YorkeDaddy

If I say I hate Frownland, will you specifically not review one of his albums?

__________________
http://cloudcover1.bandcamp.com/
http://daydreamsociety.bandcamp.com/

9-Time Winner of MusicBanter's "Most Qualified to be a Moderator" Award

Trollheart

Album Title: New Jersey
Artist: Bon Jovi
Year: 1988
Genre: Hard Rock/Glam Metal (according to Wiki but really more AOR/Pop/Rock)
Position in Discography: 4 of 13 (ATOW*)

Hey, I'd be the first to admit the first two Bon Jovi albums were nothing special. I mean, the debut had a few decent tracks, but a lot of filler, and as for 7800 Fahrenheit? That was pretty much almost all filler. It took a total change of direction and thinking, and the addition of songwriting supremo Desmond Child to kick Bon Jovi's fortunes into high gear and help them create a number one smash hit album with two number one singles taken from it, and two others that broke the top twenty. So after that worldwide success, it was going to be a hard thing to write a follow up, and in some ways this album succeeds, in others it kind of fails.

Listen, Bon Jovi had, up to and really including Slippery When Wet and this album, never been a band to write deep, thoughtful or meaningful lyrics. Songs about girls, parties, drinking, having a good time – these were the staples of the lyrical arsenal wielded by Jon and Richie. Their next album would show some maturing, some more relevant content, perhaps as they began to grow up and look more at the world through the eyes of an adult rather than a partygoing teenager, and realised, to paraphrase Don Henley, that the girls of summer were gone. From there on, they would still write the good-time songs of course, but there would be a little more thought put into most of the rest. Not saying that they became politically motivated in a way the likes of Springsteen or Dylan did, but they began paying attention more to the events taking place around them, and like them or not, they were and are popular. And when you're popular, you have a ready-made audience that you can choose to try to educate if you wish.

All that aside, New Jersey is still a good-time album. Most if not all of the songs deal with parties, being young, and just basically enjoying life. Even when they do get a very little serious, like for instance offering heavy-handed life advice in “Stick To Your Guns”, there's still an element of “but still enjoy yourself” about it, and it sort of comes across, not quite as disingenuous or even insincere, but a tad like the tongue is wedged firmly in the cheek. This is, first and foremost, a party album, and in that way, I would consider it the transitional album for the boys, the one on which they had their last hurrah and thought, next time we're gonna have to take this seriously. But hell, time for one last blowout before we all grow up, and in the afterglow of the dizzying success garnered with Slippery When Wet, sure who would blame them?

Lay Your Hands On Me
Taking the persona of a kind of evangelist of hedonism, Jon espouses enjoying life, telling us as the song begins, “They say if you really want to free your body, you gotta free your mind. So come on: check us out!” Even the solo organ that cuts in after the percussion-and-chanting that opens the song sounds religious, and you get the feeling you're at a ceremony of sorts. And it is worship, worship of JBJ, in a song that shows why he is or was so reviled, a sentiment I can't really argue against here. It's the total narcissist in control, and though he says “check us out” the song is all about him. It's an ego-fest where Jon, seeing himself as a modern-day Elvis, legs shaking, pelvis grinding, offers us advice on love and life. Yeah. But it's a fun song, clearly written to serve as a concert-opener for the upcoming tour, and it gets you in the mood. The lyric is banal, pretty poor songwriting to be fair, Jon going for the lowest common denominator with lines like “If you're ready, I'm willing and able/ Let me lay my cards out on the table” and “Satisfaction is guaranteed”, and scoring.
7/10

Bad Medicine
Segueing directly from the opener, this is clearly an amalgam of the themes used on the previous album, particularly “You Give Love a Bad Name” and “Social Disease”, where Jon likens love to “bad medicine” that he can't get enough of. This sort of idea would be revisited, albeit in a slightly different form, on the next album, when he would compare rock and roll to a disease, but one he didn't want to be cured of. The song keeps the tempo high, keeps rocking and bouncing, and is another crowd-pleaser that you could see the little girls singing as they screamed and pulled their hair, watching Jon gyrate across the stage, perhaps even in scrubs, who knows or cares? Again, he's winning no prizes for this lyric, but again, it's not really meant to be taken seriously, and it's fun.

