[TwinFan]

Awful album. The songs are uninspired and the production is horrendous. A cabbage could've made a better produced album. I haven't listened to any track from it in over 2 years. I don't think The Circle is a very good album but it looks like gold compared to What About Now. I can't blame Richie for leaving after this shit. I don't agree with how he did it, but I can understand why he did if that's part of the reason.

2013 was by far the worst year in Bon Jovi history.

[bjcrazycpa]

I'm one that liked a lot of the songs initially and still today. For me, the tracks on my iPod that I will seek out and listen to today are: BWC, Water, I'm With You, Left Of Me, Room and the bonus Into The Echo. And the others that I don't skip if they come on are Pictures, Two Hands, Fighter And Not Running. So, all in all it's a decent effort for me.

[liljovi93]

This album is a strange one for me, still.

I genuinely dislike it, I think it's an album that lacks so much and is so weak compared to others.. but I still listen to a lot of the songs.

I'll break it down and hopefully get my point across (even though I've baffled myself with this one)


Because We Can - I remember hearing it for the first time & just like 'We Weren't Born To Follow', I was disappointed. Yeah, it's catchy and a good sing a long song but for me, a band of 30 years should be releasing much better singles than this. Having said that, I still listen to it a fair bit. The melody, the chorus, even the 'guitar solo' get me singing/humming along. I really really enjoyed it live until Jon tried to get the crowd to sing along after the song finished and it fell flat.

I'm With You - Loved it the first time I heard it on YouTube from one of the promo shows and really loved it when I first heard the studio version. I actually got goosebumps on the slight key change near the end. That part still gets me every time. I think this song could have gone down well at most shows but unfortunately it wasn't played half as much as I'd like.

What About Now - Another weak song. Nothing to it but it's one I find myself singing along too when it's on. I skip it quite often if it comes on my iPod. I remember when Jon done that tour of his house and done this song in the studio and it sounded dreadful. I still don't really like it that much but I did like the video for it.

Pictures Of You - One of the best on the album. It got me the first time I heard it but I have to say, the intro is a load of rubbish. What is that? Having said that, the outro is one of the best moments post 2000 for me. I'm sure it's been played with but Jons vocals at the end get me every time & one of the reasons I really like the song.

Amen - Boring. Love Jons high notes and always have but the song itself has never really got me I don't think. It seemed to be alright live from what I seen on YouTube, though.

That's What The Water Made Me - One of my favorite songs by the band. I immediately loved it when they played it at the promo show and then hearing it on the album got me loving it even more. It was my most played song on iTunes by a good hundred or so until everything got wiped. Think it still may be in the top 3 or so now. Absolutely loved it live and Tico on drums was a brilliant moment. It was a decent opener too!

What's Left Of Me - Can't stand it. Hate Jons vocals on it & have never been a big fan of it. A lot of people on here said it stood out but it just never got me. Strange.

Army Of One - Another song that got me on the first time I heard it at the promo shows. I loved the beat at the end from the drums and I always imagined it to go down well live. I didn't hear it and it actually didn't look that great at the shows but it's another song that gets me singing. It has an alright guitar solo for Bon Jovi standards nowadays too.

Thick As Thieves - I like it. Nothing special but it's a decent song. Seen a decent live version of it on YouTube the other day which I don't think I'd seen and it seemed okay live. It was a song I liked when I first heard it but it didn't do that much for me!

Beautiful World - Nah, don't like it. It's the type of song I'd like really but the lyrics at the start are shocking. It really is a poor effort. It's catchy enough, I guess. That's all.

Room At The End Of The World - Again, it's a song that is quite boring but I find myself listening to it a bit. I quite like guitar to it. Not much to say on this song either, though.

The Fighter - Boring. Awful song to end the album with too. I always remember hearing 'The Circle' for the first time and loved how they ended with 'Learn To Love' but I hated them ending with this. It's such a dull song. Lyrics are okay at best.

With These Two Hands - Poor. Your standard Bon Jovi pop song now. Glad it didn't make the album. I do like how Jon says 'I could kick your ass' though.

Not Running Anymore - Always liked this song and I have no idea why. It reminds me of something from Destination Anywhere (Don't know if it's just because it was the first JBJ solo song for a while) and then the video really made me think of it from that album. I will always like this song.

