This week we talk about an album that I loved back in 1989. It is the debut album from Blue Murder simply called ‘Blue Murder’. I was a big John Sykes fan thanks to Whitesnake and I was disappointed in his departure from the band. When I found out about Blue Murder, I was so excited. Especially when I found it wasn’t just John Sykes, but The Firm’s Tony Franklin and Ozzy’s Carmine Appice. And then to found out Bob Rock produced with Mike Fraser on the boards. Yeah, I was all in. But did it hold up? We will find out, join me as I walk through the album song by song.
So go check it out as it is live now on September 26, 2024 at Noon. Thanks for stopping by and please click “Like” and hit “Subscribe” as it helps out the site when you do.
We are in the year 2004 and Bon Jovi has now been around for 20 Years at this point. To celebrate their 20th Anniversary, they released a really cool box set of mostly unreleased tunes and a lot of little extras titled ‘100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can’t Be Wrong’. The Box Set is a collection of 50 songs spread over 4 CDs, 38 of which had never been released. The others were songs from soundtracks, remixes and/or B-Sides. This was a band dumping everything sitting by the wayside in to one set and I applaud them for that. Us diehard fans love this kind of stuff. And if that wasn’t enough, if you have the Japanese Edition, which i do, you get another CD of B-Sides and Japanese Bonus Tracks. That is another 10 songs.
This is a lot of music to absorb and we won’t be absorbing it all here. Nope. I’m going to go through each and every CD, track by track over 6 posts. We are now on the fourth disc which had a total of 13 tracks, 10 of which were previously unreleased. So let’s get started and dive into the music as that is why we are really here any way.
We are now to the final disc of music for the original box set. We still have the Japanese Bonus Disc to do and the DVD. This set starts off with two versions of “Love Ain’t Nothing But a Four Letter Word”. A song about domestic violence which is a serious topic for the band. However, the music doesn’t make it feel all that serious. This is an upbeat version with a real R&B, Motown feel to it with the horns and the angelic ladies on the backing vocals. That sound is why they never used it on an album. The other version of this song is Jon’s original demo with I think just him on the song. Some different lyrics and a more rocker feel to it the final studio version.
Alright…You Picked It! This one was really close. So close in fact that I had a 3-Way tie for first. So I went on to my personal Facebook Page and posted to get a final run at votes and then Blue Murder ran away with it. Since this is the final “You Pick It” post, at least we are going out with a bang.
Blue Murder – ‘Blue Murder’ – 8 votes
The Scream – ‘Let It Scream’ – 6 votes
Diving For Pearls – ‘Diving For Pearls – 5 votes
RTZ – ‘Return to Zero’ – 2 votes
Saigon Kick – ‘Saigon Kick – 1 vote
Thanks to all for participating in this series for the last few years. It has been fun, but it is time to come to an end. Since I am down to 1 Series currently (The Jeff Scott Soto Series) as the Scorpions Series is ending, I am going to start reviewing a bunch of things in my collection until it is time to start the Bon Jovi Series…not sure when that will be but it will be coming some time this Summer. For now, enjoy the Blue Murder review…
BLUE MURDER – ‘BLUE MURDER’ (1989):
With a sudden dismissal from Whitesnake, which is a story all unto itself, John Sykes had a lot to prove. His guitar work was on full display with Whitesnake’s 1987 self-titled album and fans wanted more…me included. John, along with some stellar musicians including Carmine Appice (Vanilla Fudge, Ozzy) and Tony Franklin (The Firm) formed the band Blue Murder and they brought a bluesy, rock sound that needed to be heard. With Bob Rock as producer and Mike Fraser mixing, damn it was a lethal combination of people,
And it should’ve been heard as critics loved it and his fans as well, but John made a huge mistake in signing with Geffen Records, the same label that his former band, Whitesnake, was signed to as well. Whitesnake was the label’s shining gem. It has been said that David Coverdale wanted this album squashed and it feels like it was as it came and went without much of a whimper, but for fans of John Sykes, it is an incredible masterpiece of guitar wizardry and when you have Carmine and Tony behind you, you know the rhythm section can’t be quite matched by many. Let’s dive right in and get to the music and see if it holds up to the hype…
2 Loud 2 Old Music 