Quote:
Originally Posted by jesyjames
The Crush album for me was an eye opener. It was such a shock coming off These Days which contained some incredible vocals. Destination Anywhere hinted at what was to come on Crush, but the album itself was more low key so it wasn't as noticeable. I remember listening to Thank You For Loving Me and just thinking: "he sounds weird." And, of course, "Save the World," is so nasally I find it nearly unlistenable.
I also remember listening the Storyteller's gig on VH-1 and thinking: "man, he can't sing anymore." Like many of you, I look back now and would give anything to have that voice back, but at the time I thought it was absolutely terrible.
The only album where I think Jon actually sounds good post Destination Anywhere is Lost Highway. Sure, he doesn't have the soaring vocals or incredible high notes, but he's fairly easy to listen to and delivers the songs well.
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I never took Destination Anywhere as an indication of decline or as a hint to the future at all. I certainly noticed the change in style, since I had expected more of the style of vocals found on Blaze, but the vocals came across as having subtle elegance and intended stylistic choice. As I have gotten older, there are times when the vocals on Blaze feel over the top and DA's are perfectly restrained to suit the mood. Destination Anywhere's vocals just sound mature, in the best sense.
Crush's vocals sound calculatedly safe and vastly watered down over any previous Bon Jovi album, which raised flags that were confirmed by the performances following in its wake.
As for Storytellers.. ugh. Talk about anti-climatic. I had forgotten how bad that performance was. In another universe, they did a normal Storytellers like any other band. When that would have been, I do not know. The series started in 1996, so Crush was the first time the band was active for a performance. Perhaps doing it during Lost Highway / The Circle would have been far better.
I suppose we could consider "An Evening With.." as their Unplugged/Storytellers. Speaking of, they really should have had a standard "Bon Jovi Unplugged," with an accompanying live album, capturing the band in top form. Nothing against "An Evening With..." but it is an outlier.