CRUSH vs BOUNCE

Considering the influences which were always there I'say there is a great big distinction to make between being influenced by music you love and trying to reproduce a trendy sound.

90s was the era were Bon Jovi were least influenced by contemporary music. Yes the sound was prety modernly produced, however in Keep The Faith and These Days I hear much more influences comming from the 70s, from Rolling Stones, to Bruce, to Tom Waits even .. than from 90s.. They were doing things they actually liked and found interesting. Afterwards they started to consider good only what is gonna be "the new anthem"... And that is why many influenced were so poorely incorporated in albums like Bounce.

I think most would agree both albums are patchy; but I also think most would agree that one would end up with a pretty good album, if they took the best songs from both albums.

If I were to choose the 12 songs that would make up that album I would go with

Two Story Town
Just Older
Mystery Train
One Wild Night
Neurotica
Undivided
Everyday
The Distance
Hook Me Up
Love Me Back To Life
Bounce
Open All Night


I did cheat a little and used Neurotica; how that was left off of Crush I'll never understand, could be Jon's most egregious decision ever when deciding which songs would make an album.

I think you'd still wind up with the exact same problem. Bounce's heavier trakcs are so different than the rest of Bounce which will make them just as different from Crush, album with so few songs that sound like that.

I was to vote for Bounce because overall it’s my favorite album, but there are songs on Crush that i like a lot, so i voted equal.

In Europe of my generation, every third household had a copy of Crush somewhere (exaggerating ofc, but it was like a mini Slippery for next generation). However as an album for me it just doesn't work.

It has one major global hit (IML), few very good songs (Just Older, Two Story Town, Captain Crash), two decent (100 Years and Say it isnt' so) and the rest is absolutely horrendous IMO. Even single TYFLM is mixed so differently and quiet versus other songs that flow just drops like a brick.

Bounce I don't know, it's not bad material overall, but it's rushed and most Jovi has ever leaned in the hip sound of the moment, while that sound was never further away from Jovi's signature. How they didn't manage to produce a semi-hit with all the clones of IML here is head scratching. If you make a calculated song like Everyday, that is evidently a calculated, artificial copy of your megahit, at least make it more catchy, with a hook or two (hint: as HAND was well crafted). Still, The Distance is really good.

My problem with Bounce is that it has 5 weak songs imo, I wasn't too worried about what each song on Crush sounded like just whether or not I liked the song.

Got it got it! I don't mind the songs o nbounce, it's just too topsy turvy in song styles. Then over corrected on HAND with one sound for 12 songs haha

I think with the outtakes of both albums included, you could make a great "heavy" rock album and an average mellow story telling album. No order, just as I thought of them.

Eg
Sex Sells:
It's My Life
Everyday
Neurotica
Alive
Love me Back to Life
Distance
Undivided
I Could Make a Livin Outta Loving You
Ain't no Cure for Love
One Wild Night
Next 100 Years
Bounce


Softly Crushed Bounce:
Just Older
Postcards
Open All Night
Save the World
Right Side of Wrong
Captain Crash
Had Me From Hello
Misunderstood
Two Story Town
Thank You for Loving Me

Even the heavier stuff from the Crush era (for example If I Could Make...) has a certain swing and fun to them. The heavy stuff from the Bounce record sounds super serious, because it is. Undivided and Neurotica don't have the same vibe at all.

Then again, it's not like Dry County or Save A Prayer convey a similar mood as Blame It On The Love... does. There's two really good heavier songs on Bounce, and that's Undivided and the title track. I don't really need any of the others; the third really excellent song on that album is Misunderstood. I like other songs too, sure, but using b-sides from both albums, yeah, you could build something that doesn't sound too weird IMO.

I actually prefer the original Crush record over this all star lineup. IMO you made it worse as it doesn’t seem cohesive