Category: Album Review

Def Leppard – ‘Too Many Jitterbugs: B-Sides And Rarities’ (2020) – Album Review (The Def Leppard Collection Series)

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To celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the bands debut album, Def Leppard put together quite an impressive box set.  Released on March 20, 2020, “The Early Years 79-81” box set was full of goodies. Not only did we get the first two albums, ‘On Through the Night’ and ‘High ‘N’ Dry’, but we got the live album ‘When the Walls Come Tumbling Down’ which we have alread talked about. The fourth disc, “Too Many Jitterbugs’ title is actually a line from the song “Glad I’m Alive”, was chock full of Rare songs and B-Sides as well as Single Edits and remixes.  For someone new collecting Lep stuff, this is a great disc.  For someone like myself, I had most everything already in some form, but not quite everything which is why this is so great.

The set kicks off with the three songs from The Def Leppard E.P. which are “Ride Into the Sun”, “Getcha Rocks Off” and “The Overture”. The first track is “Ride Into the Sun”.  The song is very different than the two other versions of the song released later that are more familiar to most fans. The first version was a B-Side on the “Hysteria” single and the last version was on the album ‘Retroactive’.  The B-Side version was my favorite until I heard the original which is now my favorite version of this song.  It is the true intention of the song and it has a better sound and feel.  The guitar and drum work are awesome and Joe sounded so young and fresh.  The guitar solo was better and an overall more satisfying experience.  It is the more rock version of the song and pure Def Leppard at their best.

Track two on Side One is “Getcha Rocks Off”.  This track was re-recorded for their first full length album “On Through the Night”, but the title was changed to just “Rocks Off”. I think this song sounds better as well over the re-recorded version.  It doesn’t have the fake crowd noise or the weird guitar sounds that are thrown in needlessly.  The E.P. version is also a more hard rock sounding song.  

“The Overture” is an epic song at over 7 minutes long.  It was also re-recorded for the ‘On Through The Night Album’ like “Getcha Rocks Off”.  Again, due to how amazing this record sounds, I prefer this song over the version on “On Through the Night”.  What I love about the song is the changing tempos, the great double guitars of Steve & Pete.  The song takes you on a great musical journey.

“Wasted”, but this single is different than the album version which is odd. It had never been released on an album until the release of The Collection, Volume 1 (2018). it sounds more raw and like an early demo of the studio track or something. It is still great though. The same with “Hello America” as it is a single version that isn’t the album version either. I’m not sure the reason behind this, but I like different versions so I’m all good.

After that we get a previously unreleased version of “Rock Brigade”. The song is a very early version of the song which lacks the punch of the guitars on the “On Through the Night’ version and the drums don’t sound like Rick Allen’s and for that it the lesser track. But you can hear the promise of what was to come. Then the coolest song they’ve never released on a studio album, “Glad I’m Alive”. It is a fast paced, groove-tastic piece of brilliant rock that is such a shame they never did anything with this as it is perfection. It is also the namesake for this album. “Good Morning Freedom” is a B-Side to “Hello America” and opens with some great drumming from young Rick Allen. His drumming throughout is fantastically slamming. Another rocker and another gem from this band. It is more razor sharp guitars cutting through those Elliott vocals.

The rest of the album are single edits and remixes. We get the single edit for the opening track for ‘High ‘N’ Dry’ called “Let It Go” which chops 30 seconds off the album version. It cuts out a lot of the guitar wankering which is what makes the original so bad ass. Then we get a single edit for “Switch 625” and the only I can see that is different is it removed some of the fade that comes off of “Bringing on the Heartbreak”.

The next two tracks are the single edit for “Bringin’ On the Heartbreak” which knocks off about 40 seconds from the original and again, doesn’t make it better. It also has a cleaner ending rather than the fade in to “Switch 625”. The next track is the original version of “Me And My Wine” and it is the version that is the B-Side to “Bringin’ On the Heartbreak”. It has more punch and more of a rawness to it than the later remix version. I like it a lot! A punk attitude with dash of hard rock.

