This Left Feels... Right? Maybe?
 

So my good lady sends me a TikTok link. I hate TikTok, but she sends me videos, and every once in a while I'll even watch one. Tonight, was some lass playing LOAP on a piano. And something about it made me think of This Left Feels Right.

That poor, bruised little album, much punched and kicked at the time, sitting on your shelf with the rest of your Jovi collection, but possibly the most dusty, and least played. I felt a sudden wave of nostalgia hit, as I remember my trip to Virgin to go buy it first thing on the Monday morning it came out, and the adverts on the telly all that week.

Was it ever going to meet the expectations of the fans? This was the album that we, at least to begin with, thought was going to be the much-sought acoustic album. And then Jon and Richie began meddling. With a twist? Hmm.

Well, I only went and listened to it tonight. Start to finish, for the first time in a long time. Hard to believe it is almost 20 years old. Now I never hated it, I don't think. Enjoyed it at times without being hugely fond of it. The DVD of the live show at the Borgata was fun enough. But tonight, I think I finally got it. And I liked it, more than I ever have.

I think the key was listening to it for itself, rather than the constant comparison with the original tracks. Maybe we earn a listening technique with age that can help focus, and cut away the clutter. I now can't help thinking the band's biggest mistake with this album was releasing it when they did, at that point in their career. Too young for it, too close to the originals.

What about you? How does This Left Feel for you now?

Looking back, they had the right idea - trying to move away from the belty versions that were obviously no longer in Jon's comfort zone. However, the album just doesn't contain many enjoyable tracks. Born To Be My Baby I remember disliking especially, but it's all very much a drag. Maybe I should revisit the album... but probably not.

When a new album is released, the only thing to compare it to is the past. Now 20 years later, you can listen to it and compare it to the future. Compared to today, maybe it wasn't so terrible after all.

I feel the same way with many other releases such as What About Now. When you compare a song like Beautiful World to Unbroken which is basically sung in one key, you have a whole new appreciation for Beautiful World.

I also think there is a newness pressure with new albums that can't be avoided. You over listen & analyze them. Now 20 years later, you know the songs so when you put them on, you listen from a different place.

i always liked that album and listen certain tracks from tme to time..
i think it went oo ballady and should work it some more...
there were time constraints...i think they should change some ballads more but overall it was trully decent

Sorry no, even compared to the recent albums it's still awful for me. I'd take 2020 or This House or even What About Now over this any day.

I always had 3 problems with this record. The first, Prayer 94. That song did everything right, but I found the 2003 version of Prayer bland and rather mediocre. The second is the selection of songs and that are mostly turned into ballads, slow songs. Third, Jon's voice sounds terrible.. and it's a shame, because the instrumentation and backing tracks were interesting, but Jon's voice was not good and his performance was flat most of the time.


I think the album could have been very interesting and a dream come true for many fans, if those three problems had been solved. A better selection, a greater effort to record Jon's voice and not look for flat performances. Break the rhythm, not abusing slow songs. And if you can't beat Prayer 94, just throw it in with a few slight mix changes to make it fit this project. Same feeling with the acoustic version of Born To Be My Baby recorded in the eighties.

Another thing that I found disappointing, is that Last Man Standing was not included, I remember when I heard that fragment for the radio (via Internet), and then buy the album and discover that the song was not there.

Seems to have been done with some degree of passion but it is awful, pointless, and an error. It should be called "How We Made Your Favorite Songs Worse".

If you love the idea of acoustic stripped back that much, just do an album of original songs. Some of the Bon Jovi hits are frankly not worthy of being given this sort of mature ballad treatment and it was embarrassing in parts.

On a wider note, this album was a big contributor to Bon Jovi saturating the market between 2000-2013. A quantity over quality era that ultimately killed the band.

i think this album was a great original idea and had some artistic integrity behind it..
It was a new idea, they could easily manipulate the yokohama acoustic show but decided to go on the difficult road..
i am not saying it is a classic album but imo the reprises of wanted lay your hands bad medicine and keep the faith really stand their ground..maybe jon should include the 2 new songs but i totally get why he decided to not put any new songs in order to focus on the idea of reworking classics

they shouldve done an mtv unplugged session instead of this. It was and still is awful.
Up there along with THINFS & 2020 as 3 BJ albums that never get any play from me.

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Nah mostly crap for me - Should have just been a decent acoustic album ... Just like how One Wild Night Live should have been the greatest live album ... Alas more crap and another missed opportunity.