On July 1, 2014, Bon Jovi released the Super Deluxe Edition box set for ‘New Jersey’ which was just a hair past the band’s 25th anniversary of the album which came out on September 19, 1988. It contained the original album with some bonus tracks as well as an additional disc of demos from during the recordings. If that wasn’t enough, there as third disc, a DVD, of the 88-minute behind the scenes documentary of the bands massive tour for ‘New Jersey’ which spanned over 200 shows and 26 countries. It was nuts. Also, included on the DVD were all the music videos for the album including both versions of “Bad Medicine”. These were previously only available on VHS. And lastly there was a booklet with pictures of the band, some commentary and lyrics to all the songs including the demos. It was a great set, only missing a live show from that era to make it complete.

For Part 2 of the New Jersey Review, we are going to go through all the bonus tracks from Disc 1 as well as all the songs from Disc 2 with comments on the DVD and booklet as well. The Original Album was reviewed in quite a lot of detail on Part 1 so we won’t repeat that here. So, sit back and enjoy the walk through of all the additional material of the Super Deluxe Edition of Bon Jovi’s ‘New Jersey’.

DISC 1 – Bonus Tracks:

The first bonus track on the 1st Disc is the Thin Lizzy cover of “The Boys Are Back in Town”. A live staple for the band for awhile. It was originally released on the compilation Stairway to Heaven/Highway to Hell which featured the bands that performed at the Moscow Music Peace Festival in 1989. The song is a basic copy of the original only with the fact it sounds like Bon Jovi and doesn’t have the cool edge of Lizzy’s version. It is not a favorite cover of mine, but it will do.

“Love Is War” was the B-Side to the single “Living in Sin” and was a previously unreleased track left off the album which is a shame. The reason why it was left off is simple. It is basically “You Give Love a Bad Name” which makes complete sense since Jon and Richie Sambora sat down to write a song like that for their new album. The problem was it sounded exactly like that (well same chord progression at least). So it was left off the album which is too bad as it is brilliant and one of my favorite Bon Jovi songs ever!! The band sounds great, the song is catchy as hell and it was perfect for the time of the late 80’s. But I get why they left it off. At least we have it here.

The final bonus track is an acoustic version of “Born to Be My Baby”. This was originally released as a bonus track in Japan. It is definitely stripped down and slowed down as well. It is acoustic guitars and Richie & Jon on vocals. Richie on background vocals is as good as it gets as it adds such flair to the song. A really great version of the song.

DISC 2 – The “Sons of Beaches Demos”:

The Sons of Beaches Demos are some of the songs that were considered for the Double album we discussed in Part 1. As a refresher, the band had so much material for the new album, they wanted to do a double album, but the record company squashed that idea. And the original name for the album was ‘Sons of Beaches’…which is jus awful.

There were 3 demos for songs from ‘New Jersey’, including “Homebound Train”, “Wild is the Wind” and “Stick to your Guns”. “Homebound Train” has a lot of harmonica and a different opening, but it was basically the same with Jon’s “Woah-Woahs!”. It is definitely rough and raw and not complete, still cool to hear an early version. “Wild is the Wind” as demo lacks some of the intensity and drama of the final version, but you can already hear that it is a special song. “Stick to Your Guns”, the same thing. The demo is pretty good already and not much needed to turn it in to the final version on the album.

“Judgment Day” was released as a promo for this anniversary release. Like all the demos on here, they were remixed for this release and had never seen the light of day prior to this release. It is a rough & ready song, a little raw on the vocals and messy, yet still packs quite a punch. “Full Moon High” starts with a Tico count, they mess up and do it again. I like they left that part in. This version is a little flat and Jon’s vocals seem to go through the motions on the verses, but the chorus has a little more power and emotion. But the song needs work as the hook isn’t hooky enough and the lyrics are ehh.

“Growin’ Up the Hard Way” opens with a bunch of “nah-nah-nah-nahs” and claps before the band joins in. As a demo, you can tell it isn’t complete, but there is potential. What I’m noticing so far are that the demos don’t sound too different than anything that was on ‘New Jersey’ which would have made a double album too long. Next up is “Let’s Make it Baby” and this one had help from Desmond Child. And this one, I really like it as it has the most potential. It has a heavy, deep dark bass line and a whole lot of talk box. It is a slowed down, groovy track and that chorus would be huge if it was fully finished. A really dark, cool track.

