Taking On the Old Standards (and Jon's voice)

He does have a unique, signature voice. But it is what he is REALLY capable of that sets him apart from other male singers. I don't get the chills down my spine that I used to get hearing him live.
I am a smoker. Started singing at 11. Started smoking at 17. Now I am 25, and I have lost a lot of my higher range. So now I am trying to quit, because within a few months after quitting, I will regain my upper range. I know what he's going through vocally. I don't make millions of dollars as an entertainer and sing for thousands of people, yet he does, so it should be his priority to do whatever he can to be in top shape vocally.

Too bad they didn't turn up Richie, he was so low in the mix. Took the balls right out of the song.

And Becky, just to comment on your comments, I agree that his current lower voice is very appealing. But I don't feel his higher range can necessarily be called screaming. He was most definately singing those notes well, because he held them with a vibrato and was never pitchy. I felt those vocal moments were exciting. If he did that throughout a whole song, then it might be tiresome, but he usually reserved those moments for climactic parts in a song. He used to really showcase his range this way.

And thw orst thing is: we can say whatever we want, giver the best arguments for it that are out there, but we are considered whiners, cruel, people with an attitude and bad Bon Jovi fans. Great (not!)!

Not quite..they needed to raise Richie in the mix at that point and lower Jon..then it would have sounded better. Trust me...it didn't go unnoticed by me.

You're not even afraid to dump their greatest release in almost a decade to support your vague opinion about what keeps them going.

And you in fact have something constructive to say about making new music?
If u think releasing decade old material is same as putting lots of effort into making music, its your opinion thats vague. No matter if its good or crap, it still is "the easy way"

I don't think that. I actually agree with a lot you said, but your negativity makes me sick.
If not for 20 years and 100 million records sold, WHEN the hell else would be the proper moment to please fans with such a fantastic box set that can easily compare with Springsteen's Tracks and once, only once to not put them down for you being disappointed with them?

It's not like they threw it out in a rush just to cash in. They planned it for at least two years. Sure, they will not send it to you for free with a personal love letter how sorry they are that they didn't hit your taste with their recent releases. Plus, the music was there, yes, but still it took effort. It didn't write and compose itself.

Why is it ultimately and only the easy way? Why isn't it a good item to celebrate 20 years?

Celebrating 10000000000 dollars & fans by releasing old material might be heaven for you, but I see it as another way of taking the easy road. No matter if they planned for 100 years, that doesnt make the material any newer. Sure, they did record it time back, and chose to dump it. Sure, there were loads of stuff to go through to choose the tracks, but I wouldn't even think that the boys went trough the vaults. They just picked out the ones to be released from pre-selected pile. No much of hard work now is it?

Point is that even if the stuff is good, at least part of it, its still old junk. If they would have re-recorded selected songs, that would have been at least some effort put to it (but I guess with Jon's recent range it would have been a disaster....) To put it shortly, the box is just another compilation album. This time with unreleased stuff, but still a compilation. And such never require much effort. It for sure is easier than to put together something new from the scratch.

Now, there's still the fact that this unreleased stuff is valuable to fans. It is piece of Jovi-history. This time they turned big pile of left-overs into big pile of cash, not bad from their point of view. And of course, everyone thinks it's best thing they've released since SWW.

Stone deaf says -taking the easy road? after 20 years of great records its brilliant for us fans to be given access to the leftovers, some people like to moan all the time.
If they cant celebrate 20 years in the industry without giving something back to the fans, its time to give up.

Every one has wanted them to release a boxset of rare unheard tracks, and now they have, there are still arseholes moaning about it.

ANd as for new material, we dont have to wait long, the new album is out in the spring!

they're not giving anything back, they're exchanging it to large amount of cash