CRUSH vs BOUNCE

For me it's a heavier track on an album of more poppier songs so although it's not a 10/10 song it's more than welcome. I think Crush finishes quite well - IGTG, ICMALOOLY, OWN and then Neurotica - after the huge dip in the middle.


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out of curiosity what do you think of the production on A Different Kind Of Truth by Van Halen? I feel like Shanks is just kind of a yes man buddy of jons at this point and can only do what is approved by jon.

I get what you are saying, I just wasn't concerned about if the songs fit together just whether I liked them. Listening to Two Story Town right after The Distance wouldn't bother me. Listening to I Got The Girl right after She's A Msytery does bother me.

I always thought Say It Isn't So had a different feel than usual guitar wise/style wise for the band.

For me, Crush's snoozers are spread somewhat evenly over the record, or rather: Looking at the track list, very little of these songs I'd wanna listen to for sheer pleasure. I might want to check out if She's A Mystery finally makes sense to me, or at least try to get it this time, but most of these song titles just remind me of how little substance there is. Even Next 100 Years just seems like it wants to be epic but is just a basic song with a long coda.

I quite like If I Could Make..., but it sounds unfinished. Like they knew it was gonna be a bonus track and didn't fully produce it. There's stuff missing, at least it sounds that way.

Young Lust, love that song.

I never listened it until today. So I managed only two listens per song so this is very conditional. Production is not "bad" by any means in the context of 2010's standards. It is compressed perhaps on the upper side of acceptable (but not an outlier). On some songs perhaps too much, such as Blood and fire. Also, there isn't really a full use of stereo space, but again this is only minor, I wouldn't notice it without knowing to search for Shanks mistakes

The problem I see is following: Shanks is BFF with Jon, he was not BFF with Eddie (similar how he wasn't BFF with Jon when making HAND). So, I'll make a little narrative. When Shanks came to do HAND, similar as with Van Halen, he entered the picture as the record engineer and mixer foremost, with guiding the band in macro perspective to one consolidating production style. That's the name of the job generally. Sometimes a bit more backed, sometimes more involved, we cannot know exactly other than hearsay and their subjective opinions from album to album.

I'd argue that Shanks, when doing this kind of producing (also, add a bit of "respect" in front of Eddie and Jon) he is solid, at the very least, competent. Problem is that he is versatile and quite frankly talented as a guitarist and songwriter. He is proud to be one of propagators of "guitar pop" and has several hits to his name in that sense. But, "problem" is not this as a fact, but problem is that Jon started to rely too heavily on Shanks for songwriting and whole arrangement, and not just tinkering in front of mixing console. I presume songs often started with Shanks guitar/chords and lyrics, or have been finished with them. Richie was rather quickly being sidelined, I presume between HAND and Lost Highway due to his problems.

And then, add the most poisonous ingredient of producer vs. creative talent relationship: simultaneous friendship and completely asymmetric power between Shanks and Jon, the legendary JBJ the rock god and multimillionaire. And you have basically forces in both direction. Shanks doesn't have to go to limit in front of mixing desk, as he is fundamental as a creative force already. Jon doesn't have to go to limit, cause his friend understands (and doesn't feel the need to risk testing the waters of their relationship). I don't argue that this is conscious, rather opposite.

So, on its own, Shanks is a competent producer, as well as talented guitarist and songwriter. But with Jon, in one word, he became complacent. Of course he does what Jon wants, but Jon doesn't "know" what he wants in exact terms of musical engineering cause he is not proficient enough. I am convinced that his reliance on Shanks comes from trust and comfort and losing the feel for his own talent and possibilities (when pushed to extremes). So yes, he doesn't feel comfortable to be pushed, that's why Shanks is here, and that's why Shanks doesn't pressure him. The end result is a compilation of several subpar albums in terms of production.

And if this is what Shanks maximum is, it's not even bad: those are mostly gold records, followed by world tours, with (aggregate) hundreds of millions views on streaming platforms. But this is not the same as Bon Jovi's maximum, which was to be a planetary iconic stadium rock band that seemed to write anthems whenever they got together. But until after IML exploded as a hit, they were always underdogs faced with enormous challenges (and frankly, not complete producing control by Jon). I repeat, even if Shanks was the best of the best, you just need to change him for the sake of change. But Jon disagrees obviously

Shanks didn't produce all of Lost Highway.

I think Shanks is especially good with vocal stuff and big egos, due to his experience in the pop world. Yes, he knows how to construct a hook monster as well, but I'd assume the "gets a good vocal take even out of ailing singers" was why Van Halen went with him. And why JBJ likes to keep him around.

I also don't think JBJ really wants a producer who pushes him a lot. He has said before he never would have worked with Mutt Lange.

So the VH side is a little more difficult. From what I understand, DLR had his own vocal producer and recorded completely separate from the band. I'd need to read up more on it to remember.

How many of the Dan Huff songs did Richie co-write?

John Shanks didn't even produce all the HAND album, Rich Parashar produced some songs after that the album was delayed from the release.

I honestly don't think RS had much to do with the 4 new songs. I'm dead positive he played on 3 of the 4 but the theory that Shanks wedged him away, even with tracks not produced by him...I think more was going on.