Best produced album?
 

So with the criticism of John Shanks - what do we think is the best production of a Bon Jovi/JBJ/RS album?

Keep the Faith and Destination Anywhere.

I love the records that are not overproduced, everything flow naturally.
These Days and Undiscovered Soul are great works. Also add the boxset: 100 millions ..., is very well mixed and mastered.

Slippery's production is great, I like a lot These Days' production too. And speaking of solo albums, I'm with Becky, Destination Anywhere is amazing, I really like it.

Slippery When Wet -- still. Bon Jovi lost a great deal when they lost Bruce Fairbain. Who else would have let Tico clear out and set up microphones in a nearby loading bay to make the drums sound more natural?

Good question.....

This is a tricky answer because i don't think overproduction is a bad thing if done correctly.

George Martin is a brilliant man that did over the top things with The Beatles which resulted in works of art.

In our generation Bob Rock has been know to zone in on certain band members strengths, which resulted in brilliance. Tommy Lee on the Dr Feelgood Album, the Metallica Black album, And I think KTF was done quite well too. He also did follow ups with Motley and Metallica that resulted in complete messes.

I don't think Shanks is a bad producer at all. In fact he is quite brilliant. I just don't think he works well with Bon Jovi. I thought HAND was done well and they should have parted after.

There is something missing from the delivery with these songs. I can't pin point it becasue I'm not in that field but something sounds wrong. I don't think he is zoning in on the bands strengths and relying on fillers to piece it all together. Becasue they are not as good as they once were, he needs to push them harded in the studio to get the most natural sound out of them before turning to technology.

Born To Follow for example. Jon singing Yea Yea Yea is the key to that song. If this was the back in the day, his voice would carry it. Now he sounds digital... or like shit.

I'm With You... He auto tuned Richies vocal. You don't do that. He's the only guy in the band with a decent voice. Sorry Dave.

Whoops. Got carried away. To answer your question.... Everything up to Cruch was done well because they were that good...

Even the first two albums sound great...

Destination Anywhere.

As other's have mentioned, this is kind of a hard thing to gage. They are Bon Jovi... they have never been accused of being underproduced.

I feel like These Days has aged better than any other of their pre-crush albums...

But I think KTF has the best sound front to back. Every song on that album, I believe couldn't sound better (with exception of the siren in Fear). What other album could a song like IIWYM follow a song like BOR? From a production standpoint, I think that album is as close as flawless as an album can get, or a Bon Jovi album for that matter.

This now begs the question, what is their worst album from a production stand point?

Not inlcuding the first 2 records, I vote on Bounce. I'm not a big fan of Shanks since HAND, but Bounce was so uneven. Think about it. KTF had just as much diversity in songwriting, but it worked because of the even, thoughtful production. If they had produced Hook Me Up and Right Side of Wrong (or Joey vs Bounce) in a coordinated effort, I think album would have worked. It's weird because I thought the production for Crush was excellent.

Another vote for These Days from me-it really is perfection. Although KTF and DA come a very close second.