The final two tracks are the Remixes of “Bringin’ On the Heartbreak” and “Me and My Wine” that were on the 1984 re-issue of the ‘High & Dry’ album. The remixes were done with added synthesizers and piano overdubs to make it sound more like what was done on ‘Pyromania’. which was out at the time of the re-issue. The remix doesn’t make them better, but they are already great songs so fine, whatever they felt was necessary. It did cause the album to sell a lot more copies so all good.

And that wraps this one up. Being a compilation of tracks, I wouldn’t delete anything on this one. A lot of great tracks with only a couple I didn’t already have in the collection. It is a lot like the bootleg I have “First Strike” which we already reviewed, but better sounding. It is nice having the songs all on one disc rather than spread out on singles or E.P.’s so for that it is worth buying. My Overall Score is a 5.0 out of 5.0 Stars as you can’t go wrong with The Early years of Def Leppard.

NEXT UP: ‘RAW: Early BBC Recordings’ (2020)

THE DEF LEPPARD COLLECTION SERIES

  1. Def Leppard E.P. – 7″ Single (1979)
  2. First Strikes 1978-1979 (Bootleg CD)
  3. Girl – Sheer Greed (1980)
  4. On Through the Night (1980)
  5. When the Walls Came Tumbling Down (April 26 1980) (2020)
  6. High & Dry (1981)
  7. Too Many Jitterbugs – B-Sides And Rarities (2020)
  8. Raw – Early BBC Recordings (2020)
  9. Girl – Wasted Youth (1982)
  10. Pyromania (1983)
  11. “Photograph” 7″ Single (1983)
  12. “Too Late For Love” 12″ Single (1983)
  13. Live at the L.A. Forum 1983 (2018)
  14. Seattle, August 3, 1983 (Bootleg CD)
  15. Pyromania TV Collection (Bootleg DVD)
  16. Hysteria (1987)
  17. “Animal” 7″ Single (1987)
  18. “Women” 7″ Single (1987)
  19. “Pour Some Sugar on Me” 7″ Single (1987)
  20. “Hysteria” 7″ Single (1987)
  21. “Armageddon It” 7″ Single (1988)
  22. “Love Bites” 7″ Single (1988)
  23. “Rocket” 7″ Single (1989)
  24. Animal Instinct – The Def Leppard Story – Book Review (1987)
  25. Rarities – Volume One (2018)
  26. Live in Mountain View – August 17, 1988 (Bootleg DVD)
  27. Historia – DVD (1988)
  28. Live: In the Round, In Your Face (CD Video / DVD) (1989)
  29. Adrenalize (1992)
  30. “Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad” – Cassette Single (1992)
  31. “Tonight” CD Single (1993)
  32. Live Shefield 1992 (Bootleg DVD)
  33. Retro Active (1993)
  34. Visualize DVD (1993)
  35. Hard Rock Café – Singapore, Malaysia October 26, 1995 (Bootleg DVD)
  36. Vault: Def Leppard Greatest Hits (1980-1995) (1995)
  37. “When Love & Hate Collide” – CD Promo Single (1995)
  38. Video Archive (1995)
  39. Slang (1996)
  40. Montreal: The Classic 1996 Broadcast (Bootleg CD)
  41. Live Bites: FM Broadcast (Bootleg CD)
  42. Live in Argentina 1997 (Bootleg DVD)
  43. Euphoria (1999)
  44. Rarities – Volume Two (2019)
  45. Rarities – Volume Three (2019)
  46. Tokyo 1999 (Bootleg CD)
  47. Cybernauts – Live (2000)
  48. X (2002)
  49. Hysteria: Classic Albums DVD (2002)
  50. Best of Def Leppard (2004)
  51. Rock of Ages: The Definitive Collection (2005)
  52. Yeah! (2006)
  53. Songs from the Sparkle Lounge (2008)
  54. Man Raze – Surreal (2008)
  55. B-Sides (2021)
  56. Yeah! II (2021)
  57. Yeah! Live (2021)
  58. CMT Crossraods – Taylor Swift & Def Leppard (2009)
  59. Down ‘N’ Outz -My ReGeneration (2010)
  60. Man Raze – PunkFunkRootsRock (2011)
  61. Down ‘N’ Outz -The Further Adventures of… (2014)
  62. Def Leppard (2015)
  63. The Lost Session (2018)
  64. Personal Jesus 7″ Single (2018)
  65. Down ‘N’ Outz -This is How We Roll (2019)
  66. Hits Vegas: Live at Planet Hollywood – Vinyl (2020)
  67. Hysteria: Live – Vinyl (2020)
  68. Def Leppard Acoustic Vegas – 10″ Vinyl (2020)
  69. Down ‘N’ Outz – The Music Box E.P. (2020)
  70. Diamond Star Halos (2022)
  71. High & Dry – Picture Disc (RSD) (2022)
  72. Drastic Symphonies (2023)
  73. Drastic Symphonies – Picture Disc (2023)
  74. Definitely: The Official Story of Def Leppard (2023)

