Tag: Love Lies

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

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic5 Comments

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.

Continue reading “Bon Jovi – ‘Bon Jovi (Deluxe Edition)’ (2024) – Album Review (The Bon Jovi Collection Series)” →

Bon Jovi – ‘Shot Through The Heart: Live in Cleveland, OH – March 17, 1984’ (Bootleg) – Album Review (The Bon Jovi Collection Series)

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic75 Comments

Bon Jovi the touring act was extremely fresh and new as the band hadn’t been together for very long. Even Jon said the band was terrible until their third album when things started to click. While out crate digging years and years ago, I found a Bon Jovi bootleg of a radio broadcast from only 2 months after their debut album, ‘Bon Jovi’, was released. A great snapshot of the young band in all its rawness and newness.

The show takes place on March 17th, 1984 at the Agora Ballroom in Cleveland, OH. The show was broadcast on WMMS-FM Radio so of course we get some of the radio DJs on here during the show. The bootleg I have was released in 2015 and 2 LPs (both black) and it was limited to only 500 copies. The cover is pure Bon Jovi with the denim blue jeans with a picture of Jon on the front and the band on the back. I mean, it is Jon’s band don’t forget. The band plays all but “Burning for Love” from the debut and you get a Sly & The Family Stone cover. Let’s get to the music.

The album opens with a Radio DJ introducing the band and they come out slowly with a very long drawn out build which you mostly hear the crowd screaming. Some weird distorted voice says something and then the guitar kicks in and we get the opening to “Breakout”. There is no doubt it is live as it is rough, raw and not very tight. Jon actually sounds pretty decent, still a little unpolished, but he can still hit some high notes that he can’t now. And he should be able to hit them since he is only about 22 or so here. Richie lays down a great solo and things start getting better as the band jams it up a little here.

Continue reading “Bon Jovi – ‘Shot Through The Heart: Live in Cleveland, OH – March 17, 1984’ (Bootleg) – Album Review (The Bon Jovi Collection Series)” →

Bon Jovi – ‘Bon Jovi’ (1984) – Album Review (The Bon Jovi Collection Series)

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic96 Comments

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.

The name of the album was going to be “Tough Talk”, but that didn’t end up as the title as the record company had other ideas. They felt a self-titled album was certainly the way to go and they wrote the checks so they got their way. The album came out on January 24, 1984 and has been certified platinum. It reached #43 on the album chart so not a bad start for a brand new band. There is even an Aldo Nova connection to this album as he supplied some additional keyboards and guitars as the band hadn’t been complete yet while Jon was in the studio. We will touch on him more later in the series.

Continue reading “Bon Jovi – ‘Bon Jovi’ (1984) – Album Review (The Bon Jovi Collection Series)” →

Eyes – ‘Windows of the Soul’ (1993) – Album Review (The Jeff Scott Soto Series)

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic95 Comments

The debut Eyes album didn’t do very well. The band was stalling and Jeff Scott Soto started writing with George Bernhardt for a new band he was in called Slam as Jeff wasn’t happy with the direction the band was going. He eventually had enough and left the band. Then suddenly just two years after the Eyes debut, ‘Windows of the Soul’ was released and Jeff was never told nor did he ever agree to its release. To say he was pissed would be an understatement. The reason for its release was due to Jeff’s popularity in Europe had been on the rise and the record company wanted to take advantage of it.

Is it really a new album? No, not really. All it is are the demos and original tracks Eyes had done and submitted to their label for the first Eyes album. The label wasn’t happy with them so they went back and re-recorded the album and cut some new songs. The record company might not have thought them good to begin with, but still decided to package up the demos into an album that came out in 1993 only in Scandinavia which is the version I have as you can see the 1993 on the back cover. The album was released elsewhere in Europe in 1994. The band on this record included Aldy Damian, Steve Dougherty and Jeff Scott Soto. The band didn’t have a bass player so on the demos were Chuck Wright (Guiffria) and Mike Porcaro. On keyboards you get either Jeff Naideau or Todd Jasmin. Out of the 10 songs, only three of these were on the debut and the demos are pretty great in their own right. Let’s get to the music.

Continue reading “Eyes – ‘Windows of the Soul’ (1993) – Album Review (The Jeff Scott Soto Series)” →