[Becky]

Originally Posted by Rdkopper

I think Richie taking a 'Nashville Influenced" direction is a great idea and the right decision from a marketing standpoint.. there is nothing Richie could offer the rock world right now. Even his masterpiece Stranger In This Town was a flop so a rock album by Richie in 2016 would be DOA, with the exception of the 20 rock fans he has on this board... Jon and Richie are songwriters and thats what the country scene is all about. Simple rock songs with a hook and twang... Maybe with a producer like Bob Rock, they could add additional elements...

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Actually, I agree with this. Nashville is far more welcoming than pop/rock radio to established artists.

As far as "Boy Gets a Truck" by Keith Urban, I think it sounds like Luke Bryan Bro-Country reject that some record exec decided Keith should record (since it's one of the songs on the album he didn't write/co-write) because he doesn't do Bro Country and it's a piece of crap and I would hate for anyone to listen to it and think it's a typical Keith song. He's way more talented than THAT. Listen to Break on Me or Wasted Time instead.

[JackieBlue]

Originally Posted by rosa3

... I know that Doc McGee is now representing him, I don't like to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but the timing is very weird, oh well, I could be wrong.

I think it's coincidental. I can't imagine what people think Richie would gain by releasing this album at the same time the new Jovi album comes out. Why would he want to deliberately put himself in competition with a band that has a much greater following than he does on his own (and a frontman who Richie himself said has an "it" factor that he will never have) for support from the same fan base, many of whom have already turned on him like a pack of wolves and who make no secret of the fact that they have no further use for him?

The only reason I've seen mentioned is the possibility of increased PR opportunities that might come his way because of a coinciding release of the two albums; but any benefit there would be totally negated by the ugliness resurrected with every unavoidable reference to the split.

No matter how opportunistic or conniving people may think Richie (or Doc) is, it just doesn't make sense to me.

As for "sounding like a conspiracy theorist", I wouldn't worry about it. As long as your theories don't cast Jon in a less-than-flattering light, point out contradictions in the things he says, or suggest that Jovi mythology is anything less than the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God, then the conspiracy police don't pay too much attention.

[rosa3]

Originally Posted by JackieBlue

I think it's coincidental. I can't imagine what people think Richie would gain by releasing this album at the same time the new Jovi album comes out. Why would he want to deliberately put himself in competition with a band that has a much greater following than he does on his own (and a frontman who Richie himself said has an "it" factor that he will never have) for support from the same fan base, many of whom have already turned on him like a pack of wolves and who make no secret of the fact that they have no further use for him?

The only reason I've seen mentioned is the possibility of increased PR opportunities that might come his way because of a coinciding release of the two albums; but any benefit there would be totally negated by the ugliness resurrected with every unavoidable reference to the split.

No matter how opportunistic or conniving people may think Richie (or Doc) is, it just doesn't make sense to me.

As for "sounding like a conspiracy theorist", I wouldn't worry about it. As long as your theories don't cast Jon in a less-than-flattering light, point out contradictions in the things he says, or suggest that Jovi mythology is anything less than the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God, then the conspiracy police don't pay too much attention.

I don't think he is an opportunistic person at all, but I think the people he surrounds himself with, not musicians, but business and manager type people tend to be kind of shady. Perfect example is the whole NikkiRich mess. He surrounded himself with people that only used him because he is a rock star and his connections with influential Hollywood people, I think Nikki Lund wanted that more than anything. Richie to me always seems to be a very sweet guy, who likes to help people, give people the benefit of the doubt, and is very trusting, sometimes people can take advantage of people like Richie who are like this. So my whole conspiracy theory thing wasn't on Richie, it was more on Doc McGee. He knows Richie very well, since the early years of Bon Jovi, and I think he might take advantage of Richie, knowing how he is, and maybe Doc might use the Jon/Richie split as a way to give Richie some press for his album, I don't know, but I always felt there was something shady about Doc McGee. When Jon fired him in 91, I think he started to get a sense of who Doc really was and what he really wanted to do with the band, just keep touring and touring and keep making the money, Jon had other ideas for the band and he took a stand and fired him. Now sure Jon has credited Doc for bringing the band out international first in the early 80's, which helped them get exposure in Japan and Europe first, then later USA. And as u know, the band at first weren't not thrilled with his decision, but trusted him anyway and the band went along in the 90's and 2000's, with successful tours and albums, and even a couple of hits. Jon and Richie are two different people, Jon is the more serious, business minded person that is not afraid to take risks and not are what other people think. Richie is more the laid back artistic musician that is not really into business or doesn't really does not want to be bothered by business deals or anything like that, he is only about music and his art, and I can totally respect that, which is why I think he hired Doc in the first place, for him to care of the business end of his career, and he focus on music. I just hope that Richie, while he works on his artistic endevours, that he also keeps his eyes and ears open on Doc, that's all.

[JackieBlue]

Originally Posted by Rdkopper

I think Richie taking a 'Nashville Influenced" direction is a great idea and the right decision from a marketing standpoint..

Unless I missed something in both the Rolling Stone and TeamRock articles, it was the writers who said the album would have country songs or 'songs with a country feel', not Ori.

