Tag: Lie To Me

Bon Jovi – ‘These Days’ (1995) – Album Review (The Bon Jovi Collection Series)

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic72 Comments

After the end of the ‘Keep the Faith’ tour in 1993, the band need some time, so Jon Bon Jovi went on vacation and immediately started writing songs. Over the next 9 months, he and Richie Sambora wrote and demoed close to 40 songs. I guess they didn’t need much time. But the album was taking longer than anticipated so they agreed with the label to put out a greatest hits set called ‘Cross Road’ in 1994. The album did well. The band also ran in to trouble with bass player Alec John Such. Due to unsatisfactory performance during the live shows, they decided to dismiss Alec from the band in 1994 as well.

This made the album a four-piece technically as Alec is not on the album. Who is on the album is Jon, Richie, David Bryan and Tico Torres, officially. Unofficially, on bass was Hugh McDonald who we already met as he was the bass player on the song “Runaway” from the band’s debut album. They brought in producer Peter Collins to co-produce with Richie & Jon, but things weren’t easy. They started recording down in Nashville, TN. After 10 days of that, Jon wasn’t happy and erased all the tapes. Recording moved to New York to Jon’s home studio and also various studios in Los Angeles. One of the problems they had in New York was the band Fear Factory was recording their album and they were so loud that recording was not possible for them in their studio. Now, that is loud!

The album, ‘These Days’ was finally done and released on June 27, 1995. The album only went to #9 in the U.S., but overseas, the album was huge. It went to #1 in the U.K., Switzerland, Australia and numerous other countries. It sparked 5 singles and has sold over 10 million copies worldwide. They might not have been as popular in the U.S., but they were still doing fine. The album itself still sounded like Bon Jovi musically, but lyrically, it is a much darker album. It is not a rock & roll party full of sunshine. The band was in a good place funny enough. The music saw them really take the darkness of grunge but put it with the Bon Jovi sound. A lot of bands at this time were going heavier and completely changing their sound, but not Bon Jovi. And it worked.

The album opens with one of the heavier songs on the album, “Hey God”, and in the same epic way they open all their albums. According to wiki, the song was inspired by Jon looking out a window at 57 St. & Broadway and seeing a guy in an expensive suit standing next to a guy sleeping on the street. Also according to wiki, Richie was inspired by the song while looking out of his limo and seeing a homeless guy sleeping in a cardboard box. Who knos which is right or they both are. The song questions if God has forgotten about the world as all the good shit is gone and there nothing but bad. It is a darker tone, darker lyrics and sees the band questioning the world. A total ballbuster of a song. The song was the final single, but not in the U.S. and was released on June 24, 1996. It was a minor hit in Canada and several European countries. It is one of my favorites on the album.

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You Picked It! – The Poodles – ‘Metal Will Stand Tall’ – Album Review

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic19 Comments

Alright…You Picked It! This one was never really close. A couple made some last minute moves to catch the leader, but there was no catching this dog as it ended up not even close. The winner this month was The Poodles’ ‘Metal Will Stand Tall’.

  1. The Poodles – ‘Metal Will Stand Tall – 7 votes
  2. Gotthard – ‘Lipservice’ – 3 votes
  3. Jorn – ‘Worldchanger’ – 2 votes
  4. Passion – ‘Passion’ – 2 votes
  5. Reach – ‘The Promise of Life – 1 vote

Thanks to all for participating. The April choices will be up on Saturday! And the choices are all from my collection and the next one will all be focused all on Rock Candy Re-issues. Hopefully you can help me decide which one I should review. And to note, it will be the very last You Pick It! we do hear as there isn’t enough participation to make this worth doing anymore, I’m just going to start pulling from my collection and reviewing on my own going forward. Thanks all for playing along.

THE POODLES – ‘METAL WILL STAND TALL’ (2006):

The Poodles are a Swedish glam/metal band and how I came across them is thanks to two things. First was Melodicrock.com as Andrew McNeice talked about them a lot. The second was the fact that The Poodles had a strong connection to Jeff Scott Soto. Both the lead singer, Jakob Samuel and guitarists Pontus Norgren were in Jeff Scott Soto’s band Talisman. The funny thing is that Jakob was a drummer back then, now he is front and center as a lead singer. Now, what I find interesting is how the Poodles came to being. Jakob was asked to sing the song “Night of Passion” for the Swedish music contest Melodifestivalen in 2006. The winner of this contest goes on to compete in the major contest called Eurovision. Well, Jakob compiled a band together including Pontus Nogren as well as Pontus Egberg on bass and Christian Lundqvist on drums. The band didn’t win, but they did come in fourth which is pretty darn respectable. From there, they went and did an album and here we are.

When you hear The Poodles, you are immediately transferred back to a time when the Glam and Melodic rock scene was at its peak around the world with acts like Bon Jovi and that ilk…well in Sweden that genre never has seemed to die out as they are putting out some great bands with The Poodles leading the charge. The opening track, “Echoes From The Past” comes roaring out of the gate with its pounding drums and gritty guitar riffs. Jakob’s vocals have a grit to them and yet sound so silky smooth and his vocals can soar to the heaven’s. It is full of hooks and harmonies and everything you want in a great rock song.

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