Back in 2022, Jon Bon Jovi went under the knife to fix his vocal cord problem that had been well documented by the cruel trolls of the internet. After watching the documentary, ‘Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story’, we got to see first hand how bad things were for Jon. It is amazing he is even able to still sing. When Bon Jovi released the first single off their upcoming album, ‘Forever’, all questions were answered if he could sing. The answer was a resounding, yes!!
The first single was the song “Legendary”. It was released on March 14, 2024. It did not hit the Top 40 as no band from that era is probably ever going to hit again. Instead, it hit #9 on the Adult Contemporary Chart and #2 on the Rock Digital Song chart. And it even charted elsewhere as it hit #21 in Canada and #27 in the UK. Not a bad start. The song was written by Jon, John Shanks and Billy Falcon who have both been writing with Jon for quite some time.
“Legendary” pays tribute to this wife, “Dorthea”, and their sweet love. He has been married to her for decades. Heck, she has been there since the beginning. It is also a little nostalgic looking at the band’s past and all their accomplishments. It also is a look in to the future and what is in store.
We are now on the 15th Studio album for Bon Jovi. It has been 4 years since their last one due to lack of inspiration or him needing a break. In 2019, the band started working on the new album in Nashville. Jon had recorded all the tracks on his phone and brought them to the studio where the band recorded 23 demo songs in just 11 days. They picked the best 10 and went to work on recording the final product. All was done. Until Covid-19 hit. Everything stopped.
During that time, a lot happened. Inspiration hit Jon and he wrote two more songs for the album. That meant a couple songs had to be cut. They were still used as bonus tracks on the deluxe edition. But those new songs and most of the songs on the album we Jon speaking his mind about world events, political events. The album feels like a Protest album. Jon is laying bear his thoughts and voicing an opinion. I will admit, I admire him for that, however, Bon Jovi is not a Protest band so the songs don’t feel like protest songs. They don’t have the power musically to get the point across. He isn’t Bruce Springsteen or Will Hoge (who writes a lot of protest songs and does them well). This is a band that wrote love songs and sexual songs. Yeah, he had Tommy and Gina, but those were stories. These stories fall flat coming from a band of such privilege.
And another problem is Jon’s vocals. You can tell something is wrong. He isn’t really singing anything. He is speaking more than anything. Now, we know of the problems he was facing. His throat was messed up and he needed surgery. At this point, I don’t think he was ready to admit he had a problem. I feel for him. It is his livelihood. It had to be difficult knowing you can’t do what you used to be able to do. This was the first album that I think I noticed something was wrong and/or different. And from the Bon Jovi documentary, we get to see the anguish and pain he was facing. You hate to see your heroes fall a little, if you know what I mean.
After some delays thanks to Covid, the album was released on October 2, 2020. They picked the name of the album, 2020, for two reasons. Jon was seeing clearly on what was going on in the world. And 2020 was the year of the Pandemic, George Floyd killing and a world of other problems. I think it is a fitting name for the album. The cover embodies that feeling as well. Looking at the cover, Jon looks like he is about to speak his mind as he is giving heavy thought. And look at this glasses as there is an American Flag reflected in the lenses.
The band is the same with Jon Bon Jovi, David Bryan and Tico Torres as well as Phil X and Hugh McDonald. Unfortunately, John Shanks is still the producer with Jon and it shows. Please replace Shanks as producer…PLEASE!!! The album would hit #19 on the Billboard charts and spawn five promotional singles. It wasn’t that successful overall. I bought it. My copy was released on December 4, 2020 and is the Double LP Gold Edition with 2 bonus tracks (the two songs left off the album and replaced by new ones). I love the effect on the vinyl, it looks like it bubbling up and wrinkling. Cool effect.
Bon Jovi released a box set that contained every vinyl up to that point. It was called The Album Box Set and it was released on February 10, 2017. Now it was released on both vinyl and CD which I chose the Vinyl collection as I love to have their albums on vinyl. The set carries all studio albums from the debut Bon Jovi album all the way up to ‘This House is Not For Sale’. But that isn’t all, it has both Jon Bon Jovi solo albums as well as an “Extra” LP with a bunch of their international B-Sides which is a nice treat. But that is it. There no extra posters, stickers, booklets or anything. Each album though is remastered on 180g LP and the 16 albums are spread over 24 LPs. At the time this was released, 7 of the albums had never been released on vinyl and then you have the “Extra” LP which is the first time this had ever been released. So, for the vinyl collector in me this was the easiest way to get everything.
