Tag: David Bryan

Bon Jovi – ‘Forever (Legendary Edition)’ (2025) – Album Review (The Bon Jovi Collection Series)

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Last year, Bon Jovi released their 16th Studio album, ‘Forever’. It was an album I wasn’t sure we would ever get. Jon had some serious vocal issues, so bad in fact he needed surgery. Back in 2022, Jon Bon Jovi went under the knife to fix his vocal cord problem that had been well documented by the cruel trolls of the internet. After watching the documentary, ‘Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story’, we got to see first hand how bad things were for Jon. It is amazing he is even able to still sing. When I did the review of the ‘Forever’ album, I asked…will we ever see them live again? We were real unsure back then, now the answer is a resounding yes. They have announced a few shows in 2026 with more to come in 2027 from what I hear.

After the release of ‘Forever’, Jon received a lot of phone calls from artists wanting to cover songs off the album. So many, in fact, he stopped and had an idea. Why have people cover the songs when they could join him and sing with him and make a duet album of all the songs from the album. And that is what he did. The album came out on October 24, 2025. The band added one new track called “Red, White and Jersey” to give the fans a little something new for buying the album again. However, that was not needed as the artists that joined Jon were enough for me to want to grab it. I mean, come on…he has Robbie Williams, Joe Elliott (Def Leppard), James Bay and Bruce Springsteen…that was enough for me. In fact, the list of artist is very diverse covering Rock, Country, British Pop and even Gospel.

Like with the last album, I bought one of every physical format including vinyl and CD. This time around though I went with the standard black vinyl instead of a colored variant. I kept it simple and save a few bucks. My vinyl collection for Bon Jovi is still complete! With format aside, how do the songs stand up as duets, honestly, I was a little surprised at how well they do. We might as well get to it and discuss.

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The Collection: Ep. 81 – Bon Jovi: Forever & Forever (Legendary Edition)

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This week we are going to talk about Bon Jovi’s latest album, Forever (Legendary Edition) as well as the original Forever album. The album came out on October 24, 2025 and I figured we would walk through each song, discuss the duet partners and how much we like or dislike each song. This is the band’s 16th and 17th Studio albums and honestly, I am so happy they are still putting out new music. I haven’t liked everything this band is done, but new music is better than no music. We have vinyl, CDs and even a cassette to show off this week. I hope you enjoy.

So go check it out as it is live right now on YouTube. Thanks for stopping by and please click “Like” and hit “Subscribe” as it helps out the site when you do.

The Collection: Ep. 59 – Bon Jovi Japanese CD Reissues

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Bon Jovi have been huge in Japan since the beginning. As a result, Japan gets all the cool stuff and they did again this time as well. Bon Jovi reissued their first three albums on SHM-CDs and in a 7″ Vinyl format…but on CD. You get Bon Jovi, 7800° Fahrenheit and Slippery When Wet. We will walk through what you get with each disc and how it differs from the two recent U.S. Reissues of Bon Jovi and Slippery When Wet.

So go check it out as it will be live tonight, June 9, 2025 at 7pm. Thanks for stopping by and please click “Like” and hit “Subscribe” as it helps out the site when you do.

Bon Jovi – ‘Slippery When Wet: Liquid Vinyl (40th Anniversary Edition)’ (2025) – Album Review (The Bon Jovi Collection Series)

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For the band’s 40th Anniversary of the album that made the band rock stars, they decided to release a Liquid Version of the album on vinyl. With a title like ‘Slippery When Wet’ and filling it up with a bluish liquid that resembles water, it is pretty cool!! The liquid will slosh around as you move the vinyl around so it never seems to be in the same place twice. The vinyl itself is really thick to accommodate the liquid and it actually does play, however, I’ve never dropped a needle on it and don’t know if I will. I did spin around on the turntable and the liquid doesn’t actually move much when playing.

My only concern with it is what happens if it leaks? I will be storing it in a plastic vinyl storage sleeve just in case so the liquid doesn’t damage anything else. However, I think the liquid will eventually evaporate, but hopefully years and years later and long after I’m gone. Bon Jovi’s first run of these albums were number and I believe there were 1,300. Mine is #0538. Those sold out extremely quickly and are now selling on discogs for $500 and up. I wonder how long that price will hold because Bon Jovi has reissued it again in a non-number version so people can now get one again for the original $99. I have no intention of selling. Don’t get me wrong, if I would’ve known I could sell it for $500, I would’ve sold it and then been able to buy it again for $99…hell yeah…no brainer. Too many for sale now to think I would even get that price.

