LOL. Would hate for the people not to be entertained. :)

Of course you can think that. I think it's WEIRD for there to be a "Bon Jovi" album without Richie too. It's a strange situaion. If Tico and Dave are involved, it's not fair to call it a "Jon Bon Jovi" or "Jon Bon Jovi & Friends" album. But I also don't think Richie gets to dictate what Jon, Dave, Tico, (and Hugh), do with their creative endeavors. If they want to work together as a band, Richie's departure should not prevent that. He left. He's working on new music. They have every right to work on new music and tour if they want to as well.

I do wish they would find another producer though--or several other producers like KU did with his last album.

Yep, especially when it doesn't seem to take much. :roll:

For what it's worth, I don't expect to dislike the new album, regardless. I'm pretty easy to please. (After all, I've liked all the albums so far, including WAN. In fact it's been getting fairly steady play recently, right up there beside NJ and TD.) I don't pay much attention to the production, engineering, or how "good" the lyrics are. That's all pretty subjective, I guess. I just like what I like without thinking about it a whole lot. (Which is rather strange, now that I think about it, given how I analyze the shit out of everything else. *shrug*)

With 4/5 of a band whose music I thoroughly enjoy, it would be ridiculous for me to assume that I wouldn't like it.

It just won't be "my boyz". :(

OK! Let's go splitting hairs again! :lol: "apparently" does mean that I don't consider these things "as a source of info", as in: what you see is not necessarily what you get, things aren't always as they seem, appearances can be deceptive, etc. ;)

Remember the famous "hard-pressed" interview Jon gave, he said he's be hard-pressed to let Richie come back long after the tour was over, I know, but I find it legitimate to think he felt the same during the tour. I don't see why Richie would say he'd go back if he had not intention to.
But whatever! Just my opinion.

And just saying there's no Bon Jovi without Richie like there'd be no U2 without The Edge and no Rolling Stones without Keith. It goes beyond music, it's a question of image.

I hope to be nicely surprised by the next album (apparently ;) without Richie) but I'm afraid it'll only be WAN II if not worse...

Personally I always thought he kept it going that he wasn't out of he band because it would have:

a) effected the band's tour. He's not cold hearted enough to up and quit and sabotoge things because announcing he wasn't coming back wouldn't go over well.
b) It helped maintain his own audience. Announce he's out and he loses the people only supporting him because he's in the band.

That interview took place so long after Richie upped it and quit. You might be completely right, I just think it falls into theory vs fact. I hate that there wasn't much proper interviews when it all went down but I guess there was a lot of protecting he business at stake.

"That's the cycle" David? I though you had to have something to write about. That term is so business related that it disgusts me. Leave the year release cycle for Apple and go back to the theater.

The vocals and lyrics are what I pay most attention to. And, as I've gotten older, the production has mattered more to me. Like I would be the happiest kid on earth if George Martin could produce some songs. I don't care if he's 89 years old. The vocals he got from Jon on "The Glory of Gershwin" might be the best Jon's ever done. I think Shanks has become too comfortable and someone needs to add something fresh to the mix.

It could be... or not! They didn't and won't release a proper statement and explanation so we can only express opinions and theories about this mess and that's what we love doing, don't we?! ;)

But re/a) Jon or the BJ team did say that people could ask for a refund prior to a show if they didn't want to attend because Richie was not there. Itwas a way of announcing that he wouldn't be back, wasn't it?

b) I don't think that Richie is smart and wicked enough to come up with such a scheme... In the very first interviews he gave after his departure he clearly expressed his deception at seeing Jon going on with the show, IMO he sincerely and naively believed (hoped?) Jon would stop the machine. I don't understand why he believed such a thing because he knows that Jon's work ethic is and has always been "the show must go on" (and I agree with him, believe it or not) + when he broke his shoulder he explained at the time that he had to manage to play guitar one way or another because they couldn't cancel the tour, there were too much money and too many people involved. So I'm surprised he was surprised to see the big wheel keeping on rolling without him.

I think Richie had every intention of coming back to the tour at a later point and I doubt there was any ill intentions on his behalf towards the band or the fans on his decision. Selfish yes, but everyone is allowed to be a bit selfish every now and then. Now I sympathize more with Jon and the bands point of view because hey, how would you feel if you worked with someone who could just up and leave whenever he chose to do so, leaving you to carry on the production and pick up his slack and then come back as if nothing had happened?? That's a shitty position to put anyone in. I'm sure Richie's ego got bruised on how they kept going and selling out shows even after they were announced and he had left but he may have accepted it already as time has passed.

On to the album, they have every right to make a band album at this stage, Jon should know that the direction WAN took was lacking way to much on the guitar department, I'm optimistic that he'll want to change that but the fact that Shanks is the producer yet again doesn't leave me with much hope. Also I'm perfectly aware that they will face some criticism either way, add a very prominent guitar mix and they'll say that they're over compensating Richie's absence, put an album lacking in guitar solos and the like and they'll say that the band doesn't show much punch without Sambora. It's a weird position they find themselves in, which is why I'm surprised they decided to regroup so early....

You are aware of the time when that was recorded, right?

I don't think George got that vocal out of Jon, I think Jon got that vocal out of Jon.

No. Not at all. It was a day to day decision due to the uncertainty.

BTY, If anything, I think Phil joining had just a little more indication about the future then Jon offering a refund.... One would think anyway...