We are here to talk the ‘Extras’ LP which was rare tracks and international B-Sides and a couple songs from the ‘Cross Road’ compilation as that compilation is not in here (but I do have that on vinyl as well). We get 10 tracks and we will go through all 10 just for you!
“Someday I’ll Be Saturday Night” is from ‘Cross Roads’ and was released as a single in various countries on February 13, 1995, but not the U.S. It went to #7 in the U.K. and of course never charted in the U.S. The song, according to Wikipedia is about optimism in the face of adversity. The song’s first verse introduces the characters Jim who struggles to find employment and is forced to sleep in his car, and Billie-Jean who was abused by her foster father and has turned to prostitution at the age of sixteen (remarking that the street-life ain’t much better but at least I’m getting paid), mourning the loss of her childhood. It has a country flair to it with its acoustic feel and an accompanying organ. It is catchy for sure and a great tune as who doesn’t struggle through the week hoping for Saturday Night.
We are now on the band’s third live album. They had a great idea with this one. At a very exclusive listening party for their current album, ‘This House is Not For Sale’, the band played every song from the new album, basically, in the same order as the album. They played 15 tracks which is the number of tracks on the Deluxe Edition, however, there are 21 tracks available if you count Japanese and International releases as well as the Target and WalMart ones too. A lot of songs if you have to have them all, I don’t have them all…someday maybe.
The show was at the London Palladium and was recorded on October 10, 2016 and released on December 16, 2016. The full band was there including Jon Bon Jovi, Tico Torres, David Bryan, Phil X, Hugh McDonald and even John Shanks and Everett Bradley who are both official members now and even pictured on the album jacket for the new album, ‘Forever’. The band was in fine form, Jon’s vocals were perfection and the show went off without a hitch…I think.
Jon comes out and welcomes everyone and says his name is Bruce Forsyth. If you don’t know, he is an English entertainer and television presenter whose career spanned more than 70 years. Forsyth came to national attention from the late 1950s through the ITV series Sunday Night at the London Palladium. Now his joke makes sense. Oh, and it is Sir Bruce Forsyth. When David (I think it was David), tells him it isn’t Sunday Night and he isn’t Bruce Forsyth, Jon says who he really is, the crowd screams and the band goes in to “This House is Not For Sale”. I am always wanting live versions of songs and the fact you get all of them live is really cool.
If you noticed the header at the top it says “re-review”. I had reviewed this album when it was originally released back in 2016. My views on this album have changed quite a bit since that review so I thought I would do another one. My first take on the album was a 2.1 out of 5.0 Stars, so it was pretty bad. Is that still the case…we will see. Let’s get started.
Bon Jovi was now on their 14th studio album. This time around they were now on their new label Island Records after having a bitter divorce with their former label of 32 years, Mercury label. Funny thing is that both labels are owned by Universal Music Group, so technically still the same label…in my opinion at least. Their new album, ‘This House is Not For Sale’, was released on November 4, 2016 and sold 129,000 copies in the first week making it #1 for that week.
This was the first album with their two new official band members. Phil X is the new guitarist replacing Richie Sambora officially. And long standing bass player since 1994, Hugh McDonald, was finally promoted to official member. The band was back to being a 5 piece with Tico Torres, David Bryan and of course Jon Bon Jovi being the remaining members. John Shanks is still producer and does a lot of the rhythm guitar on the album. He brings nothing new to the table so not sure why they still use him. (He becomes an official member many years later).
The cover of the album was a photo by Jerry Uelsmann and is of a house that is deeply rooted in to the ground. Jon Bon Jovi saw this black & white photo a few years earlier and was really inspired by it. So much so that it became the artwork for the album and the inspiration for the title song.
We are now on the 13th Studio album by Bon Jovi and the first without Richie Sambora. And this one has an interesting story behind it. Bon Jovi was at the end of his contract with Mercury and had been with them for 32 years. They could not come to agreement and this was the end of his relationship with the label. This album, ‘Burning Bridges’, is the final album to fulfill his contract with the label. And to say Jon was a little pissed is an understatement. He didn’t sit down to write a whole album because he was so pissed (as you will hear on the title track) and only wanted to end this deal and move on. I believe the label kept the rights to the masters and that didn’t sit well.
