Bon Jovi – ‘Live From Osaka E.P.’ (2000) – Album Review (The Bon Jovi Collection Series)

Bon Jovi’s 7th Studio album was ‘Crush’ and it was released on June 13, 2000. The Japanese Edition, which I have in my collection, wasn’t released until September 27, 2000. It contained 2 Bonus Tracks, which we discussed when we went through the album on the last post, as well as an entirely new disc which is an E.P. of a live show from Osaka, Japan. The E.P. is called ‘Live from Osaka’ and that is what we are discussing today.

Before we get to that, let’s talk a little about the Japanese Edition. My copy has the OBIT strip as you can see below. That is the prize you want when you get a Japanese Edition CD. Also included, but not pictured, is a booklet that gives the lyrics to the songs in both English and Japanese as well as some commentary that is all in Japanese so I have no idea what it says. All together, it is the copy to get if you want this album…which you do! Bet you didn’t know that.

The Crush Tour started in Japan during July 2000 and this recording is taken from the July 20th show at the Osaka Dome in Osaka, Japan. There are only 6 tracks taken from the show, but it is a great snapshot of the show. We would get a full DVD from one of the stops on that tour which we will review later. It wasn’t the Osaka show, but that’s okay.

The CD opens with the classic Bon Jovi song “Runaway”, but it is done in a way that has never been before. It opens with David on piano and Jon talking a little about the song how he wrote the song 18 years earlier. The song is slowed down, done only with Jon and the piano and it changes the whole dynamic of the song. It is as if This Left Feels Right actually worked because this new interpretation really works. The song feels so dramatic and important. It is the best versioin of this song I’ve ever heard live. Yes, it is that good.

Continue reading “Bon Jovi – ‘Live From Osaka E.P.’ (2000) – Album Review (The Bon Jovi Collection Series)”

Bon Jovi – ‘Crush’ (2000) – Album Review (The Bon Jovi Collection Series)

I can’t believe we are already to the 2000’s with Bon Jovi. Man, has this series been flying. However, we are no where near being done. We are now on the band’s 7th Studio album with ‘Crush’. After the band’s hiatus after the ‘These Days’ Tour, the band took some time to themselves and even released a couple of solo albums. But it was time to get back to work. Well, it was for Jon as he started planning to do a third solo, but that fell through because the band talked and it was decided it was time to start work on the next album.

Richie Sambora, Jon Bon Jovi, David Bryan and Tico Torres were ready to go so they planned on getting producer Bruce Fairbairn to handle the producing duties. However, that wouldn’t work out. Sadly, Bruce died in May 1999. The band decided to hold auditions for new producers, but they didn’t like anyone. They asked their old friend John Kalodner if he knew and new, up & coming producers that could help bring their sound in to the 21st Century and he suggested Luke Ebbin. And Luke helped do just that to amazing success.

The album was done and released on June 13, 2000 and it show up the charts thanks to the first single, “It’s My Life”. The album went to #9 in the U.S. and debuted at #1 in the UK which made it the fifth #1 album in the UK for the band. The album saw 3 singles and a fourth in Japan with overall sales reaching well over 4,000,000 copies which easily matched the success of previous albums for the band. Bon Jovi is one of the few bands to survive the 80’s and still see success in to the 2000’s. The album was nominated for a Grammy and Bon Jovi was back in a big way!

The copy of the album I have is the Japanese Edition with 2 bonus tracks and a bonus E.P. called ‘Live in Osaka’. We will talk more about that and the E.P. in the next post and stick to the main CD here. I do have the vinyl as well if you were wondering. You can see all of the Crush collection in the final picture. Let’s go ahead and get to the music.

Continue reading “Bon Jovi – ‘Crush’ (2000) – Album Review (The Bon Jovi Collection Series)”