ORIGINAL ALBUM REVIEW:

Bon Jovi had two moderately successful albums under their belt. However, they weren’t happy with the fact they weren’t superstars yet. So, changes had to be made. Not in the band line-up as it was still Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, Tico Torres, David Bryan and Alec John Such. Nope. They needed to change their approach. One of the first things they chose to do was bring someone in to help with the songs. That person was Desmond Child. Desmond didn’t try to change who the band was with the songs, but he helped refine them, make them better. Jon and Richie wrote well together, but with Desmond’s help, the songs became stories that connected with people, but first they had to record them.

To do that, they changed even more stuff. Jon was listening to Black & Blue’s album ‘Without Love’ and he loved the production of it. So, he reached out to Bruce Fairbairn and he was hired as producer..with some other cat named Bob Rock as the engineer. The band moved to Little Mountain Studios in Vancouver, Canada and the record was started. The album was finished and released on August 18, 1986 and would become a 12,000,000 selling album making it Diamond. It would spark 4 Top 40 singles of which 2 went to #1 and would see the band tour massively. They would start out the tour as an opening act, but by the end they were the headliners. The band got what they wanted and they were now Superstars!

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Bon Jovi – ‘All Time Best 1984-2024’ (2024) – Album Review (The Bon Jovi Collection Series)

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To celebrate the band’s 40th Anniversary, they have released a new Greatest Hits Compilation. And I know what you are thinking…big deal…right? Well, this one is a little different. One, it was only released in Japan…Two, the songs were hand picked by their Japanese fans. As a result, you do get the big hits, but there also some deep cuts you don’t normally see on a Bon Jovi greatest hits set.

And the band went all out with this release. It is called ‘All Time Best 1984-2024’ and was released in November 2024. I want to say it was the 6th, but with production delays, I’m not sure exactluy. My copy didn’t show up until around the 20th of the month. Whenever it was released, what a release it is. It chock full of hits and not hits, with 50 songs covering their entire career from the 1984 debut all the up to the 2024 release of ‘Forever’. All the songs are spread over 3 CDs and they even through in a Blu-Ray if you have the Super Deluxe Edition (which I do). Plus a few things more.

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Bon Jovi – ‘Bon Jovi (Deluxe Edition)’ (2024) – Album Review (The Bon Jovi Collection Series)

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By 1982, Jon Bon Jovi re-recorded “Runaway” which he had originally recorded back in 1980 and had shopped it around with no luck. This re-recording he did with what he liked to call The All-Star Revue which consisted of guitarist Tim Pierce, keyboardist Roy Bittan, drummer Frankie LaRocka, and bassist Hugh McDonald (remember this name). The song started getting a little traction and eventually Jon Bongiovi got a record deal and changed his name to Jon Bon Jovi. He was an artist with a deal, but no band. Jon wanted a band and he was going to go with Johnny Electric, but Pamela Maher that suggested he use the name Bon Jovi since a two word name worked so well for Van Halen. No one really liked that idea at first, but eventually Jon came around and Bon Jovi was born.

So, Jon called his old buddy from his old band Atlantic City Expressway, David Bryan Rashbaum, and the ball got rolling. David called his buddy Alec John Such to handle bass and a drummer he knew by the name of Tico Torres. Alec and Tico were formerly in a band together called Phantom’s Opera. They needed a guitarist, so Jon reached out to his friend Dave Sabo (or “Snake”) who played with them for a very short time. He never actually joined the band, but thankfully he would go on to something almost quite as good with a band called Skid Row…maybe you’ve heard of them.

But the band still needed a guitarist. Jon had seen, and was impressed, by a guitarist by the name of Richie Sambora. Richie had played with Joe Cocker and was in a band called Mercy. Hell, Richie even auditioned with Kiss to replace Ace Frehley, but that didn’t go well. Jon asked him to join and now the band was complete. The band had a new manager by the name of Doc McGhee and with his help, they went off to record their debut album.

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Bon Jovi – The Albums Ranked Worst To First – Updated (The Bon Jovi Collection Series)

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Welcome to the final post in the Bon Jovi Collection Series. I have spent the past 14 months going through everything in my Bon Jovi collection and that included full reviews of ALL 16 Studio Albums. I had done a Ranking back in 2020 after the album ‘2020’ came out but that was based off what I thought listening to the albums only. No deep dive. I will admit this one is slightly different than before as I spent a week with each album and dove deep in to the songs. It isn’t entirely different as the #1 is the same, but there is a lot of movement below.

