Emmo’s Blog

Posted by Emmo on November 25, 2009

This week saw Bon Jovi claim the third biggest slide in US chart history.

The Circle debuted in the US Album Chart at number 1 (the bands third consecutive) but this week it fell an astonishing 18 places to number 19. Only Marilyn Manson and Incubus has have bigger falls from grace from the number 1 spot.

The Circles first weeks sales were less than impressive. 163,000 copies were sold but a dreadful 50,153 were sold week 2. This could be the first Bon Jovi album not to sell more than 500,000 copies.

There was no reasons in particular for die-hards or even casual fans not to buy the album in the US. Wall mart had the CD for the special price of $6.99 and Amazon offered the download at $3.99. Those prices are more than reasonable in a time of world recession.

So what’s the reason behind the drop in sales? Illegal downloads? I’m not buying that (excuse the pun) some albums have sold by the hundreds of thousands in the last year despite the albums being leaked on the internet.

For me it’s a case of a Bon Jovi overload. From 1985-2002 the band released (not including the Greatest Hits, Live album & TLFR) 7 albums averaging nearly 3 years before each release.

Since 2003 they have released 4 albums lowering the average time between albums to 1.5 years.
But the main fact is that the band have released 3 albums in the last 5 years and that’s too much.

More albums will mean even die-hards are seeing and hearing to much of the band.
We would all like our favorite bands to release a new album every week but if they did the quality of song would suffer and that’s what’s happened to Bon Jovi.

While The Circle is a good album and the best since 1995s These Days, if you bought the three albums (Bounce, Have A Nice Day & Lost Highway) since 2003 then you would be well excused for giving the latest offering a miss and I believe that’s what’s happened.

Bon Jovi have finally released an album worth telling the world about but the world has heard too much mediocrity to give it any of its time.

Album sales will pick up when the band starts touring but The Circle may already be officially the worst selling Bon Jovi album of all time.

After the next tour the band need to go away and come back in 4 or 5 years maybe longer. They need to make people want/need/crave another Bon Jovi album. They need to be totally off the radar like when they took a break between New Jersey and Keep The Faith.

People were bored with Grunge which was everywhere at the time. People wanted Bon Jovi back and they returned with a 10 million plus selling album. I would even suggest no solo albums this time either. There has just been too much in a to short space of time.

If you get the chance to see them on The Circle tour then do so as they are still one of the best live acts around. It should hopefully for the sake of the band be the last time you get to see them in a long while….

Posted under Music, Music News

Posted by Emmo on November 10, 2009

Even most diehards would admit that Bon Jovi albums since the post 2000 have been patchy.
Crush, Bounce, Have A Nice Day and Lost Highway have all been OK. If you take the best 4 songs from each album and you would have a cracker of an album but in order to get that album you are losing a lot of songs.

So on their 25th Anniversary the band have decided to release a “Total Rock Record” and have gone full “Circle.”

2007 saw the band get a Nashville influenced sounding album with Lost Highway and although it was surprisingly good in places it wasn’t the album the fans had wanted. Lost Highway was never meant to be toured but it was for nearly a year and 2009 was meant to see the (unneeded) release of a Greatest Hits 2.

I’m a firm believer that a Greatest Hits album should be released when the band are no longer together (as I type this I find that Rod Stewart is set to release roughly his 10th Greatest Hits album!) The band announced that writing 2 new songs for the GH2 album became 5, which then became 10 and so on. In all 26 songs were written and 16 demoed. None of the new songs sounded like they fitted on a Greatest Hits so they decided to release a new album instead- postponing the GH2 for Xmas 2010.

So on 02.11.09 Bon Jovi released the The Circle and as fan of the band for over 20 years I can honestly say this is their best album since 1995s These Days. The albums theme is the usual Jovi theme of hope and faith and what makes that even better is the financial state of the  world now. The first 3 songs on the album We Weren’t Born To Follow, When We Were Beautiful and Work For The Working Man are all about the current situation the everyone finds themselves in at the moment.

The Circle also sees Bon Jovi  write their best ballad since 1994s Always. Since the release of Always the slower songs on every album since have all come up way short in comparison so step forward Superman Tonight (2nd single) which is a belter of a song.

Other stand out tracks are Thorn In My Side, Love Is The Only Rule, Happy Now, Brokenpromiseland & Fast Cars all songs are great rock songs and will sound great live.
 
The only disappointments for me are the song Bullet which at the moment hasn’t struck a chord with me yet and Live Before You Die which has a great chorus but the verses sound like Walk Like A Man (HAND) and Joey (Bounce) re-written.

So all in all this is a excellent effort from Bon Jovi and they finally have an album which can stand proudly with the albums released pre 2000. After 25 years the boys from New Jersey still know how to rock.