“Love Hurts” has a rough unfinished mess opening and then heavy drums pounding while Jon goes through the verse before the band kicks in. It is a rocker, has potential, but needs a lot of work to make it to Bon Jovi level material. Unless this was the 2020’s and then it is probably good enough already…oooh that was low…sorry. “Backdoor to Heaven” could be taken out of context easily and then it is a cringeworthy song. But this ballady type song is not about that, I don’t think. It is a generic ballad and not overly dramatic or heartfelt.

“Now And Forever” is a song about two people who were once close who haven’t seen each other in years. It is a touching song and has potential. A ballad and slowed way down…maybe to slow. But it ain’t half bad. Next is what turned out to be an Alice Cooper cover. The band recorded “House of Fire” prior to Alice using it on ‘Trash’. It was written by Alice, Desmond and Joan Jett. It is a rocking track with some great percussion moments and a nice gritty guitar riff. It is an energetic song, but not sure it would’ve fit as a Bon Jovi song.

“Does Anybody Really Fall in Love Anymore?” was written by Jon and Richie as well as Desmond and Diane Warren. Since the band didn’t end up using it, Cher used it on her album ‘Heart of Stone’ and Kane Roberts used it on his album ‘Saints & Sinners’. It is a ballad and a very cheesy one at that. Glad they didn’t use it. Lastly, we have the demo to “Diamond Ring” which the band would later record it for their 1995 album “These Days”. They didn’t change it much as it is still a little bluesy, maybe the demo is a little slower than the final version. I like this one a lot. It has a great groove to it and doesn’t sound like everything else.

DISC 3 – THE DVD:

The DVD is great as it has the 88-minute documentary called ‘Access All Areas: A Rock & Roll Odyssey”. It goes through the entire tour for New Jersey which hit well over 200 shows and 26 countries. It is a lot of backstage footage showing moments after the show where they thing the show sucked and they cut to kids that saw the show that said it was the best thing ever. You get to see interviews and promo sets from Moscow, Tokyo and Italy. You get to see the exhaustion from such a long tour and even the nerves when they play a small place like Hammersmith Odeon when Jimmy Page joins them on stage.

It is not always glamorous, but these guys were at the top of their game giving it their all and when the tour ended in Mexico you’d think it would go out with a band, but it was a disaster. There were riots and the first of 2 shows was canceled and moved to a matinee show when they did 2 shows in one day. Apparently the show was at a University and the students had issues where the money was going…it was a mess. These are only a highlight of the things you get to see as there are so many funny, lighthearted moments as these guys don’t know when to be serious until they need to be. It was an enjoyable historical document of the band.

And after that, you can go through all the videos for the album. There were 6 videos, well 7 if you count the 2nd version of ‘Bad Medicine. It also includes a promo version of “Blood on Blood” which was never released as a single. It was a great walk down memory lane as I watched those videos so many times on MTV back in 1988.

THE BOOKLET:

The booklet includes an essay by Illene Schreibman who tells the story of the album and some of the songs. It was information and an interesting read. It also contained countless pictures of the band, promo shots and ads for the shows. Lots of great picutres I hadn’t seen before. Plus, it has the lyrics to all the songs on the discs and even for the demos. It was just under 60 pages so a nice token to have in the set.

As you can see from above, it is a great package and comes with a lot of stuf. The only thing it is missing which I think every Super Deluxe Edition should have is a live show from that era. I do love the fact they gave us the demos of the songs that would’ve made the 2LP edicttion of “Sons of Beaches” if the record company would’ve let them do a double album. For now, this is the most complete set you can get of ‘New Jersey’ so if you like that album, this is a must. My Overall Score is a 4.5 out of 5.0 Stars because it doesn’t have the live show.

NEXT UP: BON JOVI – “I’LL BE THERE FOR YOU” – CASSETTE SINGLE (1988)

THE BON JOVI COLLECTION SERIES:

