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"Crush" Review 7 April 2002
Crush: The Best So Far

A review by The Walrus / thewalrus@jovimail.com

Crush

At the time of me writing this, Crush is Bon Jovi's latest studio album. A lot of fans have been knocking Crush since it's release. I'm listening to it right now, and so I'm going to try to tell you why I think Crush is the best studio album so far....

Track-by-track Review:

It's My Life: WOW, it rocks! It's My Life is the best song on the album, and a brilliant opening track. It's also one of the best songs the boys have ever written, and was responsible for gaining the band a hell of a lot of new fans (including me). It's like Livin' On A Prayer for the new millenium, with the return of the talk-box, the famous couple Tommy and Gina, and a heavy beat with superb inspiring lyrics, and very strong vocals from Jon. Of course, it could be slightly better. A little too slow, and not quite enough use of the Richie's incredible guitar skills, but otherwise, it's worth buying the album just for this song!

Say It Isn't So: A very different sound to the normal BJ, It probably owes some of it's sound to modern rock. That said, it still has a very strong, catchy, and relaxed beat, and good vocals and a very original lyrical story (you'll have to listen to it to find out) make this a great relaxed rock song.

Thank You For Loving Me: Incredible. A strong, passionate ballad that rips into your heart and touches your soul. Not quite as good as Always, but with a lot happier story, and brilliant vocals and instrumentation.

Two Story Town: Another great rockin' song. A lot of people don't like this, because apparently 'it's too poppy'. All I can say is that I reckon it has one of the strongest beats on the album, and Jon's vocals are superb (I especially like the parts where he ad-libs, e.g. the "Watch me now," or "Bye bye"). Very good, but a word of warning, it does contain strong language.

Next 100 Years: I doubt it will ever be one of my favourites. A lot of people do like it, and even I have to admit that it has the best guitar work on the entire album, with an extended Dry County- style solo. The only difference is that Dry County had a great song to back up the solo, whereas this song is... not bad, but not great. The 'church-choir' sounding bit really ruins it. Still, I suggest you listen to it at least once for the guitar- it is amazing.

Just Older: Now this is more like it! Very rocky, with a great message about only being as old as you feel (not that I'd know- I'm only 15), and great lyrics about friendship and not being afraid to lose- lyrics that fit Jon and Richie perfectly.

Mystery Train: The albums first major disappointment (don't worry- there are only two). It's not really really awful, and I don't mind ballads, or even songs that don't know whether they're ballads or rock songs. The only thing here is that neither side is done very well, and the vocals and instrumentations lack the usual passion. It's not the worst song on the album though, we'll come to that later.

Save The World: Showing the previous song how ballads should be done. STW was originally written for the Armageddon soundtrack, and suits it very well (although Aerosmith's Don't Wanna Miss A Thing is better). A strong song, but not quite as good as Thank You For Loving Me.

Captain Crash & The Beauty Queen From Mars: Definetly the maddest song title I have ever heard, and the maddest lyrics as well. A great feel-good rock song, that is almost impossible not to smile at. Check out the Crush Tour DVD for a brilliant funny speech from Jon during this song.

She's A Mystery: And now we have the worst song on the album. It has the same things wrong with it as Mystery Train- but multiplied by 10'000! There's a limit to how relaxed a song can be before it loses all it's excitement and emotion- this steps way over the line. Possibly the worst BJ song ever.

I Got The Girl: Jon's tribute to his daughter Stephanie. It's alright, and has good vocals, both from Jon and the others, but there's nothing really very memorable or different here.

One Wild Night: It. Rocks. Hard. For the first fifteen seconds or so, you may be wondering "What the hell is this?", as it starts off pretty damn strange. But after that, you will be rocked. Probably the heaviest song on here. I haven't quite worked out if it is better than the 2001 version or not- the 2001 version is faster, and flows better, but this one is more rocking, and they seem to have cut out the best bits for the new version- namely the first "Na na na na na" part, and "You're not gonna believe who comes walking out." Listen to this song. You won't regret it. If your listening to the American version, it will be the last song you hear on this album, so make the most of it.

Then we have different songs depending on what version it is. The UK version has remixes of It's My Life and Say It Isn't So that aren't really all that different (in fact, I can't hear any difference in the IML remix). The UK, European, Australian, and Japanese versions also all have the next song-

I Could Make A Livin' Out Of Lovin' You (Demo): I don't know quite what to make of this. From the opening 'James Brown' speech, to the following 30 seconds of silence. When the song starts, it is pretty rockin', but the lyrics, and the general feel, are kind of weird. Well, at least you can't say it isn't different.

The Australian and Japanese versions also contain the following song-

Neurotica (Demo): Now this is better! A rockin' song, with cool lyrics and sounds. It's a shame its only a demo, it would have done really well as an official song on the album. Very heavy.

And while I'm here, another demo that isn't on any versions of the album, but has been voted the band's best non-album track-

Stay: Hmmmmm. The first thing I thought when it started was "This sounds like Dry County." In fact, it doesn't- it's a ballad. Quite a good one as well, with a lot of emotion, and a memorable tune. It would have been a good replacement for She's A Mystery.

So anyway, I'm a little off the point now. What I'm trying to say, is that, although yeah, it does have two of the worst BJ songs on it, it still rocks pretty damn hard. It's a lot happier and uplifting than most of their other albums. Maybe you like that, maybe you don't. It's all down to personal opinion. But I think that it's their best studio album so far (obviously not including Cross Road), and if Bounce (the next album)is similar, I will be pretty happy. There are three words why you should buy it, and they are It's, My, and Life. It's great.

Rating: 9.5/10

Summary
Best Song: It's My Life
Most Rockin' Song: One Wild Night
Best non-single: A three way toss-up between Just Older, Two Story Town, and One Wild Night.
Worst Song: She's A Mystery

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