Track list:

We Weren’t Born To Follow
When We Were Beautiful
Work For The Working Man
Superman Tonight
Bullet
Thorn In My Side
Live Before You Die
Brokenpromiseland
Loves The Only Rule
Fast Cars
Happy Now
Learn To Love

Rating 8.5/10

Posted under Album Reviews, Music

Posted by Emmo on November 3, 2009

2009 has been a strange year for me musically.
I have bought a lot of CDs but not many new ones. I have spent most of the year getting my back catalogue in order.
Iron Maiden, Enuff Z Nuff, Poison & Terrorvision have all had their back catalogues completed.
2009 also saw me get rid of some bands from my collection. I think I must have sold around 30+ albums this year.
Artists that have gone include NIN, Pearl Jam (last 4 albums), Papa Roach, Daughtry and Theory Of A Deadman.
My music taste has changed.

So below is my top 6 albums of the year and my turkey of the year. Agree? Let me know.

Chutzpah! – The Wildhearts:
Without doubt my number one album of 2009. From the opening track The Jackson Whites to the self titled closer this album doesn’t let up. Chutzpah! was a different album than the bands previous efforts as other band members also had a go at lead vocals with stunning results. For an extra few pence the Japanese Import was well worth the purchase as it came with an extra 4 tracks including the frantic one minute pre-opener Chutzpah! Jnr. So if you want harmonies thunderous guitars and chorus’s that stick to you like spunk in the bath Chutzpah! is the one album of this top 6 you must own. Never being a band to do things the easy or normal way Newcastle’s finest then toured the album in September and played the album live from start to finish every night. After nearly 20 years this band still produce the goods.

The Circle – Bon Jovi
Bon Jovi now sound like the sons of New Jersey legend Bruce Springsteen and that’s not a bad thing is it?
They were always going to end up sounding like the Boss even if 2007s Lost Highway Nashville influenced album took them on a slight de-tour.  The Circles theme is set in the current global recession but it’s not a doom and gloom album.
The album opens up with a traditional stadium anthem track in We Weren’t Born To Follow and then Springsteen’s influence kicks in during When We Were Beautiful and Work For The Working Man.
The Circle is triumphant return to form from Bon Jovi after a couple of average releases over the last few albums.

Babylon – W.A.S.P
Blackie Lawless and his band returned in late 2009 a new album. Babylon is an immense album that is surely WASPs best release since the epic Crimson Idol in the early 90s. Lawless and band members are on top of their game with the performances on Babylon. The song Get To The Fire for example is 6 minutes of quality WASP metal with 3 (yes 3) guitar solos. The only downside to this album is that there are only 9 songs and one is a cover of the Deep Purple classic Burn. I don’t understand why bands put cover songs on albums as they should be saved for B-Sides or a rarity album. Still, if you have never heard Burn it don’t matter so much. WASP will never match The Crimson Idol but Babylon comes pretty darn close.

21st Century Breakdown – Green Day
How would Green Day follow up the multi selling multi award winning and critically acclaimed American Idiot? By releasing 21st Century Breakdown that’s how. 21CB is in my opinion better than its predecessor. Yes its overblown, egotistical and way too long but we would expect nothing less from Green Day after the success of American Idiot.
21CB is another concept album and is broken down into 3 sections over 18 songs and clocks in at 70 minutes. The album tells the story of a couple of kids (Christian and Gloria) trying to make it in America after the reign of President Bush.
The pressure was really on Green Day with this release and it took them nearly 5 years to complete. A job well done.

Blue Gives Way To Gray – Alice In Chains
Of all the bands that came out of the early 90s “Grunge” scene in Seattle Alice In Chains were head and shoulders above the rest. Following a temporary split after the death of front man Layne Staley in 2003 from a drug overdose, AIC re-grouped and hired long time friend Robert Duvalle to take over vocal duties. The results on this album are outstanding. It’s always hard replacing front men and there are more bands that have failed than succeeded in a change of vocals. But what helps AIC is that DuValle sound just like the man he replaced. Throw into the mix Jerry Cantrell’s backing vocals and velvet guitar and you have the ingredients that make Blue Gives Way To Gray a masterpiece. 

Sonic Boom – KISS
Ok here’s the deal. Never been a fan of KISS. Never got what the big hoo-hah was with them. Maybe I’m too young but most of the bands I like say they were influenced by them so they must have something about them. This album was a no go until I read a few reviews and they all said that Sonic Boom was the best KISS album in 30 years. This album has  Big riffs, big chorus’s and big hair. What more do you want in an album? Chuck in some great guitar work and cheesy lyrics and you have a great Rock record. The new members of the band seem to have gelled with Gene and Paul and even have a go at taking over vocal duties on a few tracks. Sonic Boom is a pleasant surprise. Enjoy

GOBBLE GOBBLE – Turkey of the year:

Manic St Preachers – Journal for Plague Lovers
Loved the Manics first three albums of which all were mostly wrote by “missing” guitarist Richey James. The band lost their way when he disappeared in 1994 but released a corker of an album in 2007 titled Send Away The Tigers. I was looking forward to this album as the band used the lyrics that Ritchey never got round to using. The result? An album of dire songs. There must have been a reason why these lyrics were never used by Mr James and now we know why. The band just seem to be trying to re-create the Holy Bible era again and fail miserably. Back to the studio lads and leave Ritchie’s song book at home!

Posted under Album Reviews, Music