

It's more or less the same here. It's never going to be my favourite Bon Jovi album but after Bounce I realised it wasn't so bad one day and from there I'm realising it can be listened and leaves you in a good mood (unlike Bounce). I guess it has grown *a lot* on me these last few years. I doubt the same will happen with Bounce though.

Exactly! It's a "good mood" record, that's the sound of Crush. I like it.

IN my opnion Bounce was a great improvement to Crush with the exception of the cheesy ballads!

First up, I don't dislike Crush. Hell, at one point I even maintained that it was my favourite BJ album! (Note: It wasn't the first one I got, but it was the first one that I really got into ... twas more to my taste at the time than These Days was). There's no doubting that it does a reasonable job in modernising the old BJ sound, and at the turn of the century was quite timely. There's also soem definite good stuff on it ... it may not be a riff-heavy album, it has got these nice little guitar licks all over it, should you listen past the poppiness that hits you straight off the bat.

And there's the problem with it. Admittedly, I have probably never listened to it really carefully, and I think I will at some point soon, as this thread has intruiged me! But, at least at face value, it seems like a watered-down version of the Bon Jovi of old. Jon's voice is not what it once was, which is perhaps understandable, but it doesn't help any. The lyrics are alot simpler, and musically there seems to be less going on under the surface, as well as less soloing, and as I mentioned above, general riffage. And I agree with anyone who has mentioned so far that it doesn't really flow. AND I despise it when the first single is also the opening song! (Bugger, got that to look foward to again ). So overall, I consider that its probably better than the majority of pop albums, but doesn't really seem to hold a torch to their earlier work.

A track-by-track review would look something like this:

It's My Life Sure, at first listen, it sounds like classic Jovi: the talkbox, the passion, the big chorus; and I think its a great song to party to. And I absolutely love the vocal harmonies which carry the chorus. But, on the flipside, it doesn't really seem to say very much, and the guitar work appears to be non existent ... and I have ALWAYS considered it to be too slow, and lacking a decent intro. Lets say 4/5

Say It Isn't So Some nice modernisation and experimntation attempts, and a reasonable little riff (albeit a bit poppy again though). However, as is the problem with a lot of pop songs, it doesn't really seem to deliver any more after 3 minutes than it has after 30 seconds. So, 3/5 will do it I think

Thank You For Loving Me I am aware that their are VERY mixed opinions on this, but I've always liked it. Maybe it doesn't hold a torch to real power ballads, but I like the sentiment, I like the way it progresses. Can't remember if there are strings in it, but if there are I like them too Could perhaps have done with a little more guitar in it though. Either 3 or 4/5, I can't decide which

Two Story Town Think it's really good, possibly my favourite song on the album. Very cool. Record scratching right at the end is a bit random though Just out of interest Rob, why do you always call it Two Storey Town? 4/5

Next 100 Years Quite difficult to rate this one, cos objectively I should really like it, as it has a really good guitar solo, and again I think it has strings , but for some reason I've never been too keen on it. Can't quite decide what rating to give it .... 3/5? 4/5? Subjectively I'd say 3, but objectively I'd say 4, hows that?

Just Older I like it, despite the fact that it is largely a slight re-write of Blood On Blood. I like the lyrics, and the sentiment behind them, and yeah, it's a good song, probably 3 or 4/5

Mystery Train Never been a huge fan of it, Jon's voice is a bit whining, and I consider it to be one of 4 songs written for the album that have far too similar lyrics (She's A Mystery, I Got The Girl, and Neurotica are the other 3) ... but last time I gave it a listen it started to grow on me a little, I seem to have become a sucker for acoustic guitar...... Anyway, either 2 or 3/5

Save The World I used to like it, and I still don't actually consider it to be a bad song, I just do consider it a bit wimpy when compared with other power ballads. Haven't listened to it in a very long time though. Again, 2 or 3/5

Captain Crash I like it, I like the lyrics, very imaginitive ... but again, is one of those songs that has never really progressed into the stage of "really liking it" or anything. 3/5

She's A Mystery I always dismissed this, as so many others seemed to hate it, but now I've learned to think for myself. Again, I haven't really listened to it in ages. It is very very mellow, and I think does kill the flow of the album a bit, and as I said, the lyrics are far too similar to other songs. However, I seem to recall that last time I listened to it I was quite liking bits of it, although I can't quite remember what they were (possibly the guitar?). For now I shall give it 2/5

I Got The Girl Bit too poppy, and again very samey lyrics. However, I think I thought that the guitar sound was reasonably interesting last time I listened. Possibly not enough to redeem it though. I'll give 2/5