7/10

Born To Be My Baby
Another high-octane pop rocker, with lots of “na na na na na”-ing in the song, a pretty meh chorus and a really meh lyric. A typical love song, which actually starts a little like a faster, darker “Livin' On a Prayer” as Jon whines “Both got jobs cos there's bills to pay, but we got somethin' they can't take away (anyone?) - our love, our life!” Simplistic, direct and again pandering to the easiest swayed of their public, their female fans, all of whom no doubt convinced themselves Jon was talking directly to them.

Parents may have been a little concerned by his taking the role of a preacher and then offering what surely is not sound medical advice, but he reassures them that he's a believer when he grins “Only God would know the reason, but I guess He must have had a plan.” Phew! Sigh of relief there. That nice boy can't be singing the Devil's music after all. Guess it's safe for my kids to buy his records. But underneath it all (and you don't, to be fair, have to dig very far, do you?) again, a fun song and it keeps things movin' and-a shakin' as we head towards the first ballad, and a chance for JBJ to take a breather.

5/10

Living in Sin
And perhaps here is where the Bible-thumpers get edgy, as Jon advocates co-habitation without marriage! Although let's be honest here: it's hardly a groundbreaking idea, is it? If this had been released in the fifties or sixties, it would probably have caused uproar, Bon Jovi albums being burned by the cartload (who said “good”?) but in these days, attitudes have changed drastically so it's really more a case of him being controversial without being controversial, sort of lip service to the teenage rebellion, really. Nice ballad though, with a haunting synth line from David Bryan, and to be fair, some deep enough lyrics: “Is it right for both our parents to fight it out most nights/Then pray for God's forgiveness when they both turn out the lights?/ Or wear that ring of diamond when your heart is made of stone/ You can talk but still say nothin'/Stay together but alone.” Strong stuff, Jon!

8/10

Blood on Blood
And now it's the turn of the guys. Jon has been pretty much singing to the girls for the last four tracks, but now it's time to turn to manly pursuits, and the tale (whether based on truth or not I don't know, and I doubt it matters) of Jon's friends, growing up in Joyzee, and how they swore a pact that they would always be there for one another. A real lads' song, it kicks up the tempo nicely after the ballad, raising hell and going back to having a good time, though as it comes to an end in a more sombre tone before rocketing off into the final chorus, I often grin at Jon's recounting of what happened to his friends in later life: “Bobby's an uptown lawyer, and Teddy's a medicine man/ Me? I'm just the singer in a long-haired rock and roll band.” Yeah, and you probably make ten, a hundred times what Bobby and Teddy make a year put together, Jon! At least! Cool song though, and even if the sentiment in it makes you kind of want to barf, you can feel yourself getting pulled in to the “friends forever/lads together/all for one one for all” idea that underpins the song.

10/10

Homebound Train
The closest Bon Jovi ever come to attempting to play the blues. Well, not really. Kind of a standard uptempo rocker, not actually terrible, just very mediocre and totally unmemorable. And don't get me started on Jon's "WOO WOO!" sound effects!

2/10

Wild is the Wind
Not a cover of the song made famous by Bowie, this is a collaboration between Jon and Desmond Childs again, this time bringing in Midas-touch songwriter Diane Warren. And it really works. Starts out as a sombre, almost hollow ballad, then ramps up into a bitter rocking anthem to lost love. One of the better tracks on the album. Not quite what you'd call necessarily mature, but a little more inward-looking than, say, “Born To Be My Baby”.

10/10

Ride Cowboy Ride
Basically a deliberately mono-recorded ninety-second acoustic cover of a cowboy song apparently by Captain Kidd and The King of Swing, which serves as an intro to the next song.