PREVIOUSLY POSTED:

  1. The Def Leppard E.P. (1979/2017)
  2. Def Leppard: Interview Picture Disc (1982?)
  3. “Bringin’ On the Heartbreak” – 12″ Promo Single (1984)
  4. Live at the Top (Bootleg) (1987)
  5. “Pour Some Sugar on Me” –  5″ Shaped Picture Disc (1987)
  6. Hysteria U.S. Tour 1988 – Tour Book (1988)
  7. “Make Love Like a Man” – 12″ Single (1992)
  8. “Let’s Get Rocked” – 12″ Single (1992)
  9. Adrenalize: The 7 Day Weekend Tour (1992/1993)
  10. X: World Tour (2003)
  11. Mirrorball – Live & More (2011)
  12. Def Leppard: The Definitive Visual History – Book Review (2011)
  13. Viva! Hysteria (2013)
  14. And There Will Be A Next Time…Live from Detroit (2017)
  15. Hysteria: 30th Anniversary Box Set (2017)
  16. The Story So Far – The Best of (2018)
  17. The Collection, Volume 1 (2018)
  18. Hysteria: The Singles Box Set (2018)
  19. Live at Abbey Road Studios (2018)
  20. Def Leppard: Concert Review – Charlotte, NC June 9th 2018 (2018)
  21. The Story So Far – The Best of Volume 2 (2019)
  22. The Collection, Volume 2 (2019)
  23. London to Vegas (2020)
  24. Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 29 March 2019 (2020)
  25. The Early Years ’79-’81 (2020)
  26. The Collection, Volume 3 (2021)
  27. Def Leppard Funko Pop!

Def Leppard – ‘High & Dry’ (1981) – Album Review (the Def Leppard Collection Series)

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While touring in support of their debut album, ‘On Through the Night’, Def Leppard opened for one of the biggest bands at the time, AC/DC. Famed producer, Robert John “Mutt” Lange, who produced AC/DC’s massive album “Back in Black”, took notice of the band and he was very impressed. So much so, he agreed to be their producer for the band’s sophomore album ‘High ‘N’ Dry’. A move that would change the course of history for this band and catapult them in to the stratosphere of rock stardom. But first, they had to do an album and this album saw the band head to a more melodic phase, however, the edge and rawness of the debut was still present.

The songwriting was more refined, everything seemed more purposefully composed, it was cleaner yet it was still powerful, engaging and after over 40 years with it, it is one of the best rock & roll albums of all time. Well…it is for me. The band, who was Joe Elliott, Steve Clark, Rick Savage, Rick Allen and Pete Willis, recorded the album between March and June of 1981 and it was released a very short time later on July 11, 1981. A short 16 months after the debut. Man, if they could’ve only kept that pace of releases, how much could they have released over the years. The album would go to #38 in the U.S. and #26 in the UK. Not a massive success, but enough of one thanks to the ballad “Brinin’ on the Heartbreak” which saw massive airplay on MTV, that the band was setup nicely for the next album.

