| BleedinGuitar |
02-16-2003 03:48 PM |
Well, which Jon Solo are we referring to? Destinaton Anywhere or Blaze of Glory or both?
At any rate, I can't accurately judge cuz....guilty as charged...I don't have Richie's two solo albums. I've only heard bits and pieces. I suppose I'll have to get around to that.
That said, Jon's two solo albums I consider to be two of the best CD's I own. Blaze Of Glory I fell in love with when it came out, plenty of you love it so I'll say no more on that one. Destination Anywhere I must admit...has taken time. At first the first song I got into was Janie Don't Take Your Love To Town.......now it's rarely listened to. Turns out that it was the track most like his band-oriented efforts that made it easier for me to take to it, but once I adjusted I've steadily grown to appreciate the album more and more without having to force myself to say I like it, I truly do now. It's a work of art and deserves multiple listens over time. Standout's for me are Every Word Was A Piece Of My Heart, Midnight In Chelsea.
My complaint though..as with many of Bon Jovi's albums...is I never truly like the production. The songs always seem to have to be heard live. I feel the exact same way about the New Jersey album (though most of you seem to love it and have no complaints, only after having heard a live version of Wild Is The Wind recently made me fall in love with the song where it always rubbed me wrong previously.) August 7 4:15 is infinitely more dramatic and sounds much better live. The album version just seems to start off in a way where you feel like you tuned in to the song after it had already started and missed part of it. I guess getting my hands on the "Destination Europe (Paris 1998)" show really helped alot with going back and re examining Destination Anywhere without having to force myself to listen to it. Though the soundboard mix is bad (can barely hear the bass guitar or bass drum where Jon's voice and the snare drum are way up in the mix) you can't deny the energy in the performance and his voice is really into it. It makes you want to go back to the studio album and re-listen.
Jon's solo album also seems to be the capper of the creative track he and the band had been on up to that point. Then came Crush which shocked the hell out of many of us with it's utter simplicity in the lyrics and music, relatively. It just didn't follow the track they had been on up to that point. Though there is one bridging factor....Jon's voice began the more relaxed approach on DA and continued with Crush.
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