Jovi's direction
 

I was looking over the catalgoue of songs of Bon Jovi's last three albums and came to the sad realization that their quality of work has clearly dipped. I supose I never noticed due to the fact that music nowadays is soooooo crap that a new jovi album was greeted with a sense of relief rather than excitement and the shows I caught on the last three tours still blew me away. Also, I noticed on the HAND tour that jon is slowing down; his vocal range is waaay down and his presence, though better than most, isn't what it used to be. I know many of you consider this to be blasphemous, but I was wondering what direction you think the band should go in? Their recent success is impressive but is more of a nod to the loyalty of their fans. I still believe they have one monster album left in them. So I guess what I am really asking is: How can the boys re asert themselves the next time around (I guess I am hoping for an aerosmithee-sque comeback when they released 'get a grip')?

I don't know.

Slowing down is a result of aging....it happens to every human.

I think their direction has improved dramatically since 2000. I was watching interviews from the Crush era the past few days and it astounded me to be reminded that they had over 60 songs written for that CD because, when I listen to Crush, or attempt to listen to Crush now, I skip the majority of it. How did 60 songs result in one of their weakest CDs? I think Bounce holds up much better and HAND leaves both Bounce and Crush in the dust. I'm not getting the criticism of Jon as a vocalist either. I've been pulling out a lot of their past collection and revisiting it the past few weeks after ages of not listening to those older CDs. He sounds so much more mature with richer tone and depth on later releases than he did in the 20 years ago. I don't care if he's hittting ridiculously high notes like he did in Prayer and Runaway. Now I get why my parents said they thought he sounded like he was "screaming" when I made them listen to Bon Jovi. LOL I'd rather listen to him sing the way he sings now than then.

I was 15 the summer Crush was released, and before then I'd not really been interested in music a lot. I remember seeing It's My Life and Say It Isn't So on MTV/VH1 etc (they used to show music videos then :rolleyes: ) and being interested enough to buy the album. After that I slowly started to build up the back catalogue of albums, but for a long while Crush was my favourite. At the time Bounce came out I was really getting into it, started collecting bootlegs, following the news of the tour, though I wasn't greatly impressed with the album, it is probably one of my least favourite now.

Last year though before Have A Nice Day was released I was really getting hyped up about it but made a point to avoid spoilers (clips of songs, lyrics etc) and when I finally got the album on release day I wasn't dissapointed. I loved it and still do, a couple of songs I perhaps skip at times, but overall I think they've come back a way from Bounce. I still very much like Crush, most of it anyway, and think it was a very creative time for the band after having a few years apart. There is a lot of influence from Jon on that album, some songs spilled over from his solo album etc but I do still very much enjoy it

Now, I'm not sure what to expect. I don't think they'll just go for the same sound as Have A Nice Day, they've always seemed to have a good change in direction between albums, sometimes not so much but no 2 albums really sound the same. They are getting older, they have more experience of family life now, there have been problems with their relationships outside the band which could influence their writing, there are lots of factors. I think that the success they've had with the country music style may factor into it a little, though I hope not.

I look forward to whatever comes next anyway, and especially for the next tour.

I'm not sure exactly how I feel about where they're going.

I like HAND a lot better than Bounce or Crush.

But I don't like that this album really could have been made without David. If they took out the keyboards, I don't think for the most part there'd be a huge difference. And me being me and feeling how I do about David, that irks me.

Oh dear - you are starting to sound like a parent yourself LOL. I agree with you on the tone and quality of Jon's voice. I do miss the the all out rock and roll screams though.

Kathleen

I listened to Bon Jovi (the first record) the other day and then to HAND. It's wild how far they've come in that time period. I honestly, look forward to every release because they never repeat themselves. And while Jon may not have the all out power in his voice that he had in the nineties, the man still has a very good voice. I was listening to the Feb 2006 AC show today and realized just how good his voice still is. Granted I think he got a little lazy with his voice when singing live during the Crush and Bounce tours but I think he's gone for some high parts again (In These Arms) that he completely dodged in the prior two tours. Even when he doesn't sing the songs perfectly, at least he's still making the attempt.

As far as their future direction for a record, who knows but I can't wait to hear it!!

deb

I think they are staying somewhat consistent when it comes to writing and the particular style. Though I would say in all honesty that the degree of work has gone downhill, I still really like Crush, Bounce, and Have A Nice Day. I think it's a lot better than some of the crap out there, but it doesn't seem quite up to par with what they've amazed me with in the past. There are the very few bright moments, but even they are not of the same quality as previous material.

Ryan

To me, it feels like it took a good 4 or 5 years to get theirselves going. They had so much time off, it took awhile to get back into the groove. HAND just sounds like such a Bon Jovi record to me. Crush didn't, and Bounce CERTAINLY didn't. they all had their good songs but HAND sounds like what they should have sounded like in 2000. They're pulling out rarities, going out of their way to play songs they normally wouldn't, Jons sounding the best he had in years. IMHO, it took these years to get the machine rolling.