I am not going to go in to the band’s story here because you can read that if you want by going through the reviews yourself by clicking on the links at the bottom of the post. Bon Jovi has been through changes and some challenges, but they are still going strong…not necessarily with the same crew but Jon, David & Tico are still there holding down the ship…well Jon is as it is his ship as he is the dictator…I mean captain if we are staying with the ship analogy. So, hoist the sail, raise up the anchor and let’s cruise through the 16 Studio albums and see what is the best and what is the worst…I hope you enjoy.

THE WORST – ‘2020’ (2020):

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The Collection: Ep. 33 – Bon Jovi Vinyl (Part 2 – The 2000’s)

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To Celebrate the end of the Bon Jovi Series, it was time to do a show on The Collection where we walked through the Bon Jovi vinyl. For Part 1 was last week and we walked through their peak years of The 80’s & The 90’s. For Part 2, we are going to go through the vinyl in the collection that covers all of The 2000’s from 2000 to 2024. We will capture all the studio albums, compilations, and even some 10″ Picture Discs. Come join as we talk all things Bon Jovi from the 2000’s Crush’ to 2024’s ‘Forever’. I don’t know if this is everything you can get in the 2000’s, but it is everything in my collection and that is the show!

So go check it out as it will be live tonight right now, September 9, 2024 at 8pm. Thanks for stopping by and please click “Like” and hit “Subscribe” as it helps out the site when you do.

Bon Jovi – ‘Forever’ (2024) – Album Review (The Bon Jovi Collection Series)

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We are now to the most recent Bon Jovi album, ‘Forever’. It is the band’s 16th studio album and was released on June 7, 2024. It was an album I wasn’t sure we would get. Jon had some serious vocal issues, so bad in fact he needed surgery. Back in 2022, Jon Bon Jovi went under the knife to fix his vocal cord problem that had been well documented by the cruel trolls of the internet. After watching the documentary, ‘Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story’, we got to see first hand how bad things were for Jon. It is amazing he is even able to still sing. However, will we ever see them live again? That is the question. One I hope will get a resounding yes, but if not, what a hell of a ride it has been.

‘Forever’ charted #5 on the Billboard chart in its first week of sales and then suddenly disappeared. It was the shortest stay of any Bon Jovi album on the chart. It is a weird thing and one that baffles me as the press on this was really great. People were saying it was a good album. Why the sudden drop. Has the world abandoned Bon Jovi except for the diehards that bought it the first week. Who knows. Whatever the reason, I think it is unwarranted and we will get to that in a minute.

The new album also sees a slightly different band. We have some new official members. First, there are the trio that has been there from the beginning including Jon Bon Jovi, David Bryan and Tico Torres. Then the next group of Phil X and long time bassist Hugh McDonald. This time around, it looks like long-time producer (who I wish would stop producing) has wormed his way in to the band full time, a Mr. John Shanks. Lastly, we get Everett Bradley who is there to help with the background vocals and on percussion. I think that is great as the band is trying to help Jon as much as they can vocally. Smart move. If Richie was still in the band, that wouldn’t be needed (okay, last Richie comment…well…maybe not).

Before we get to the music, let’s talk about what I have in my collection regarding this album. I bought the CD, the Vinyl and even the Cassette. My CD came with an card inside that was signed by Jon and you can see it below. The vinyl is the Amazon exclusive with the 1/2 black. 1/2 transparent look and it looks awesome. You can see that further down in the post. The cassette, well, it is a cassette and still sealed. Not sure if I’ll break that seal yet. So, the only thing I need is the Japanese CD edition and not sure if it is worth paying for the album again for only one additional track, but who knows, I’ve done dumber things. Enough, let us talk about the music since that is why we are really here.

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The Collection: Ep. 32 – Bon Jovi Vinyl (Part 1 – 80’s & 90’s)

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To Celebrate the end of the Bon Jovi Series, it was time to do a show on The Collection where we walked through the vinyl. For Part 1 of 2, we are going to go through the vinyl in the collection that covers the 1980’s and the 1990’s capturing all the studio albums, compilations, solo albums and even some 12″ Singles and a Bootleg. Come join as we talk all things Bon Jovi from the debut up to Richie Sambora’s ‘Undiscovered Soul’. Now, this isn’t everything there is, but it is everything in my collection and that is the show!

So go check it out as it will be live tonight right now, September 9, 2024 at 8pm. Thanks for stopping by and please click “Like” and hit “Subscribe” as it helps out the site when you do.