Their third album ‘Pyromania’ was so big, so successful and so amazing, that ‘High ‘N’ Dry’ was re-released in 1984 with 2 additional tracks. One was a re-mix of “Bringin’ On the Heartbreak” which added synthesizers and piano overdubs to make it sound more like what was done on ‘Pyromania’. The other track was “Me & My Wine” which was the B-Side of the original release of “Bringin On the Heartbreak”. It too was re-mixed for a more modern sound. This re-release helped sell more albums which has since seen the album go double platinum. They even did new videos for it with Phil Collen on guitar who was not on this album at all as Pete Willis was at the time. The copy we are reviewing today is the original release without the 2 new tracks, the way it should be heard. Let’s get to it.

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Bon Jovi – ‘Cross Road’ (1994) – Album Review (The Bon Jovi Collection Series)

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After the release of their last album ‘Keep the Faith’ in 1992, the band set out on an extensive worldwide tour. They hit 37 countries while performing over 177 shows and those shows saw reached over 2.5 million people. The boys were busy and as a result of this tour, very tired. They also needed more time to work on their next album. To hold fans over, a greatest hits compilation was released by the band and the label. The album came out on October 11, 1994 and contained songs from every album including 1 from Jon’s solo album and 2 unreleased tracks. The U.S. version got a special track of Livin’ on a Prayer which had been redone and called “Prayer ’94”, however, my vinyl set of the album does not have that song.

The album was titled ‘Cross Road’ which is possible that was where the band saw themselves at. The music landscape was changing rapidly, their 80’s rock glam style was no longer popular, yet this band kept on chugging. ‘Cross Road’ sold went to #8 in the U.S. and #1 in so many country. Worldwide they sold over 21,000,000 copies as Bon Jovi was even bigger around the world than at home. The cover art was taken at a diner called the Roadside Diner and it was near the crossroads of Rout 33 and Route 34 so it was a very appropriate cover.

The one strange thing about the album was inside they had a picture of all the band’s albums including Jon’s solo album and even Richie’s solo album, but no song from Richie’s album made the set yet Jon’s did. Another prime example this was Jon’s band and even the back cover only had Jon on it. A picture says a 1,000 words I believe is the saying.

The compilation kicks off with one of their most popular songs, “Livin’ On A Prayer” off the album ‘Slippery When Wet’. It opens with a wicked bass line, finger cymbals and a talk-box. But that wasn’t all that was great about it, it is the story of Tommy & Gina in “Livin’ on a Prayer” that makes this such a great song. Jon has a way of making the songs human and easy to connect with. The everyday person with problems just like you so the songs feel personal.  The song is loosely based on Desmond and his girl-friend as she worked in a Diner, but he was a taxi driver and not working at the docks.  It was that Blue Collar feel to the song that made it resonate with so many people.  It was a time when Bon Jovi actually wrote songs that told a story that connected with people and not try to write just to make a hit. The funny thing about this one is that Jon didn’t like it, but Richie was able to convince Jon that this was a hit and it should be on the album. Thankfully for the band, it was as it went to #1 as well. Hugh McDonald who is currently the bass player for Bon Jovi in 2023, was the bass player on this song back in 1986.

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Def Leppard – ‘When the Walls Came Tumbling Down (April 26, 1980)’ (2020) – Album Review (The Def Leppard Collection Series)

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Def Leppard never wanted to release live albums. At least that is what I remember them saying years and years ago. Was it something like “a band only releases live albums when they’ve run out of ideas”. Don’t quote me on that, that is something I swear I heard them say a very long time ago. And for 31 years, Def Leppard never officially released a live album. A live video, yes. But never an album until around 2011 with ‘Mirrorball’. And it would be another 9 years before we ever got a live show from their Early Years! But thanks to the box set ‘The Early Years’, we finally had a live show from 1980. It doesn’t get much earlier than that for them. It was recorded at New Theatre in Oxford on April 26, 1980. The show is completely unedited and as is (so they say) and I would believe it.