One Wild Night Nice heavy ending, albeit a little plain. I think I like the fact that it is raw, not too heavily produced, and doesn't altogether flow ... although I don't dislike the remix. This is probably the version I prefer, although there's not a massive amount in it. As It's My Life before it, sounds less dissimilar to the BJ of old than the rest of the album. 4/5

Overall, I'll give it 3/5. It's good, but it aint great

imho, crush is the worst album ever produced, recorded and published. i got into bj short before these days came out and after this amazing td record i had to wait 5 years for the follow-up. when i heard crush for the first time i pretended that i'd like it but during the first weeks of listening to that record it appeared to me that it was desastrous (sp?).
my track by track review:

it's my life- it was their biggest success (co-)written by mr. "hit-me-baby-one-more-time" max martin. the huge success of that song can't be denied- i'm not into the song but still i gonna keep my mouth shut about it.
x/5
say it isn't so- mickey-mouse song with american-all star video. aimed at 9-13 year olds to get their pocket money. jon moans hysterically the "say it isn't sooooo"- the only good part is dave's mini solo. 3/5

thank you for loving me- boring, not beautiful in any way. the sounds (esp of richie's guitar) are simply a disgrace- jon's voice is bad bad bad- in he beginning the tuning is to deep and then it's getting too high- strings sound bad as well- this song is the desperate attempt of writing another bed of roses or always 1/5

two story town- i really loved the snippet they did at the webcast- the recording is plain ugly- drums sound bad- the horse-knock-like drum-machine is one of the most despicable things i ever heard. lyrics are bad as well. good example for luke ebbins bad producing. 2/5

next 100 years- potentially a good song with a kick a$$ solo live. i'd have richie singing the backing vocals- jon sucks at backing vocals. strange sounds towards the chorus- bad beginning of the song- horrible string intro to a great solo. 3-4/5

just older- jon played that song at his DA tour in vienna. i don't like the song. no drive in it- esp. during the stanza the song is plain "empty"- jon might see it as an "anthem" and many bj-fanatics also do- i don't - horrible solo- again why not let richie sing the backings???? good example for luke ebbins bad producing 2-3/5

mystery train- great song- i like the lyrics. the acoustic guitars seem a bit strange to me during the stanza. think tico used rods instead of sticks- sounds interesting. unfortunately jon sucks this time at lead vocals more than at backing vocals- he's yelling as if he jast had been hit by a car. horrible solo (or "c" part) again- kinda destroys the whole thing. don't like the recordings of the guitars- should be played live more often 4/5

save the world- can't decide whether the sound of the lead guitar, the sound of the drums in the beginning or jons yelling is the worst- but maybe the prize for "worst thing about that song" goes to the drum machine. horrible lyrics but interesting tunes- some really good parts in it "our love is even stronger..." (<-- regarding the music NOT the lyrics). potentially good songs but it got roally screwed- i blame luke and jon for that 2/5

cpt crash- again a teeny-pop song. i don't blame any rock fan who denies bj the "rock" status. but surprisingly i'm not too negative about that song. maybe cause 80,000 hands on the video wall in vienna did the trick 3/5

she's a mystery- this song is violance. it hurts. it makes me cringe. listening to that song give me the impression that my guts turn round in my belly. the worst lyrics ever written sung as bad as possible accompanied by plain horrible music (these choirs!!!!!! *wwääääähhhh*) just makes an unaccaptably bad song. in a scale from 1-5 wit 1 being the worst this one is a clear "0"

i got the girl- have heard better songs about someones children. again the stanza is completely "empty". but thank good an upbeat one. i'm not really interested if steph likes having her hair brushed or not. tis could have been a rocker- but again it lacks of sound. 3/5

one wild night- great beginning followed by a bad song. unfortunately this is the only rock song besides iml on that album. the video is just bad as well... 2/5

living outta lovin you- fun song- i like it... 3/5

Wish I knew myself. I think it's just a habit I've got into when typing. I type so fast that my fingers just hit the keys and I don't really think about my spelling. I do it with other words too. "Assignment" being one of them. I always have to type that word slowly because when I type it fast it comes out "Assigmnent".

Oh yeah and I think It's My Life (although it doesn't really have an intro like you were saying) starts really well as it just powerfully kicks straight in.

Ok...I have to say that Crush isn't my favorite album (Every time I play the CD I'm doing something else so my attention isn't really on the music..except when it comes to It's My Life). But it does contain the first song I ever really LOVED from Bon Jovi: It's My Life. I've always loved the lyrics, the message is great and it's just an extremely powerful song that I can't help but feel al primed up and optimistic every time I hear it.
I know I'm gonna get a beating from this...but am I the only one who actualy likes Bounce? *ducking for tomatoes*