Quote:
Originally Posted by JackieBlue
That was one of the things he said. The problem I see, though, is that seems to be the only thing people remember him saying. 
In that same interview, right before that, he also said: " One of the things I wanted to do was showcase my singing, because people put me into this box where I am a guitar player. There are a lot of people that have a preconceived notion of who I am as a person and a musician, and I think this record tried to break that mold. Even from a guitar-playing standpoint, what I don’t see in a lot of bands and a lot of records right now is a lot of guitar playing for self-expression -- playing solos..."
I'm not sure how you define "guitar-based" music because I'm much more into the vocals and lyrics. But Making History has a guitar solo that, to me, is reminiscent of The Next 100 Years, which along with Dry County, is one of the stand-out guitar solos on any of the Bon Jovi albums as far as I'm personally concerned. Walk with Me has an outro alone that's over a minute long and the instrumental break in Together on the Outside is over a minute, too. I'm not sure what people expect, but I guess they could do the guitarists' answer to In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida.
I'm not arguing with you because personal taste is just that, but there is a lot more guitar on Making History than on Rise. Maybe it's just not the style of guitar that people are looking for. IDK.
As far as style you could be right. They both said they wanted to explore different genres, but I would have thought they would have explored and then, like you said, find a style that worked before releasing new music. But that's just me. Maybe they are still looking for what clicks for both of them and for the fans. Other than that, I got nuttin'... *shrugs* |
As a guitar player the only thing that Dry County/Next 100 Years can be compared to the solo in Making History is the double time solo. That being said I dig that solo.
It's a matter of opinion but what they're putting out is not guitar based. It doesn't breathe organically and it's filled with lots of synths. Yes there's guitars but it's not.....Richie. It's so hard to explain what I have in my brain but with ever release Richie gets less and less guitar driven from Stranger forward. Undiscovered Soul was a turn into the poppier direction but it sounded organic, you can hear the guitars crisp and clear. Aftermath had more guitars and was such a great step in the right direction (for me) but lacked soulful lyrics on most of it. It was a pretty safe release as far as blues and soul go. This release even has a few songs with him playing no guitar at all. The majority of the songs don't have solos and I don't mean to harp on the one thing people keep bringing up but if he's going to say that he's surprised a lot of modern music doesn't have guitar solos and jamming and then put out something that is so far removed from what he's done in the past I think it's acceptable to question it, ya know?
I'm all for bands experimenting as they evolve but they're doing it right out of the gate. It's a lot of sharp turns and I feel like each thing they're doing is good but finding an audience that appreciates the bunch of sounds they've given us I think is going to make this difficult.