Each time I post I try to introduce readers to bands and songwriters they may not have seen before but recently I have been educating myself a little bit. I love discovering a new band that are totally amazing, especially if there is a whole back catalogue of songs to then buy and listen to. Each week I'll buy a new album until I eventually have them all by that particular band or artist. Ive recently got into The Bouncing Souls who I think I'm going to really like based on what Ive heard so far. They're punky and similarly to The Gaslight Anthem and The Hold Steady they seem to come under this pseudo genre of Springsteen punk. I don't agree with this genre. Its punk rock and the band happen to be influenced by Springsteen to a degree. I've also been listening to English folk artist Richard Thompson and Tom Waits who's lyrics are better than his music in my opinion but he is good in his own unique way. The most recent CD other than any of these that I bought is Lightning Dust's "Infinite Light" album. It's good 'night time' music, very quiet and soulful with a lot of emotion in the singing and quiet, twinkling instruments to back it up. Its an album full of good songs but probably best played when your feeling low or in a chilled out frame of mind.
On the other side of the coin its a horrible feeling when you discover a band that just released their first or second album, you love their music and like an addictive drug you just want more but you know you will have to wait about 2 years before the next album. What I tend to do in periods like this is archive a lot of rare material and concert recordings of these bands from various sources on the internet. Maybe this is another geeky side to me but as a result Ive ended up with a lot of rare music, countless concerts and performances from Bruce Springsteen, Bon Jovi, The Gaslight Anthem, The Goo Goo Dolls and many from lots other bands. This tides me over until they eventually release something new and it is a time killing tactic that works. I also secretly like the satisfaction that Ive got material that not too many people will have bothered to find. Tiding me over in between The Gaslight Anthem albums is Brian Fallon's side project The Horrible Crowes. I'm pretty excited about this because Gaslights next album is only due autumn 2012 so this album of Fallon's 'night time' material is going to bridge the gap between now and then perfectly. Really stripped down acoustic songs which will be performed on the Revival Tour later this year.
Also later this year is Bon Jovi at Old Trafford. Before I make my point here I'll just say that Bon Jovi are one of my all time favourite bands and this is unlikely to ever change. They were the first band that I felt the obsession for, where I just had to buy all of their albums, only back then I was ten and still on pocket money, I had to save my few pounds per week up in order to buy just one CD but I got them all eventually and I've loved them ever since although admittedly I haven't enjoyed the past two albums as much as previous ones. That said the concert is in June but I still haven't begun to look forward to it. This never used to be the case. I know it will be awesome when I'm there and nearer the time I will begin to look forward to it but this will be the 6th time I've seen them and in the time since the 'Have a Nice Day tour' five years ago I have begun to get more and more disillusioned with Jon Bon Jovi as a person as well as the band. The band are no longer focused on the fans and their music anymore they have all these other balls up in the air which I feel have taken over Bon Jovi the band and they are now more like a multi-national company. Jon Bon Jovi admits this in the recent 'When we were beautiful' documentary. He's on the phone with some business man about buying an American Football team and almost quoting him he says "don't see me as this singer in a rock n roll band, I'm the CEO of a major corporation" (thats the gist). Thus Bon Jovi are a brand not just a band anymore which is a shame.
Bon Jovi are a money spinning organisation and a few of their latest releases amplify this fact. The recent DVD of their music videos was pathetic. Most of the videos have been released before and each one was accompanied by a live performance of the song. This would have been good had these performances not been taken from other Bon Jovi DVDs. Bar the two new songs the DVD was just a big advert for all their other live DVDs. They also re-released all of their studio albums again in special edition. As a dedicated fan I bought them but you really didn't get that much extra. Ticket prices have shot up during the last two tours, actually meaning I couldn't afford to go last time on the 'Lost Highway Tour'! I used to be able to pay between £45-80 depending on the venue but that was for standing so I could still get close. Now it is £80 for the worst seats in the house at the upcoming run of O2 Arena shows. Do the biggest rock band in the world need to double their ticket prices? How hypocritical of JBJ to write a song called "Work for the working man" (a song about the financial climate and recession) and put it on their latest record. I'm no doubt boring you now and believe me I could go on so I'll cut this short but success has gone to Jon Bon Jovi's head and unfortunately I think this is the last time I will be going to watch them in concert.
My song of the blog this week is the song "Gone" by The Bouncing Souls. This song will get your attention. Its a real anthem this one from their album 'How I spent my summer vacation' I intend to cover it sometime soon. I'll put that on You Tube no doubt too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6HH0tRgeD0
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