But it wasn’t my first early show of Def Leppard. I have a bootleg from a show at BBC’s Paris Theatre, London, England, 22nd August 1979 and some recorded at the Reading Festival, Reading, England, 24th August 1980 and it was called “Live at the Top”. That was my first taste of early Lep and what a taste it was. This show is even better and sees a hungry, raw Def Leppard giving it their all. There are four historical pieces on here as we get a liver version of Good Morning Freedom which the band had never released, an early version of Lady Strange from an album that hadn’t come out yet and two songs that would wind up completely different when they were finally released on two different albums. The show was first released in that box set, then they decided to release a vinyl of the show as well which I have both versions as you can see in the last picture.

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Cheap Trick – ‘Love to Rock’ (1988) – Album Review (the Cheap Trick Collection Series)

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Back in the 80’s, record companies would put out compilations on cassette only. They weren’t really official band releases, but the labels did it anyway. While I was at a record show, I found this tape by Cheap Trick that I had never seen before. It was a CBS Special Product and it was only available on cassette. It is called “Love to Rock” and it is a short compilation of Cheap Trick songs from 1977 up to the 80’s. This was released back in 1988 and I am sure was to capitalize on the band’s new popularity with their new hit “The Flame”, which isn’t on here by the way.

For fun, let’s go through the track list and see what they gave us. Not a bade tracklist, but might not be one I would’ve chosen, but what I do know, I’m not a suit at a record company that has no idea what the buying public really wants.

Side One kicks off with “I Want You To Want Me” from the 1977 album ‘In Color’. The first single and one of their most well-known songs is up next. “I Want You To Want Me” did nothing as a single and didn’t chart, not until it was released as a single off Budokan and we will talk about that in a couple reviews. This version doesn’t have the energy as the live version, but doesn’t mean it isn’t good. The song is a real treat as it is so playful and a finger-snapping good time. There is a some cool guitar picking with almost a country twang and a piano interlude that is fast and frenzied. The song might like the power of the live version, but you can’t deny its whimsical stylings.

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Def Leppard – ‘On Through The Night’ (1980) – Album Review (the Def Leppard Collection Series)

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The Def Leppard E.P. from 1979, sold really well and saw the band’s popularity rise heavily in their home country of the U.K. The Union Jack was their friend, but that was soon about to change. With the release of their debut album, shouts were coming from the media that Def Leppard were sell-outs and trying to pander to the American public especially with a song called “Hello America” and the fact that they toured way more in the U.S. then they did anywhere else. As a result of those shouts, they were abused and heckled and bombarded with bottles of piss at the Reading Festival, but to be fair a lot of bands were abused during that festival.

Def Leppard were one of the first bands on this ride called the New Wave of British Heavy Metal which included the likes of Iron Maiden, Saxon, Tigers of Pan Tang and many more. Their sound was more raw, definitely more heavy and yet a little more polished then some of the other bands. There was no denying that this young gang of boys with an average age of 18, were ready to rock America and the World. The band consisted of singer Joe Elliott, guitarists Steve Clark and Pete Willis, bassist Rick Savage and the Thunder God himself, Rick Allen who was the tender age of 16 when the album came out.

The album was produced by Colonel Tom Allen who you might know from producing acts like Judas Priest and engineer on albums from Black Sabbath. He helped craft a really solid and exciting debut album which saw the light of day March 14, 1980. The album saw three singles with only 2 charting in the UK, but the album did sell over a million copies over time thanks to their big albums ‘Pyromania’ and ‘Hysteria’ I am sure. Through the success of the album and the touring, they band caught the eye of producer, Robert John “Mutt” Lange. The man saw something special and these young lads and would change their world forever.

