Most INTERESTING album?
 

By interesting I don't mean best. I mean that the album and its history might be interesting in terms of parameters, chances taken and all that. For example, the Rolling Stones released an album in 1986 called Dirty Work, and during its creation, Jagger and Richards basically hated each other. The album also features some very atypical elements for the band (among them a very 80s track called Back To Zero). It's pretty interesting in terms of history, songs and all, but it's hardly beloved.

What is the most interesting Bon Jovi album to read about, dissect the creation and all that? I can think of several candidates - Keep The Faith which saw them trying to change up their sound a bit (and leaving lots of great stuff on the floor in the process), Crush (the comeback album, similar situation), Bounce (a very schizophrenic record due to the 9/11 background versus trying to make a pleasant record to actually sell), WAN (made with little involvement from Richie), THINFS (first album without Richie)... and I'm sure lots of you will argue in favor of These Days as you folks wont to do!

So, yeah, what is, to you, the most INTERESTING Bon Jovi record?

I know it's not a band record, but in some way I think Blaze. I know that Jon has said time and time again that although he was writing about Billy the Kid, the lyrics ended up being about him. I think these are some of Jon's best lyrics, and when you look at it from that angle, it's a very personal and introspective record, maybe his most so. Ironic that it's a soundtrack album. I think that passion that Jon deliveres on this record was also never equalled in the studio and musically it's quite diverse. When I come back to this record after not listening to it for a while, it always blows me away. I can still, after all this years, just sit there and listen to it without doing anything else and take it all in. Surounded him self with fantastic musicians too! Really interesting to hear him with the likes of Jeff Beck, Elton John, Little Richard, Kenny Aronoff etc

I will go with Crush. Coming off the heals of my favorite Bon Jovi album - the album that made me and kept me a fan (These Days), there was Destination Anywhere, with a completely different sound and writing as been done before or since.
From JBJ's third solo album to Sex Sells to Crush, I love every bside released and a lot on the box set from that era. They were so good and still so hungry back then. I find the Crush era very interesting.

There's quite some stuff in many albums that I'd like to get more details about:

- Bon Jovi: how much was actually written by the band and how much was played on record by them? There've been rumours that some more stuff than Runaway was still added by session musicians.

-7800° Fahrenheit: very narrow time frame in terms of writing and production. But how was the mood in the band in terms of having to live all in one appartment, not getting forward on the production front (i.e. Jon wording his displeasure with some of it quite shortly afterwards), feeling the pressure, having the demos stolen etc.

- SWW and NJ are quite well covered I'd say

- Blaze would interesting on so many levels, especially since it was somewhat the dawn of Jon's grey summer period and that period and it all leading into KTF is something that I've always found fascinating

- Keep The Faith simply for the fact on how hard the band was actually experimenting with sound changes in order to adapt to the times. Some of the bonus tracks / demos show that they didn't shy away from anything I'd say (remember the vastly different Diamond Ring demo).

- These Days mostly for the "Open All Night" sessions where Jon said that they "trashed all" because of him not liking the tuning, the sound and so on. I'd assume that some tracks that ended up on These Days were already done there and I'd so like to hear a few of these different approaches.

- Destination Anywhere: one of my favourite albums and the overall mood is much introspective and, let's say, "gloomy". In my mind, the whole recording of the album has a certain picture and I'd love to know how far off that was. Hard to explain though.

- Crush: similar situation to Keep The Faith. Also interesting to get into the "how Max Martin came on board" field. Was the band feeling the pressure of not having a good lead single and opted to get in touch like they did with Desmond Child or was it the record company fearing a disaster and forcing them to the collaboration?

- Bounce: how much was it the album they wanted to make? The Target EP songs, to me, paint quite a different picture of how they had envisioned it to sound. Was it so "divided" due to the incorporating 9/11 or was it again more of the record company's pressure (i.e. including All About Lovin' You).

- The Circle: I've heard the rumours from someone partially involved in the record making process at the time, that there was a lot of "artistic tension" between Jon and Richie since they both envisioned a totally different sound for the album and I feel that the middle ground they ended up with was to no one's full pleasure.

- What About Now: the overall mood, not only with Jon and Richie, but with the whole band is quite interesting. Were there harsh fights behind closed doors (since Tico also shut Jon off when it came to the first recordings) or did they just shut up and grind through that piece of junk?

The albums afterwards don't interest me THAT much :mrgreen:

Mine probably is These Days as it sounded nothing like anything else at the time. I hated it at first but wonder what made them make such a dark album after the success of Always and Sat Night (I guess that was fairly dark subject matter compared to other Jovi songs and the demo darker).

Crush is interesting as I can see the rumoured tension about how it sounded could be true.
It’s my life sound like nothing else on the album and I still hear Two story town, mystery train, she’s a mystery as Jon’s solo songs.
I think Richie had a lot to do with the rockier ones being on there.

I guess all albums are of some interest…except the last 2.


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These days: personal favorite, i d really like to listen to the first result and how much they altered the whole sound...for me its an absolute peak for the band, tasteful and artistic...

Keep the Faith: Great great songs in there but a bit disconnected in some ways.. the sessions should be interesting since bob rock should push them and the dynamics inside the band were different..

Crush: a weird album for me, its my life obviously saved them and put them on top

Bounce: a lost opportunity for me, with a different producer who would push them to try harder, choose different songs and probably help them with a more original direction could give sth different..

ps...Seen the Beatles Get Back doc, highly recomended...i wonder if jon and Richie feel a bit nostalgic after seeing this... the chemistry they had is greatly missed...