As I stated in Jon Bon Jovi’s ‘Destination Anywhere’ Review last week, after Bon Jovi’s very successful ‘These Days’ album and especially that tour which ran for 126 shows in around 43 countries, the band was ready for a break. The tour ended on July 19, 1996 and the band decided, it was time for a hiatus from the band. They did a self-imposed two year break from the band. That 2 year break would turn in to 3, but no one is counting. During that time, we saw solo albums, Jon went and did a lot of acting and the thoughts that Bon Jovi were done were on everyone’s mind. Jon’s solo album came first, but shortly after we received Richie Sambora’s solo album.
‘Undiscovered Soul’ was Richie’s 2nd solo album and was produced by Don Was which saw Richie work with a ton of musicians and writers and really push himself both musically and lyrically. He worked with Richard Supa who had worked with The Rascals and Aerosmith and he worked with his old Bon Jovi bandmate, David Bryan, who co-wrote a handful of songs. Richie didn’t stick with the straight blues-rock album like before, he experimented a little with rock and country and anything else he that inspired him.
The album came out on February 23, 1998 and saw four singles released, however, only one of those charted in the U.S. and not very high. The album only reached #174 on the Billboard Top 200 album charts and that isn’t very good. The first single only reached #39 on the Mainstream Rock Chart while doing better in the UK hitting #37 with the second single going to #58 in the UK with no U.S. charting. The album didn’t do as well as the debut and was gone before you knew it.
Thanks to Music on Vinyl, we finally received a vinyl edition to the album last year and that is what I am reviewing. It came on a 2 LP set on 180 gram records and sounded awesome. The album cut out all the crap you hear on the Apple Music version that goes on between the songs which makes you not take the album very seriously, where the vinyl makes it a more serious sounding record. The album didn’t do as well as the debut as I said, but is it worse? Let’s go through it and find out.
Continue reading “Richie Sambora – ‘Undiscovered Soul’ (1998) – Album Review (The Bon Jovi Collection Series)”
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