I remember growing up and seeing this album in my brothers collection and I remember him seeing them live and telling me how great they were. So I grabbed this album and listened to it a lot. I had a strange fascination with it using it for two projects in school. One was a paper in English which I talked about the song “Wasted”. That paper sucked and I was lucky to walk away with a “C” when it probably deserved and “F”. The second was for Art Class when I drew the album cover. I still have the original album on vinyl and the cover is all marked up since I drew lines on it to help with my actual drawing. It is rough. Not the drawing, it looks great and is below…

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Bon Jovi – ‘Keep The Faith’ (1992) – Album Review (The Bon Jovi Collection Series)

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After 16 months of touring for ‘New Jersey’, the band was simply exhausted. Without so much as a goodbye, the band members went home and did their own things for awhile. Jon Bon Jovi became real disillusioned with the music “business” so he fired everyone from management to advisers to even agents (which was Doc McGhee). Jon took control. And in October 1991, he brought the boys back together down in St. Thomas in the Caribbean where the band hashed out their issues and decided it was time to work again.

In January 1992, the band headed back to Little Mountain Studios in Vancouver, Canada to start work on their fifth album. They tried to get Bruce Fairbairn back to produce, but he was busy with a little band from Boston called Aerosmith and their smash album ‘Get a Grip’. So, they got the next best thing, Bob Rock, who engineered their last two albums with Bruce so he was taught very well. They worked on the album through August of that year and wrote/recorded over 30 songs for the album. Of which, 12 made it and a couple were used for various bonus tracks whether in Japan or Australia.

Things had changed significantly since their last album. Some thing called Grunge had taken over and even Rap was growing in popularity. But the boys ignored all that, they also ignored their old sound which was full of cliches. Instead, the focused on righting real songs about more serious topics. Now, not all the songs were that way, but enough were that we got a band that sounded more mature, more focused and more serious.

The album came out on November 3, 1992 and would spawn six singles – four in the U.S. and two around the world. The album would chart at #5 in the U.S., #1 in the UK and high on so many charts around the world. It would sell over 8 million copies worldwide and have 3 Top 40 hits. Bon Jovi was back and in a big way. They were actually more popular around the world then in their home country. Why did this album do so well, let’s dig in to the songs and see.

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Girl – ‘Sheer Greed’ (1980) – Album Review (The Def Leppard Collection Series)

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When planning the Def Leppard Collection Series, I thought it would be fun to include what I call Def Leppard Adjacent albums. That would be any side projects or bands the members of Leppard have been in that I have in my collection. First up is an interesting one in that it is the band Girl which features future Def Leppard guitarists, Phil Collen. What is cool about it for me is that Girl’s debut and Def Leppard’s debut albums came out one month apart in the year of 1980. It was a battle of two new British bands and we know who comes out on top. But which album was better? Before we get in to that, lets talk about the band.

The band was formed in 1979 by Phil Lewis, Phil Collen, Gerry Laffy, Jonathon Trevisick and Mark MeGary. Two names should be easily recognizable as we know Phil Collen from Leppard, but Phil Lewis went on to fame with a Sunset Strip band in 1987 called L.A. Guns. The band quickly replaced two members of the band as Trevsicik was out and Dave Gaynor was in on drums and then MeGary was out with Simon Laffy on bass and yes, Simon is Gerry’s brother.

The band quickly signed with Jet Records and in no time had an album out called ‘Sheer Greed’. The debut came out in January 1980…that is pretty fast after just forming in 1979. Not sure if they paid their dues as they didn’t spend years grinding it out in clubs to finally get a record deal. No, they got it right out of the gate…bam!

The New Wave of British Heavy Metal was sweeping the nation, but the androgynous glamminess of Girl was a little misunderstood, however they make a few waves, just nothing big you could surf off of. They weren’t metal, but they were hard enough with even a little punk side to them with some dashes of reggae thrown in for good measure. ‘Sheer Greed’ peaked at #33 and its debut single hit #50. They didn’t have massive success, but they made some waves. Many years after the band split, Phil Collen and Simon Laffy would be in another band together called Man Raze…we will get to it in due time.

The version of the album I have in my collection is a Gold Stamped Promo. It even has “Demonstration Not For Sale” on the vinyl label. It also still has the inner sleeve with the song lyrics. There is something about picking up a promo that I do love. Maybe because it was played by a Radio Station or whatever, but it is cool to know this was handed out by the record label to specific locations. Enough about that, let’s get to the music.

