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 fifth disc which is the DVD and then the sixth disc which is the Japanese Bonus Disc, 10 tracks, but they are all previously released. So let’s get started and dive into the music as that is why we are really here any way.
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.
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 third disc which had a total of 13 tracks, 9 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.
The third disc opens with one of the greatest Bon Jovi songs never to be released on an album. That song is “Edge of A Broken Heart” which was used for the soundtrack of the great comedy movie starring The Fat Boys called ‘Disorderlies’. The movie was from 1987 and was just terrible. However, the song is amazing. The song was written by Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora and Desmond Child. It ended up as an outtake to the ‘Slippery When Wet’ then resurrected for the soundtrack. A fan favorite that the band knew needed to be on this box set. The song was too much like the big hits on the album so they pulled it and what a shame.
Next up is “Sympathy” which Jon and Richie during the ‘Keep the Faith’ sessions. According to the book in the box set, the recording studio where they were recording the album in Vancouver had a projector that was playing a Rolling Stones concert and it was plastered on the wall about 8 to 10 feet wide. They song became a homage to the band. At the end of the song is a little bit where Jon pokes fun at Tico Torres singing in a weird old school trying to rhyme anything with Tico. It is pretty funny. Richie helps out and it is quite funny.
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 second disc which had a total of 12 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.
The album kicks off with the song “Garageland” which was written by Richie and Jon at Jon’s new York apartment. The song was written during the Crush era and was about where the members of the band were when they were younger. Now, the individual band members might have been in garage bands, but I don’t see Bon Jovi as ever being a garage band so this doesn’t feel authentic to me. There are some cool moments in the song and it does rock out at times, but it is in rough shape and needs a lot of work to turn it in to something. Jon’s vocals are rough and the bridge/chorus is not that good. For me, not a favorite on this disc and could skip it.
Like “Taking It Back” on Disc 1, “Starting All Over Again” shows the band with attitude and a chip still on their shoulder. Jon explained that the band had their mojo back in 1992 and realized it was the band against a new machine that was rearing its head in music, Grunge and Rap. They were competing against a whole new scene. This was them saying they were going to take it all back and rise to the top again. But it doesn’t sound like anything else on “Keep the Faith” stylistically so was left off the album. I actually like this track. It has some great attitude, I like the guitar tone and it rocks out really great. A vast improvement from the opening track. This song was on a Japanese Bonus Track for ‘Keep the Faith’, but this is actually an alternate version.
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 on the first disc now which had a total of 12 tracks, 11 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.
The opening track to the whole set is “Why Aren’t You Dead?” which was written and demoed for the ‘Keep the Faith’ album. The song didn’t make the cut because the band felt the song was more of where the bad had already been and not where the band’s sound was going. If you know that album, you understand why this didn’t make the cut. It is a great play on the line “If you can’t live without me, then why aren’t you dead” which is a cool line and probably a great country song. A band that was moving forward, easy to see why they left it off as it sounds too much like older Bon Jovi.
Next up is the only promo single released from the set for the song “The Radio Saved My Life Tonight”. The song was written on a piano and no sign of that piano on this version. Jon was very burnt out from the New Jersey record and tour and was becoming a little jaded. This song reflect a lot of those feelings. This is a really cool song and one of the better ones on the album. It sounds like old school Bon Jovi and it shows how great his writing was becoming. However, it would not have fit on ‘Keep the Faith’ either. Glad to see this one getting to finally see the light of day.
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. 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.
The Box Set is titled ‘100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can’t Be Wrong’ which is a play on the 1959 compilation of Elvis Presley’s album ‘50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can’t Be Wrong’ and you will see they copied the cover pretty well…
This is a lot of music to absorb and we won’t be absorbing it here. Nope. I’m going to go through each and every CD, track by track over 5 more posts. That is why this is Part 1 of 6. Here we are going to talk about what is included in the set. And as I mentioned, I have the Japanese Edition of the box set which comes with a lot of different things. Let’s take a look and see what we get…
In 2003, Bon Jovi was going to do a little acoustic side project, but that turned in to ‘This Left Feels Right’ which was released on November 4,2003. To commemorate that album, they did two shows in Atlantic City, New Jersey on November 14 and 15, 2003. The DVD, ‘This Left Feels Right Live’ was the result of those two shows. The DVD was released on February 9, 2004. Now, if you read my review of the CD, you will see I wasn’t very fond of that, but this is a little of a different animal. This is live. Live shows, I don’t mind when a band changes a song up as it is fun to see their different interpretations of their own songs. That for me is the perfect time for re-imagined songs. Not a full studio album of them.
