SWW review: You can't stop a fire burning out of control

Wow, that took me like half an hour to write ... was going to do the one for Raise Your Hands tonight too, but perhaps I'll save it for another time

Please can we not descend into petty arguments here? Discussion about the album is cool, but it hasn't even been mentioned in the last couple of posts. On the subject of TD, can we not just agree that it's divisive here, and if you have to argue it, do it elsewhere?

Righteoback on topic.

Nicely put about Wanted, although personally i would have raved more about the guitar solo - it is PERFECTION to my ears. But the review is spot on!

As for raise your hands, i wonder if your reaction to it the first time you heard it will be the same as mine. The riff to me was so damn catchy I could hardly contain myself. I was only ten when i heard it, and it was the coolest thing since..since..hearing the talkbox on Prayer for the first time!


andi

wrong and wrong


correct

I suppose I'll just have to live with that summing up but really it is THE greatest moment in ALL music history!!

For the person who said they would take If That's What It Takes over everything on Slippery (Apart from Prayer and Wanted) Don't be silly now!

And Iceman, while I respect your stance on These Days, calling it the worst ever BJ album sounds like someone exagerrating a little to make a point. It's a good album (Hey God, These Days in particular) but does have some pretty uninspired moments like the ones you mentioned apart from STBI which is a good song despite the lyrics in the chorus.

Of course I'll mention the riff!


Raise Your Hands - A song tailormade to be played live. Everything about this is rather clearly designed for an audience: from the infectuous and instantly recogniseable riff which is present for most of the song; to the build up of the intro, first with the riff backed by a cymbal roll, then with Jon's fading in "oooooooooooooh" intro increasing in volume, and an "Ooooooh yeah!" before any of the songs actual lyrics have actually been sung; to the Jump - style simplicity of the synths throughout; to the audience participation encouraging chorus, with city referencing lyrics which Jon would change to whatever city they were in when playing it; to the repeated-hooks-with-variations guitar solo and the applause and cheering that follows it; to Jon's adlibbing before the solo ("Alright, let's go!") and in the outro (the shout outs to various locations). However, this makes it very much a song of style over substance: lyrically it's rather meaningless, a collection of simple rhymes (surely there must be some lyricist code of honour which prevent using the "gun" and "run" rhyme?!) and cliches strung together; and musically, while it is very catchy, it's also fairly one dimensional. A good song then, but one that makes much more sense in a live setting.

3+/5

"Under the gun, out on the run" is the staple rhyme of many a cheese metal number! You would be ending the career of Yngwie Malmsteen and Axel Rudi Pell in one fell swoop if you banned it. This would be a tragedy of epic proportions particularly Axel who I love!

I agree again with your review of this song, good but not brilliant.

Heh, well like I said, cliche of the highest order ... I think that just goes to prove it really!

Without Love - From the opening guitar screech, this song sounds like one that wouldn't have been out of place on the first album. The guitar tone and style, chiming synths, driving bassline and lovelorn theme are similar to, for example, She Don’t Know Me. Lyrically though it’s somewhat more developed and in tune with the rest of the album; detailing how various character’s live have fallen apart as a result of a lack of love; and eventually taking up a hopeful note, with the main protagonist claiming “I was afraid / I won’t be afraid no more” over a sparse backing of synthesized strings. The guitar solo further distances it from the first album: backed by atmospheric tingling synths; relatively short and melodic; and very much an early example of a solo of feeling over technicality; although Richie would later get much better at such solos. Overall then, this is a decent song with a good message; but one that doesn’t quite match the development of the band that’s displayed over the rest of the album.

3/5

I’d Die For You - The introduction of this song is instantly reminiscent of Runaway; led by a keyboard pattern and augmented by slashing guitars. However, whereas in Runaway this keeps out throughout the majority of the song; I’d Die For You is much more dynamic; a bit less fast paced, but with more depth. Before the song proper starts, a low key but insistent guitar riff starts up, and then disappears again for the keyboard backed first verse, before kicking back in from the first prechorus. The depth of the song comes mainly from the different synthesizer textures: from the pattern in the intro; to the repeat of the pattern but with an additional layer of chords during the first verse; to the synthesized strings in the second verse: it manages to lift the song away from being just a good but one dimensional rock song. The cymbal work is also effective in adding texture. The guitars provide a driving rhythm, but aren’t particularly flashy or attention grabbing, just solidly adding another layer to the song as a whole. The top layer is of course Jon, singing the lyrics with passion. The lyrics themselves are perhaps a little blunt, especially the “I’d Die For You / I’d cry for you / I’d do anything / I’d lie for you chorus”; but for the most part it works; the verses actually being quite poetic, albeit in a somewhat heavy handed way. And the prechorus definitely makes up for it: packing a huge amount of imagery into four lines, and with a fantastic rhythm and some great backing vocals; it’s one of my favourite bits of writing on the entire album. So overall, this song is a great, although not incredibly special, rock song; which manages to fairly effectively incorporate an element of romance.

4/5

Though the chorus is lyrically crap , I think the pre-chorus lyrics are some of the best lyrics the band has ever written.I love the song,second favourite from the album after "wanted".

I'd Die For You is the first point at which we disagree. I've never liked the song, I can't quite put my finger on why but it annoyed me over the years that the song stayed in the live set for so long when loads of cool songs from New Jersey never got a look in. It's probably not that bad a song (particularly compared to recent material) but for whatever reason I don't like it.