You're kidding right? I hate this album with a passion and am pretty much at the stage (although not quite) where I'm no longer a fan.

You, like many others, have probably just become used to increasingly lowering standards from the bands release. Each album has a little bit of a sound of the last album but then moves into a slightly different direction at the same time. By the time you do this 3, 4, 5, 6 times you find that album 6 (or rather album X) has absolutely no resemblance to album 3, but does have some of album 5.

This goes on and on with the band to the extent that as much as I hated albums such as Crush, Bounce, Have A Nice Day... I very occasionally listen back to it and (still hating them a fair bit!) start saying to myself "compared to the latest album this is actually pretty good" *

* should reclarify that "pretty good" isn't a great complement given what I've said above

except most of us who like The Circle aren't comparing it to Lost Highway.

IMO, It's better than Slippery, which means it's in their top 5 albums.

You say that each album has steadily gotten worse, but I see The Circle as a return to form for a band that's been lost on the last few records.

I don't really know what the people who don't like it are wanting - if they'd produced an album that sounds just like HAND (paint by numbers Jovi) they'd have gotten slated, but now this album has a "U2" vibe they get slated for that too. If BJ didn't have a different sound on each album they'd have become irrelevant. The Circle to me is a mixture of maybe 3 albums; KTF, These Days and Crush. 2 out of 3 ain't bad.

Aloha !

The Circle has got nothing to do with an album like Keep The Faith or These Days. The only thing it resembles from the Keep The Faith era are the promo pics, and saying it resembles anything from These Days is mostly because the lyrics are darker.

However, where on those albums recorded in the nineties the band let their music breathe and didn't turn everything in an unrecognizable mess it's the complete opposite on The Circle.

It's really not that hard and has nothing to do with a return to form. A return to form would mean proper vocals, catchy chorussess and proper guitar solo's. There's none of that on The Circle, even Lost Highway had more of that. I honestly don't understand how anyone can think that this is better than Slippery. I think the first 2 albums are better than this turd.

Bon Jovi are pretty much irrelevant anyway, it's not like they're more accepted among fans because of the sound that changes. And they most certainly have become more irrelevant the past 10 years compared to their decade in the nineties where their tours actually sold out and their albums sold millions.

Salaam Aleikum,
Sebastiaan

Maybe I m a bit out of this world, but Crush sold 10 million copies? HAND sold about 5? LH sold about 4 and it was promoted as country record. Circle will sell good, too... They have just beaten Beatles record in Japan. They are touring every 2-3 years now. They had the biggest tour of the year. They are opening and closing arenas, stadiums. And they are irrelevant? You must be crazy or stupid to say that.

Aloha !

Crush sold 10 million copies based upon 1 hit single and the fact that it was the first Bon Jovi album in years. HAND sold 5 million based upon the country cross over hit they had in America. LH sold as well because of them focussing on the country market.

Compared to Keep The Faith (which spawned 7 singles all cracking the European top 40) and TD (spawning 5 singles which all made it to the European top 40), them touring the world and actually selling out everywhere they play and having a following that's actually increasing instead of shrinking pretty much shows how irrelevant they nowadays are.

Bon Jovi got a huge interest because of It's My Life but were never capable of keeping that audience. Most lost interest after Bounce, the prime example of this board never having so many new members during Crush but losing so many after the Bounce tour.

Salaam Aleikum,
Sebastiaan

Yeah, and Circle will sell based upon something too?! So it means they are irrelevant. They should sell albums based on something different then hits, touring, market? And I dont think they wont to release 5-6 singles these days.

More negative pish from Supertosser I see :mad:

Wanker!!!

hhehee....yeah...Crush has actually made it to the upper half of Jovi records by now.

Aloha !

You misunderstood. Every album since Crush has sold it's copies based upon the first hitsingle. As soon as there were more singles released they all tanked, showing that every album just had 1 or 2 good songs. As soon as they started to release their second single the single tanked and it didn't help selling more copies at all.

When Keep The Faith was released the album stayed in the charts for a longer period because album cuts like Dry County and I Believe were released on single simply because every song did very well as a single, showing that album cuts worked as a single. They will release 6 singles if every single is succesful. The last time this was the case was back in 1995 with the release of These Days. Crush spawned 3 singles (OWN doesn't count) and only 1 of them was a hit.

All copies sold of the Circle right now are based upon their standard people who bought the Circle, hence it showing up at number 2. If this album doesn't spawn a hit it means Bon Jovi is irrelevant because no one apart from their fanbase (who buy it because it's Bon Jovi) cares. You're only relevant when you're making an impact on something, and Bon Jovi haven't made an impact on anything in years.

Salaam Aleikum,
Sebastiaan

Actually, HAND then had 2 hit singles? :)

But, I bet that I Believe wouldnt be accepted that good now like it was then. Thats the main problem. And I wouldnt call them irrelevant if they are not gaining new fans. How much fans U2 gained then?