these days

Yeah, that's probably the best way to put These Days. As someone said earlier, These Days is not an album with really any radio-friendly songs, but most of the songs on the album have a lot of depth. It's kind of the same thing with Dry County, brilliant song in every aspect, but it's way too long for radio.

Yep These Days is a brilliant album! Having played some of it's songs with my guitar I can tell that Jon and Richie have really worked hard to get the songs as good as they are. No other BJ album has such good writing lyrically and musically. And the emotion is just so pure and raw!

Track7 you must have had a little trouble with the song name My guitar lies bleeding in my arms. After all While my guitar gently weeps is a Beatles song. A good song too by the way, but not as good...

WOW i got totally carried away and named the wrong song lol oops i dont even like the beatles..but clapton played on it so its ok he he GUITAR LIES BLEEDING LIES BLEEDING

I totally agree with Track7. With These Days, I believe you cant just listen to one song but you must listen to the album as a whole to get the full experince.
Mark

Yeah, These days is my favourite album of all time.
The lyrics and the musica are in perfect harmony, IMO in These Days era the band were in their best shape.

I try to order my thoughts about These Days somehow. I totally love the record. It's smart, it's musically diverse, contains strong melodies, amazing lyrics, etc. But I don't see the band creating anything like this again at this point of their carrer. Maybe later. But not now.

Let's be objective. Bon Jovi's goal is to have a long and productive career. And they can do it. They are talented enough. Now to become the Stones they have to maintain and extend their fanbase. With These Days Bon Jovi lost a lot of old fans and they did not gain enough new fans, or acclaim, to maintain their fanbase on their usual level. There was a post here somewhere about their USA sales figures. These Days sold very poorly. Not only they lost fans but they also lost radioplay. The critics still did not give Bon Jovi aclaim they deserved with the record. I've read as many reviews as I was able to find and the only magazine that gave them 4 stars was Q-Magazine. All the other reviewers gave them 3 stars or lower. The Grammies, MTV awards, etc. also passed over them. So besides artistic satisfaction Bon Jovi were not rewarded for that record in any way. Now imagine what would have happened if the record had had the name U2 on it. Or Eric Clapton.

To me, this record showed how very biased the music industry was towards this band at that point. I think that Crush fractured that prejudice. But it's not broken yet. And until it's broken, the band cannot afford making another These Days. They lose too much and they don't gain enough to compensate for their loss.

And that's excactly where it gets boring. There are single songs that are good, even very good (like the title track) but the wholeness.... Like someone once said, if you're sitting and staring through a window with a bottle in your hand getting drunk by yourself, These Days is the album you should be hearing. I agree 100 %. But who wants to do that

I used to like it, but I guess I only liked it because it was a new Bon Jovi album and TD tour '95 was the first time I saw them play live. Letting You Go is a good song if you want to sit in a dark room with a candle and just listen (yes, I've done that ) but I don't do things like that anymore. I'm so happy in my life right now so why would I want to listen to something so depressing??? Music should make you feel good! I don't know anything about drum loops or guitar riffs, I only know what sounds good to me and These Days album doesn't.

Actually I'm listening to the album right now that I could understand some of you. But I really can't. I've noticed this before, people almost either hate it or love it, and I have to say that I'm one of those people who "hate" it.

1995 BJ were nominated at 3 categories in MTV Europe music awards (although they only won one), this year they only are nominated for Best Rock.

Taija

In my honest opinion....I really cannot understand how people say this album is depressing!! I know we all have our own opinions but I still find it hard to think of this album as depressing...it is sheer brilliance. The lyrics, music and in my opinion...Jon's voice was at it's best on this album. I really don't think that they will ever top it.
I have seen a few people say that this is a dark album but all I hear are really good tracks. OH well...each to their own!!!

" Like someone once said, if you're sitting and staring through a window with a bottle in your hand getting drunk by yourself, These Days is the album you should be hearing. I agree 100 %. But who wants to do that "

I do! I've done it many times to These Days and I recommend it to other who are feeling down.

It's a great CD.

In case anyone missed my post in a previous thread about why I think These Days is the best cd ever made here it is again

An album all starts with the songwriting and no one has more talent as a songwriter than Jon bon Jovi; and Richie compliments Jon very well in that department. These Days features the best songwriting ever on an album. Songs like My Guitar Lies Bleeding In My Arms and Something To Believe In are simply masterpieces, to name a couple.

Vocals are excellent on These Days as it features Jon's best vocals ever. His voice is very energized, for example on a song like Hearts Breaking Even. You can really feel his voice cut through you throughout the album as he pours his heart and soul into each note on the album. Lie to me gives us a very distinct double dose of Jon on the 2ec and third chours.

Richie's vocals are also utilized to the fullest throughout the album, for example (It's Hard) Letting You Go. These Days is the perfect mixture of having Jon do all the lead vocals while having Richie complementing Jon's voice.

These Days also features Richie's best work on guitar for example Damned see's Richie just let loose on us.

And the thing of it is These Days could have been even better. Replace "If That's What It Takes" and "Diamond Ring", which are great songs, with "All I Want Is Everything" and "Wedding Day" and oh baby you would have more than perfection which is what These Days is.