Richie's new singles '24

I'd agree with most of this. Not sure how well they mix in with the new Jovi songs though. But yeah, there's no point comparing to Stranger (or These Days). But I think there are songs here as strong as some of the stuff on Aftermath or Undiscovered Soul, which is an achievment in itself.

I have been waiting to discuss these songs because I wanted to give them a fair choice. Firstly, the production is almost universally terrible, especially what is going on with Richie's voice. If these are produced by Bob Rock, I do not see how he could be the answer to Bon Jovi's problems like some think.

I Pray: I dislike this one quite a bit. It is more adventurous but I would take Legendary over this. And that is no endorsement of Legendary, by the way.

Livin' Alone: Cool song and perhaps the one I could see Jon singing the most. I think Richie harms his songs with his vocal delivery sometimes, which doesn't always sound natural. Still, this is my favourite of the group and the best solo song Richie has written in 25+ years.

Songs That Wrote My Life: Great melody and a much more cohesive musical track. Cringe parts, including lyrics, but that is to be expected from Richie sometimes. I like this one. I rank it alongside Living Proof as excellent considering when it is released, but mid-quality in terms of the overall catalog.

Believe: I think the first half is a meandering mess and Richie's voice is annoying. For some reason I like the second half of the song more. There's something here that I want to enjoy but I find the song annoying. I was just having a listen before writing this and Hard Times Come Easy played straight after. The difference in quality is stark. Hard Times is allowed to breathe, Richie is not just wailing over it. And I only think Hard Times is an ok song.

Overall I think Livin' Alone will go into a playlist somewhere, Songs That Wrote My Life will not but will be a song I listen to if I ever hear it again. I pray and Believe are garbage. I am not down on a 50/50 average as expanding that over an album would mean a decent record. Richie remains more eager to explore what he enjoys artistically than Jon. For better or for worse, that makes his songs more interesting at least.

Ok, my takes in each song.

For all 4 songs: terrible production. Several times is hard to understand what's going on and what's Richie singing.

I Pray: absolutely loved this song. Wish that it was recorded with Bon Jovi. 1st/4

Living Alone: gave it a lot of listens, but it just don't grow much. However it has some These Days vibes, maybe, which I liked. 3rd/4

Songs That Wrote My Life: so cringe, but that's what the lyrics are meant to be right? That said, it's a lot catchy and I liked it a lot. The bridge when he mentions Livin' On A Prayer and the "wohh-ooah" comes in is really cool. 2nd/4

Believe (In Miracle): this one just has something off about it. It has a nice vibe, nice vocals, but it seems like even Richie don't know where the song is supposed to go. Gave it another try right now, but it just doesn't seem to work for me. 4th/4

By the end of the day I was happy to see all these new songs each week and wish Richie kept releasing 'em 'till we had a full album.

This is also closest to my own perspective. Perhaps I'd rank Livin Alone above I Pray, but I Pray is a really catchy tune.

For production, I would say they are generally overproduced. But it tends to be like that when you sit on your mixes for too long. At least some of these songs were recorded years ago. When you tweak here and there in the aftermath, you can easily get a mess later without really noticing.

has there ever been anything released that sounds good (half of chinese democracy maybe?) after the artist has taken ages to release them? Same things happened with Mick Marrs.
maybe richie isnt entirely happy with them and thats why they have taken so long.
The prodcution kills these songs

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I saw a tweet from Richie yesterday saying that he was inthe studio recording some more stuff..!?

Seriously!? Release the other two and a half albums worth for stuff you have first! Come on....

He could also release a box set with all the songs he probably has.

Do you think Richie Sambora, has read the reaction to the songs?

Therefore he decided to enter the studio again? Or was it always planned? A bit of both I think.

Richie is always in and out of the studio recroding stuff that never gets released. It has nothing to do with anything posted online. On the whole the comments have been pretty positive I think.

The mixes being the main issue for some. The songs are there, but the mixes are definitely off at times. I think mix wise Living Alone sounds the best. Believe In Miracles sounds like a mess.

I'm wondering if Bob Rock is the right guy to produce. Maybe he is a little to close to Richie and a fresh pair of ears would have been good? I'm aware that sounds similar to what has been said about Jon/Shanks....

What I'd like to know is are these released mixes ones from original sessions, supervised and produced by Bob Rock, or where they re-mixed in any way since then.

As I understand, recordings with Bob Rock were done several years ago.
Any tampering post-hoc,even if same mixing team is doing it, is probably going to go in not-optimal direction.

BTW I'm not implying it's not Rock's fault also. I love his work 30 years ago, it doesn't mean anything for his contemporary work