Jovitalk - Bon Jovi Fan Community - New Bon Jovi Album: This House Is Not For Sale (2016)

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Walleris (Post 1186110)

He said WRITING. It's not really fair to call Always the most recent, considering there are very few songs that were released with only Jon's name on the credits.

I completely agree. I have complete confidence in Jon as a songwriter even in 2015. But recording it is where it gets tricky. His vocals and Bon Jovi sound of the last several albums will never allow to achieve the full potential of these songs. Even if it would, his age would never allow it to catch it on masses and it wouldn't be a true "hit" anyway. But my point is that writing a hit and recording/performing it in the studio are two different things. And Jon's (and to lesser extent Richie's) abilities to do the later have diminished below satisfaction.

Because We Can proves this more than anything. The melody is insanely catchy. But the finished product was very uninspiring.

I think at this stage of his career, he's better off just writing songs for other artists. If Paul McCartney can write a hit for Rihanna, then I'm sure Jon could do the same if he wanted to. And no, I'm not comparing their songwriting abilities, but point the age difference.

I don't know what to blame more 1) Jon's vocals 2) Richie's lack of creativity or 3) production. I am inclined to blame production most of all. Ultimately blame falls on the ceo (because he likes how he can churn out these records as quickly as possible), but a lot of these (potentially great) songs never met their full potential because they are not fully hashed out.

Someone mentioned Always. That song was written, rewritten, recorded and rerecorded until a masterpiece was made. So much thought and time was put into that song. Same with Saturday Night. Do you think that type of care and nurturing has gone into a song post Crush?

Like you, I believe Jon still has the ability to write a great song. And I also believe if Richie could pull himself together, he could still contribute like he did in the 90s. But until they choose a producer who is willing to push them, and not stop until it is the best that it can be, we will keep getting these 3 out 5 star albums.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Walleris (Post 1186110)

He said WRITING. It's not really fair to call Always the most recent, considering there are very few songs that were released with only Jon's name on the credits.

So since Jon doesn't write a lot of songs all by himself, that's proof he's able to write super duper mega hit songs all by himself? For example, the ones co-written with other guys? How does that argument even work? Jon doesn't even write a lot of album tracks by himself anymore, let alone big singles. The last big single (or single period!) he wrote all by himself was Always.

The last proof of Jon being good at writing super duper hits all by himself is dated 1994. Whether that's "unfair" because Jon doesn't write a lot of songs by himself anyway, it's still a fact.

Well, at least there's proof that Jon can write songs and hits by himself (Living in Sin, Blaze of Glory, Bed of Roses, Always) whereas Richie has barely written a song by himself and certainly never written a hit by himself. And it may have not been a hit but Jon did write another Golden Globe nominated song in recent years. Critical acclaim at this stage is something special too.

So now this is a Jon vs. Richie thing again?

It had turned into that several posts ago if you can read.

Since I didn't count the tracks written without Richie as being solely Jon tracks, "Jon needs Richie!" was obviously not where I was coming from.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bounce442 (Post 1186115)

The blame lies solely with JBJ. It appears to me from every interview I've ever seen that JBJ has a very "my way or the highway" kind of attitude so I'd imagine none of those guys in the band had any say. He has the final say on everything. He's the CEO (according to his own words). :)

If none of the other guys had any say, why would Jon even bother collaborating with anyone else? And for that matter why would he even bother sharing production credit (and the $$ that comes with it) with Richie? He wouldn't. He could just as easily share it with David and give him an income boost for nodding his head "yes" if that's all the job entailed.

When they were promoting Bounce they were talking about how much of a "Jon and Richie" record it was. They said it was the most "Jon and Richie" record since SWW. They also touted "The Circle" as the most "Jon and Richie" record since SWW and that certainly shows on the writing credits. It's got or ties the highest percentage of co-writes from Richie of any album, I believe (off the top of my head, not going to dig out the albums to do the math).

I've always seen The Circle (from interviews gathered around that time from the band) as Richie's baby. And me personally, I love that record but I know some fans feel differently. Even Born to Follow which is hated by most on here, has a special place for me so, I know I'm gonna miss that midlife crisis-having-frabric-jamming-hat-wearing-egotistical-guitarists' input on the new record! :p

I think The Circle is the worst album in their collection. They don't have the excuse of being young and inexperienced like they do with the first 2 albums which aren't that bad, really. I just looked at the track list and I only really, really like 3 songs. I dislike 5 (wishing I'd never heard 3).