Stick To Your Guns
More life advice from Jon, drawing on the western theme from “Wanted Dead or Alive”, and helped out by this time Holly Knight, a song which has some really nice cowboy-style guitar from Richie, a really cool melody and a great outro, and pearls of wisdom from our man: “So you wanna be a cowboy?/ Well you know it's more than just the ride/ Guess you gotta know the real thing/ If you're gonna know the other side/ Ain't nobody ridin' shotgun/ In the world tonight/ And when you spit you better mean it/ You better make 'em all believe it.” Yeah. Indeed. Again, this will appeal to the young boys, the teenagers looking maybe for something to rebel against, those wanting to seem like they're “taking a stand” (though probably against the school or their parents) and they'll get a warm fuzzy feeling when Jon growls “When you pray for independence boy/ You'd better stand your ground.” Oh, yee-haw, Jon! Cool, cool song though, and it has all the power and majesty you would expect from the title, punchy, no-holds-barred, take no ****, go fer yer gun and is that yer maw calling I done heard just now?

10/10

I'll Be There For You
“I'll be there for you/ These five words I swear to you/ When you breathe I wanne be the air for you.” Yep, it's the second ballad and let's face it, great song though it is, it's just “Never Say Goodbye” with new lyrics. I don't mean the melody is the same, though it kind of is, but it's the same idea and this one definitely is for the ladies, as Jon cries “Didn't mean to miss your birthday baby/ I wish I'd seen you blow those candles out!” followed by an anguished scream. Yeah, well maybe you shouldn't have been balls-deep in that waitress then, Jon! Ah hell, great song and of course a single and of course a hit, but very much what was becoming Bon Jovi by the numbers.

10/10

99 in the Shade
And we're back to end the album, almost, in party mood. “Tell the boys I'm on my way!” grins Jon. “I got the radio blastin' in my old man's Chevrolet/ I got a party in pocket and you know I just got paid!” Not a lot to say really. “Born To Be My Baby” without the sentiment. A good bouncy tune that certainly puts you in mind of heading down to the beach in a dune buggy with your girl. If you lived near a beach. Or had a dune buggy. Or a girl.

5/10

Love For Sale
Basically a jam session to end the album in relaxed, informal and fun style, where Jon takes the idea of Rupert Holmes's “Escape” and concocts a little story whereby his old lady done played a trick on him by placing a personal ad ... you know the deal. I could probably have done without it, and it's very very self-indulgent, with Richie and Jon exchanging knowing winks in their back-and-forth near the end, and to be honest, when Jon says “Aw let's just say the record is done” I kind of felt well, you cheeky little **** you! I've paid for this. (This was in an era where I bought vinyl albums, before the advent of streaming or downloadable music, young'uns!)...

Still, that's Jersey boys for you, I guess!

3/10

Album Rating: 6/10

* ATOW = At Time Of Writing

__________________
Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Mondo Bungle

https://www.musicbanter.com/general-...ic-thread.html

__________________

Key

Knew it.

Trollheart

Yeah I started it under "Trollheart Reviews Albums Nobody Cares About", but the format of that was a little different and this is the way I want to do this one. I'm happy with this kind of format, suits me much better.

__________________
Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Trollheart

I worked for almost thirty years in a freight company, then took voluntary redundancy in order to be a fulltime carer for my sister. So technically I work from home, technically I work 24/7/365 but I don't work under anyone so much of my time is my own. I'm 55 this year, next week in fact, since you ask.
No, because I know it would be a lie. You love yourself too much to say that.
No. There's nothing that could make me listen to, never mind review, one of Frownland's albums. He'll tell you himself: my musical brain is just not attuned highly enough to be able to "get" what he does. Apparently.

__________________
Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

MicShazam

2 deep 4 u

Trollheart

Surely the title of his next album?

__________________
Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Frownland

Review Kendrick Lamar's DAMN except for DNA and Humble.

__________________

Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth.

Trollheart

No.

__________________
Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018