Like the thread title says, which album contains the least impressive display of solo work? It's especially interesting considering a lot of people complain about the way Shanks has brought in the Killers-guitars and the solos are very safe and not really flashy lately. At the same time there are some amazing Richie works over the years.

I for one don't get why people are so desperate to have killer rock solos on everything. A nice melodic solo with a few tones is sometimes all that's needed. I for one think that both WWWU and Walls have great fitting solos while I also agree that Next 100 Years and Right Side of Wrong have great solos for those songs.

My pick has to be Bounce. I think the record is great and I get the idea Richie had to play those pop solos with just a repeated figure with a few notes. At the same time I feel that Right Side of Wrong and Undivided are the only songs with some real solos. A song like Everyday starts out great with those bends but halfway through it starts to feel way to repetitive. Take the Borgata 04 version and compare what he does halfthrough - it just fits the song better to go into shred mode in the middle.

Hook Me Up is another wasted solo opportunity. It starts out nice but carries on way to long with that figure. Take the Toyko 03 performance and compare it. Once again it's interesting that Richie rocked out those solos live but played it so safe in the studio. Especially considering both Everyday and Hook Me Up are heavy songs and a killer solo would suit the songs.

Then we have Joey and All About Loving You. I don't even know if you can consider those sections solo but there are obivously some sort of guitar work that I guess were meant to be seen as solos? I like both the licks but I just don't get why he doesn't try to evolve it into something more.
Then we have The Distance and what a shame it is that Richie didn't get to play a solo over the outro...

Like discussed in the Crush vs Bounce thread, I simply guess that Richie and Jon were influenes by bands were the solos were kept to a minimum or none at all. Because it was obvious when Richie got on stage that he wanted to make more out of the solos on the album.

That's my take it. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy and understand where the band were going but I wish Richie would have made more out of the songs.

What's your pick?