Bon Jovi – ‘7800° Fahrenheit’ (1985) – Album Review (The Bon Jovi Collection Series)

The success of the debut album, ‘Bon Jovi’, the band was out on the road a lot opening for Scorpions in the United States and with Kiss in Europe…two very solid bands to help you get noticed. As a result, the band only had about six weeks to record the new album. Things didn’t go well as they had trouble with producer Lance Quinn and their personal lives were also a little messed up. The band were not happy with the results as they hated sound of the album and have pretty much ignored this album when they finally blew up in to superstar status.

But for fans, such as myself, we actually love this album. Yes, it didn’t sell as much as the debut, but I think there are some really great songs on here. The band even started writing more together as four of the band members had writing credits, even Tico Torres has one which is rare. The only member without a credit is Alec John Such.

The title of the album is ‘7800° Fahrenheit’ which is actually the melting point of rock. SInce this is a ‘rock’ album, they felt it was a great title. Being the U.S. is probably the only country that uses ‘Fahrenheit’ as measure of temperature, it made the album very American. In Celsius, the temperature is 4313° if you were curious. And one other fact, this it the first album with the Bon Jovi logo that adorned all their biggest albums. Okay, enough already. On to the music.

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Cheap Trick – ‘Christmas Christmas’ (2017) – Album Review (The Cheap Trick Collection Series)

I know this is The Cheap Trick Collection Series, but I have to do this one album even though I don’t actually own a copy (yet) so I am able to complete an album rankings of all their studio albums. The album I don’t own is their Christmas album called ‘Christmas Christmas’. I am not a massive fan of Christmas albums so I will do my best to not be too biased on this one…I can’t promise anything. The album was released on October 20, 2017 and actually has 3 original songs written by the band which is Robin Zander, Rick Nielsen and Tom Petersson with Daxx Nielsen on drums. The remaining 9 tracks are covers with only one of those being a full on traditional song. The album is their 19th Studio album and went to #93 on the Top Album Sales and #5 on the Holiday Charts…not too bad for a Christmas album.

And one other thing. We are reviewing this in May for a posting in June and it is so not time for Christmas music, so getting in that frame of mind is difficult. I watched some Christmas movies, wore a Santa hat, wrapped some presents to give to my kids, made some eggnog and all that jazz to get in the mood and it worked!! So, let’s get going…(note: none of that is true!!)

The album kicks off with an original, “Merry Christmas Darlings”, and let me tell you…it is a great Christmas song. Robin sounds amazing, joyful and all in the Christmas spirit. The song is bouncy and has little rocking edge so don’t expect sleigh bells but lyrically it does touch on a lot of the cliches and there are a lot of “la la la las”. Robin, Rick and Tom actually wrote a decent song. And to keep it the rocking edge going we get “I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday” by Roy Wood and the Wizzards. Another upbeat track that sees Cheap Trick go full glam with lots of angst and yuletide fun.

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Billy Idol – ‘Happy Holidays’ – Album Review (The Billy Idol Series)

A short time after Billy’s comeback release, ‘Devil’s Playground’, he thought (or somebody thought), we should release a Christmas Album.  I don’t know if it was because of the positive feedback for the Christmas song on the last album “Yellin’ at the Xmas Tree” or drugs, but they decided to do it.

Now, “Yellin’ at the Xmas Tree” is absolutely fantastic. It is a rocking Idol song and I love the twist on the song that it is not all happy and joyful at Christmas. Some people don’t have the stereotypical Yuletide joy.

This album is nothing like that.  It is Billy putting on his dinner jacket, pouring himself a drink and playing traditional Christmas songs in both a traditional or even a smoke-filled room jazz style.

Billy_Idol-Happy_Holidays-Trasera

The album is full of songs you know and love (well, the original versions you love) and it even has two brand new songs written by Billy…oh joy!!  I know…you can feel my excitement.  I am sorry…I will be completely honest with you.  I HATE CHRISTMAS ALBUMS!!!  That isn’t entirely true.  If you want to do a compilation Christmas albums with different artists singing the best versions of Christmas songs…I am all for it.  If it s one Singer or one Band doing a whole entire 40 minute album of them doing Christmas Songs..,please count me out!!!

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