The small crowd in attendance was ready for anything Bon Jovi and the women were ready for anything from Jon Bon Jovi as they were screaming a lot. The show was also broadcast on the web as they were filming so some people saw the show before the DVD release. I was not one of them. You knew this was going to be different from the first song as it was “Love for Sale” from ‘New Jersey’ and I loved hearing that one live. What a great way to start things off. Then they go in to the classic, “You Give Love a Bad Name” and I will admit I did not like this one much as Jon kept saying “Bad” over and over in a stupid way that annoyed me.
With “Wanted Dead or Alive”, Jon changed his mic for a radio voice type vocal and the band rocked out a little on it and I actually enjoyed this one enough. With “Livin’ on a Prayer”, they went all acoustic and it was perfectly fine in this new version. Not much different then a regular acoustic version of the song. Richie’s backing vocals are what helps make this song great and he did not disappoint at all here. Speaking of acoustic, they turn “It’s My Life” in to an acoustic masterpiece. They turned the rock anthem on its ear and slowed it down and gave it a whole new feel that really made the song shine in a different light even though it took a dark turn.
The lead single off the album of the same name was “Keep the Faith’. It was released on October 7, 1992 almost a full month prior the album release. The song went straight to #1 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Chart and all the way to #29 on the Billboard Hot 100 giving the band another Top 40 hit. It had major success around the world going Top 10 in over 9 countries including the UK which is where you would find the single we are showing off today. This is one of two CD singles released in the UK for this song. I don’t have the other one, so I will need to work on that one day.
“Keep the Faith” is a very inspiring song about faith and holding on throughout any troubles or adversities that come your way. Be strong and push your way through it and have a little faith that you will make it out the other side. The song for me is about hope and inner strength and why it is a personal favorite of mine.
The single, “Keep the Faith”, opens with a killer bass line then Tico’s drum beat settles in a blistering groove. The song is uplifting and almost happy without being cheesy. It drives forward like a marching army and I think actually outdoes the opening track on the album for inspiration. The guitar solo on this one sees Richie slay with those fingers as they fly over the frets. One of his best on the album. There is a funky groove throughout from Hugh McDonald and we get aggressive vocals from Jon which gives us a solid rocker of a song. Jon actually speaks a portion of the vocals which adds to the impact of the song and I think gives it a little something extra special. The song on this single is the album version and not a radio edit.
While I was in New York City a little while back for the Final Kiss Show at Madison Square Garden, my brother and I did hit some shops and I found, not one, but two Japanese Singles from Bon Jovi. These were released back in the 80’s in Japan only and they are in such beautiful shape. I had to have them so I bought them. First up was “Burning for Love” and now we get in to the 2nd Single I found with “Borderline”.
I am not sure the reason behind this Japanese Only release. We are during the ‘Slippery When Wet’ era of the band and they release a 12″ Single for “Borderline” which wasn’t even on the album, only a studio outtake. It doesn’t make quite much sense. The opening track is “Livin’ On A Prayer” from the Slippery album, but why label it as “Borderline”??? Very confusing to me, but I don’t care, it is still a cool piece for the collection. The Japanese audience was always treated with special releases from Bon Jovi and better covers.
Included in the release was a lyric sheet for the songs in both English and Japanese…
While I was in New York City a little while back for the Final Kiss Show at Madison Square Garden, my brother and I did hit some shops and I found, not one, but two Japanese Singles from Bon Jovi. These were released back in the 80’s in Japan only and they are in such beautiful shape. I had to have them so I bought them. First up is “Burning for Love”…
Bon Jovi was becoming huge in Japan after the release of their debut album. To celebrate that success they did a Japanese only single release for the song “Burning For Love” off their debut, ‘Bon Jovi’ album which came out January 23, 1984. And when I say big, it is a relative term as it was their debut and the album did chart at #38 on the Japanese Charts, but they weren’t putting out massive #1 songs yet. They were trying to capitalize further on charting and trying to make a name for themselves. For the 12″ single that was released, it also included a calendar for the first 3 months of 1985.
2 Loud 2 Old Music 