Old Habits Die Hard - Absolutely hate it. Jon made me HATE the first line with how much he used to laugh about it when it's not even good or funny. I get it's a reference from the film but it's just crap.

Into The Echo - Really like. Bit cringey but most of the songs are now. Listened to it for the first time in a while the other day and really enjoyed it again.


So that's my review on 'What About Now' two years on. Would I say I enjoy the album more now than I did when it come out? Possibly. I found it very boring when it came out and with it coming out the same time as the Bowie album which I loved, I was very disappointed with the effort from the band. I'd say I appreciate some songs more than others now, but I still wouldn't say I appreciate the album. I'd rank it in my top 3 worst, definitely. Apart from two or three songs, I think I could live without the rest of the album, however much I listen to them. None of them give me a feeling like some Bon Jovi songs do. If anything, it reminds me of my brothers stag do and wedding as it was out the same month and that's why I listen to it sometimes.

If the band come back and the effort is as poor as 'What About Now', then they genuinely do need to call it a day, I'm afraid.

[Sossy]

Well, I would like to comment here normally, but when I see al those hater-Fans, I don´t have any nerves for this. I gave up on talking against a wall of steel. Which is actually consisting of people who don´t accept my views and who spoil my mood about my favorite music! I still don´t understand why so many Jovifans are getting more and more to haters. Everyone seems to make the newer music down. It really hurts me sometimes what some people write about BJ, some act like false-fans or so. (If I don´t like the music anymore, I wouldn´t say that I´m still a Fan) ... All this hating about the newer Albums is what I mean. It makes me angry and sad!

And to come back to topic: I think What about now was not the best Album, but still very good, I like it. Maybe, when it was new I liked it better than now. But I think a big reason for that, is that so many people denigrated it! But I still like it much better than the first 3 Albums, (Which are pretty crappy in my opinion) and Circle or KTF (which I think are absolutely Okay, but not so good to be my favorites). But it doesn´t top HAND or LH, of course. (Which are my absolute favorites!)

So this is just my opinion about that! Don´t bully me for my different opinion, rather for my bad english, sorry...
(I hope you undertstand what I mean at least)

[Mr. Happy]

I think it had the potential to be fairly decent album if they rewrote 90% of the lyrics, fleshed out the arrangements a little more and recorded it as a live band. I feel there's some really good ideas (musically, I mean) on What About Now, but virtually none of them received the time and care they needed. The best songs are Jon's solo ones and the ballads, but the others range from poor to totally atrocious.

It's basically a collection of over-produced, unfinished demos.

[bonjovi90]

Originally Posted by Mr. Happy

I think it had the potential to be fairly decent album if they rewrote 90% of the lyrics, fleshed out the arrangements a little more and recorded it as a live band. I feel there's some really good ideas (musically, I mean) on What About Now, but virtually none of them received the time and care they needed. The best songs are Jon's solo ones and the ballads, but the others range from poor to totally atrocious.

It's basically a collection of over-produced, unfinished demos.

You pretty much summed up my feelings for the album. There were some good ideas and potentially decent songs, but none of them was developped and thought through enough to really get to a past-demo stage!

[jovifan93]

Originally Posted by Bounce7800

What's Left Of Me is a decent song, although similar in theme to Sat Night and very similar to The More Things Change (but superior imo). Shame the horrible effects on Jon's vocals ruins it.

Which effects do you mean? I mean there's a lot going on concerning horrible effects on Jon's vocals on the album, but WLOM is one of those tracks where I feel the production is actually quite good/"normal" ?!

I made my peace with Because We Can thanks to it being as catchy as ebola. Although the disgusting guitar work is still unforgiveable.

Actually, that overly simple guitar solo is haunting me. Don't know why

[steel_horse75]

On the whole the album sounds rushed.

They shouldve taken their time and released it a year later.

I can see why Richie and probably the others didnt want to tour - even I didnt really want to see them again so soon after the O2 gigs (but I did as I got free Gold Circle tickets from my Universal contact ).

[ticos_stick]

Originally Posted by Iceman

I hated it when it came out and it still sucks donkey balls.

Ice

[Bounce7800]

Originally Posted by jovifan93

Which effects do you mean? I mean there's a lot going on concerning horrible effects on Jon's vocals on the album, but WLOM is one of those tracks where I feel the production is actually quite good/"normal" ?!

You can't turn the song up to any decent volume without the vocals sounding really bad, I can't really describe it.