All she said was that she liked country songs because they tell stories, they are moving and well-crafted, and it was something she and Richie "wanted to explore."

Also considering that her comments were made during an interview with Rolling Stone Country in Nashville, it's not surprising that she would be complimentary about country music.

All that aside, Richie's music (as well as Bon Jovi's and Jon's solo stuff) has often crossed genre boundaries, which is not a bad thing, IMO. Lost Highway is a prime example. I'm still convinced that a lot of people were predisposed to dislike that album before it was even released, primarily because of a knee-jerk reaction to the "Nashville influence" label that was slapped on it. When some people hear the term "country" all they think of is twangy singing and songs about beer-drinkin', deer-huntin', backwoods rednecks who drive pickup trucks with Confederate flag bumper stickers. (People tend to forget, btw, that the main difference between a country redneck, a Joisey boy, and a member of mafia is usually just the accent of their "Fvck you".)

Maybe I'm desensitized by my long-standing love affair with Southern rock and crossovers in general, but to me the lines between some rock and country music is so blurred these days that, without the arbitrary labels, we wouldn't be able to categorize some of the songs anyway. So I don't think it will be that big a deal even if that is what they're doing.

But I honestly think it was a just a conclusion that was drawn by the reporters, because I didn't see anything in the quotes from Ori to indicate they were doing country songs.

[rolo_tomachi]

Perhaps only the case of a couple of songs, including the single. I do not think it is a country album to use, I think there will be a different sound, where the guitar will be vital in the songs. They have listed the album as a sort of Fleetwood Mac on steroids.

Hoping Bob Rock do a good job in the mix. black album by metallica and Garage INC was great. Although that was a long time ago and no albums recorded and mixed in the same way nowadays.

1998

Metallica - Turn The Page - YouTube

Metallica - Astronomy - YouTube

2004

Simple Plan - Welcome To My Life (Official Video)...

2006

NINA GORDON "SUFFRAGETTE" LYRICS -...

2015

THE CULT - HINTERLAND (HD) - YouTube

Dark Energy - YouTube

Bob Rock could do something very good.

[rolo_tomachi]

[rosa3]

Its nice to see Richie working hard in the studio, but I still find it incredibly coincidental that these pix and interview from Rolling Stone were released just after the band announced it has finished there album, but I don't think Richie is behind this, something tells me Doc McGee is, IDK, call me cynical, but its just weird.

[JackieBlue]

Originally Posted by rosa3

... So my whole conspiracy theory thing wasn't on Richie, it was more on Doc McGee. He knows Richie very well, since the early years of Bon Jovi, and I think he might take advantage of Richie, knowing how he is, and maybe Doc might use the Jon/Richie split as a way to give Richie some press for his album, I don't know, but I always felt there was something shady about Doc McGee...

I agree with a lot of your points and I wasn't calling you out specifically. I understood that you were referring to Doc more than Richie. But several people have already suggested that Richie might be delaying the release of his album to take advantage of Jovi press to promote himself, so I was just explaining why that concept makes no sense to me. You just happened to be the lucky one who posted on a long weekend when I had time to respond!

I agree that Richie sometimes seems too trusting and I wish he had a better handle on the business end of things than he seems to have at times. Doc clearly was a crook at one time and may, in fact, still be shady. A lot of managers are, intentionally or not. It goes with the territory when promoting or protecting a brand. I understand that, too. That's probably one reason why people don't understand that I can still like Jon, even when I say things about him lying to the press or changing up his story to fit the situation. But that's his job now. He's "Doc" when it comes to covering up the bad press or greasing the wheels to keep the machine going forward. It's a dirty job sometimes; but somebody's gotta do it. And it takes brains and figuring out your moves well ahead of the game.

So whether it's Doc or Richie, if either one of them is calculating enough to think, "Hey! Let's wait til Bon Jovi's new album comes out..." I figure they're also smart enough to follow that thought to get to, "...but we're never going to compete on the same scale as the band; and besides, that would only bring up all the negative sh!t and piss everybody off all over again." It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that nothing would be gained by it.

The other part of that theory that doesn't make sense to me is that Richie's not the one who's been sitting on a finished album for almost a year now. A friend who follows Ori sent me an Instagram today that showed Richie in the studio "mixing". (I think it's the same one Rolo posted.) If they were simply waiting on the Jovi release, it seems to me that they would have been sitting on their own album months ago just waiting for the Jovi album to come out so they could ride the wave.

At any rate, that's just my two cents. Not worth too much in today's market, I'm afraid.

[Becky]

I don't believe Richie is nearly naive about business as some of you like to believe he is. He is not stupid by any means. Give him some credit. Being an astute businessman is not an insult. It doesn't take away from being able to be an artist as well. Multitasking--most of us do it in various ways.

[golittleperson]

The original interview was with "Rolling Stone COUNTY" (didn't realize was a different mag but seems so) - She may have just been saying what she thought they wanted to hear or sucking up to that market. Doc was in Nashville, she had a pic and I'd bet he arranged the interview since that I've seen, he is the only other person from a professional side that has shared it.