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Robbie Williams – ‘Life Thru A Lens’ (25th Anniversary 4CD Box Set) – Album Review

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After a very tumultuous time in the boy band Take That, Robbie left the group, recorded an album and went in to rehab. Robbie’s drug problem and ego problem was too much for Take That. He was tired of his creative input being ignored and was ready to branch out on his own. And branch out he did. His first album, ‘Life Thru a Lens’ was released on September 29, 1997 and though it started off slow, it would go on to great heights hitting #1 on the UK charts and selling over 3 million copies in Europe.

Now, we peasants here in the States, knew nothing about Robbie and sadly that would continue throughout most of his career. He had some moderate success with a few songs, but for the most part, the U.S. missed on on a hugely talented guy. I’m glad to say, I didn’t miss out. I discovered him a few years later with the songs “Millennium” and “Rock DJ” and I was hooked. But we aren’t here to talk about the albums those songs were on. Nope. We are here to talk about the 25th Anniversary Edition of his debut album, ‘Life Thru a Lens’ and what a box set he put together.

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Richie Sambora – ‘Stranger In This Town’ (1991) – Album Review (The Bon Jovi Collection Series)

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While Bon Jovi was on an extended hiatus, Jon Bon Jovi wasn’t the only to put a solo album. The band’s lead guitarist, Richie Sambora, decided to spread his wings and release a solo album as well. Richie would step out of the shadows and take on the lead vocals as well as most of the guitar duties as well. And like Jon on his solo album, Richie brought along a few friends for the ride including fellow Bon Jovi bandmates, Tico Torres and David Bryan. On bass, he had Tony Levin, but he also had Randy Jackson on one song who also worked on Jon’s solo album too. The biggest guest on the album would be one of his idols, Eric Clapton for Mr. Bluesman.

Speaking of Blues, Richie didn’t stick with the same Bon Jovi sound. He shook things up and focused the album on more of a blues sound and I would say he captured it beautifully. The album would be released on September 3, 1991 and would #36 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #20 on the UK Charts. He would release 3 singles officially as well as one promo single. None went Top 40, but they still had moderate airplay and one single did hit #13 on the Mainstream Rock Charts. Richie might not have sold as many albums as Jon, but for me had the more interesting album of the two.

My version is a Japanese reissue from 2020 and came with the ever cherished OBI strip as well as a bonus track which is the cover of Jimi Hendrix’s “The Wind Cries Mary”. You can’t have a Japanese edition without a bonus track, then it is just an overpriced copy of the CD. I have to say that I think Bon Jovi isn’t the same without Richie for the reason of his backing vocals (and songwriting abilities). His solo work gives us the chance to hear how well Sambora can sing and a chance for his vocals to be front and center. Too band Bon Jovi, the band, didn’t utilize the two singer approach as it wouldn’ve been awesome. But it is and willl albums be Jon’s band so I get it. I am off on a tangent now, so let’s get back to the album.

The album opens with “Rest in Peace”, an atmospheric, bluesy piece that sees Richie sparsely place the licks as David Bryan gives the orchestrated sounds that give it an ethereal tone. Richie’s vocals are sparse as well, sounding angelic and little sad. The song is more of an opening for “Church of Desire” than a song on its own, but the tone is set and we know this is NOT going to be a Bon Jovi style album. When “Church of Desire” comes bleeding in, the tempo picks up, the bluesy riffs keep coming and Richie’s vocals come in strong. The song is polished, all glossy and perfect production which doesn’t make it pure blues, just dashed with its essence. The solo is exciting as it plays for the song while showcasing the talent he is and then the 2nd solo is pure joy as he takes it to another level. The thing we learn from this song is that Richie’s vocals are better than we ever heard as backing vocals with Bon Jovi.

Continue reading “Richie Sambora – ‘Stranger In This Town’ (1991) – Album Review (The Bon Jovi Collection Series)” →