1. Bon Jovi – The Albums Box Set (2017)
2. Jon Bongiovi – The Power Station Sessions (1980-1983) (2001)
3. Bon Jovi – Bon Jovi (1984)
4. Bon Jovi – Shot Through the Heart: Live in Cleveland, OH March 17, 1984 FM Broadcast (Bootleg)
5. Bon Jovi – 7800° Fahrenheit (1985)
6. Bon Jovi – Slippery When Wet (1986)
7. Bon Jovi – New Jersey (1988)
8. Bon Jovi – New Jersey: Super Deluxe Edition – Disc 2/DVD (1988)
9. Bon Jovi – “I’ll Be There For You” – Cassette Single (1988)
10. Jon Bon Jovi – Blaze of Glory (1991)
11. Jon Bon Jovi – “Blaze of Glory” – Cassette Single (1991)
12. Richie Sambora – Stranger in this Town (1991)
13. Bon Jovi – Keep the Faith (1992)
14. Bon Jovi – “I Believe” – 7″ Single (1992)
15. Bon Jovi – Crossroads (1994)
16. Bon Jovi – “Please Come Home for Christmas” – CD Single (1994)
17. Bon Jovi – These Days (1995)
18. Bon Jovi – Live From London – DVD (1995)
19. Jon Bon Jovi – Destination Anywhere (1997)
20. Richie Sambora – Undiscovered Soul (1998)
21. Bon Jovi – Crush (2000)
22. Bon Jovi – Live From Osaka E.P. (2000)
23. Bon Jovi – “Thank You For Loving Me” – CD Single (2000)
24. Bon Jovi – The Crush Tour – DVD (2000)
25. Bon Jovi – The Love Songs E.P. (Promo) (2001)
26. Bon Jovi – Tokyo Road: Best of Bon Jovi (2001)
27. Bon Jovi – One Wild Night Live: 1985-2001 (2001)
28. Bon Jovi – Bounce (2002)
29. Bon Jovi – Unauthorized: Rock ‘n Roll Legends – Bootleg DVD (2002)
30. Bon Jovi – This Left Feels Right (2003)
31. Bon Jovi – Target E.P. (2003)
32. Bon Jovi – Wild in the Streets: Unauthorized – Bootleg DVD (2003)
33. Bon Jovi – This Left Feels Right – DVD (2004)
34. Bon Jovi – 100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can’t Be Wrong (Part 1) – (2004)
35. Bon Jovi – 100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can’t Be Wrong (Disc 1, Part 2) – (2004)
36. Bon Jovi – 100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can’t Be Wrong (Disc 2, Part 3) – (2004)
37. Bon Jovi – 100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can’t Be Wrong (Disc 3, Part 4) – (2004)
38. Bon Jovi – 100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can’t Be Wrong (Disc 4, Part 5) – (2004)
39. Bon Jovi – 100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can’t Be Wrong (Disc 5, Part 6) – (2004)
40. Bon Jovi – Have a Nice Day (2005)
41. Bon Jovi – Live from the Have a Nice Day Tour (Walmart Exclusive) (2006)
42. Bon Jovi – Lost Highway (2007)
43. Bon Jovi – Lost Highway: The Concert (2007)
44. Bon Jovi – The Circle (2009)
45. Bon Jovi – When We Were Beautiful Documentary DVD (2009)
46. Bon Jovi – Live at Madison Square Garden – DVD (2009)
47. Bon Jovi – Greatest Hits: The Ultimate Collection (2009)
48. Bon Jovi – Greatest Hits: The Ultimate Video Collection – DVD (2010)
49. Bon Jovi – Inside Out – DVD (2012)
50. Richie Sambora – Aftermath of the Lowdown (2012)
51. Bon Jovi – What About Now (2013)
52. Bon Jovi – Live E.P. (RSD – 2013)
53. Bon Jovi – Live 2 E.P. (RSD – 2014)
54. Bon Jovi – Burning Bridges (2015)
55. Bon Jovi – This House is Not For Sale (2016)
56. Bon Jovi – This House is Not For Sale – Live From the London Palladium (2016)
57. Bon Jovi – The Albums Box Set – The Extra LP (2017)
58. RSO – Radio Free America (2018)
59. Bon Jovi – 2020 (2020)
60. Bon Jovi – 40th Anniversary Box Set (TBA – I Hope it is out by the time we get here)

We’ve reviewed a bunch of pieces already over the years and won’t review again. They are as follows:

1. Bon Jovi – The Brotherhood Tour Book (1988-1990)
2. Bon Jovi – Bon Jovi Tour 2011 – Tourbook
3. Bon Jovi – The Rock History – Bootleg CD
4. Bon Jovi – “You Give Love A Bad Name” – 12″ Single
5. Bon Jovi – “You Give Love a Bad Name” – 7″ Single
6. Bon Jovi – Red Hot & 2 Parts Live E.P. – 12″ Single
7. Bon Jovi – “Wanted Dead or Alive” – 7″ Single
8. Bon Jovi – “Bad Medicine” – 7″ Single
9. Bon Jovi – “Born to Be My Baby” – 7″ Single
10. Bon Jovi – “I’ll Be There For You” – 7″ Single
11. Bon Jovi – “Lay Your Hands on Me” – 7″ Single
12. Bon Jovi – “Living in Sin” – 7″ Single