I completely agree about Seven Years Gone and You Can Only Get So High, which to me are two of the two best songs on this album, Forgiveness Street notwithstanding. I would've love to see him perform Seven Years Gone on the BWC tour with BJ; I can only imagine how good that chorus would be with David and Bobby's background vocals and Tico's drumming!

Had Jon let Richie promote AOTL on the BWC tour there's a chance he may still be in the band, or would've at least waited till after the tour to leave on friendlier terms.

Exactly, a bit like what happened with Stranger in This Town and the KTF tour.

For the people not liking Crush and Bounce's production, how do you feel about Have a Nice Day onwards? I liked production on THINFS, but all the previous albums with Shanks are indeed a mish mash of sounds, drums don't stand out, guitars are muzzled; I really don't like it. These Days was a beautiful mix and production.

I was okay with HAND at the time despite the wall of sound that had been created. Lost Highway actually has a quite decent production and The Circle, despite me liking the songs, just feels stone-cold (a bit like Bounce to me). The overall production there really hinders me from loving the record.
WAN was a pile of shit, both song- and production-wise. THINFS has some songs that are okay (like the stripped-down arrangements and I Will Drive You Home), but others are truly cringe-worthy.

'These Days' and 'Lost Highway' are the best produced I believe. The songs don't sound dated because they are clear without too many effects and layers. They're pleasant to listen to.

I love the earliest albums, but it can sometimes be a little jarring to listen to (which is fair enough really 20+ years on).

'Crush' is one of the worst though...horrendous sound.

To me, Bounce is even more horrendous in terms of production even though they are quite close.
I agree about the very early records. In fact, I don't have a problem with Bon Jovi - that one sounds ok to me even to this day. The one I can't stand at times is Fahrenheit. Good songs, but that production is just awful (as the band stated themselves even back in the 80's).

Agreed. I actually love 7800...it's a massive guilty pleasure for me, but I'd sooner listen to live tracks than the album for a cleaner sound.

We're off topic here but it is interesting.

Crush is just an album that has no cohernce whatsoever, but I don't have a particular porblem with the production. Bounce sounds rather fakey yes - but at times I like how it sounds.

Up to Undiscovered Soul everything sounds fine with the exception - I agree - of 7800, where there is some softiness in the sound that is very glossy... I can enjoy it for a while though.

Hand has a wall of sound very "meh"..

Lost Highway sounds nice.

The circle sounds aaaaawwwwwffuulllll . Terrible. Ruined some nice songs. But also because the voice sounds fake and forced.

Wan sounds poppy and fake as wekk and half of it is very dull. That's what the water made could have been a nice song but I cant enjoy this production.

We talked previously about AOTL.

Except from I will Drive you Home, Real Love, hmm maybe BAT, I cant stand the wall of sound of THINFS either.

These Days is indeed a masterpiece. I feel like the production started to get shi*tier and shi*tier from Have A Nice Day onwards. It's like you can't make our what instrument you're hearing.

And I'm pretty sure that this wall of sound came with Shanks.

That's what pisses me off with Shanks' production style. The keyboarder of Bounce told me at some point that when WWBTF came out and they started rehearsing it, he pretty much had to wing all the keyboard parts because you simply couldn't distinguish the instruments properly on the album.