He grabbed a bunch of unfinished songs and actually finished them. He did write a few new songs, but most were leftover songs that needed to be finished. As a result, of the turmoil between Jon and the label, neither cared about the album. Heck, the label put cheap packaging on it (my copy is a cardboard sleeve and no liner notes) and didn’t even really promote it. And I will tell you that is a complete shame as this is the first album in years that I actually felt was a good Bon Jovi album.
The last three albums were so boring, but this one felt fresh to me and interesting. The reason I think this is better is because Jon didn’t sit down to write a full album and follow his paint-by number formula he had been using for years now. He grabbed from his archives left over tracks that created more variety and surprisingly the whole package struck a chord with me and I truly love this album.
Here is the funny thing to me. He left Mercury, which is owned Universal Music Group, and was signed by Island Records, which is owned by Universal Music Group. Hmmm….did he technically change labels then. It all seems for nothing to me. Anyway, on August 21, 2015, Bon Jovi released ‘Burning Bridges’ and it did go to #13 on the Billboard 200 Album Chart and after a whole year of release, it had only sold 67,000 copies in the U.S. Is this the worst performing album in their catalog? Quite possibly. All I will say is that people are missing out!! Let’s get to it.
Last week, we talked about the first of 2 Live E.P Picture Discs that were released on Record Store Day. This week, we discuss ‘Live 2’ which was released on Record Store Day 2014. It states it is a limited edition, but we have no idea how many there are out there and they aren’t hard to get as the internet has a bunch for sale if you search it up. So, it probably isn’t that limited. Still, it is another cool 10″ E.P. from the band even if the songs have all been previously released.
This time around all the songs are from the New Jersery World Tour recorded either in 1988 or 1989 and broken down in to a U.S. Side of recorded songs or an International Side of recorded songs. Now, there are only 4 songs so not a ton and they have all been released previously so you might have some of them already and you don’t know it.
The U.S. Side kicks off with “I’ll Be There For You” which was recorded in Lakeland, FL, 1989. It was previously available on 2 CD set of ‘Keep the Faith’ which featured a bonus CD also called Bon Jovi Live. It isn’t a bad version, they do seem to have slowed things down a little live, but the key is how amazing Richie Sambora’s playing is on this one. Such emotion in those notes, it is really cool.
Back in 2013, Bon Jovi jumped on board the Record Store Day Bandwagon. On April 20, 2013, we get the first of 2 Live E.P. Picture Discs from the band. The first one is called simply ‘Live’ and is a 10″, 33 1/3 RPM, Picture Disc. It contains four live tracks, all previously released in some form or fashion.
The opening track, “Livin’ On A Prayer” was recorded at Madison Square Garden on either July 14/15 of 2008 and was released on the video ‘Live at Madison Square Garden’ in 2009. The song starts off with Jon singing “Livin’ on a Prayer a cappella and the crowd finishes it the chorus. The full band joins in and they show why they are a great live band.
The second track is a personal favorite, “Blood on Blood” and this one was recorded at the Meadowlands Stadium in New Jersey around May 2010. The song was released on the live album (and video) ‘Inside Out’. It feels untouched as you can here the little wobbles and cracks in Jon’s voice like a good live show should have. The song might not have the same grit live as it does on the studio version, but they do put their all in to it.
We are now to the band’s twelfth studio album and the last one to feature original guitarists, Richie Sambora. The album came out on March 8, 2013 in Australia and March 12, 2013 in the U.S. where it was the third straight Bon Jovi album to go #1, fifth overall. The album has gone on to sell over 200,000 copies in the U.S., but their biggest success is still overseas where the album has sold over 1.5 million copies. Crazy numbers to me for a band that was well past their prime…at least that is my opinion…I guess a lot of people might disagree with those numbers.
The band at this point is unchanged with Jon Bon Jovi, Tico Torres, David Bryan and Richie Sambora, but don’t forget Hugh McDonald on bass who hasn’t yet been promoted to full fledged member which I find strange. But that changes eventually. And sadly, at the helm is still John Shanks who has turned the band in to a predictable, paint-by-numbers band that has lost all creativity and imagination. There is no painting outside the lines on this album. You’ve heard it all before. They have turned into a band that tries to be positive and encouraging in their lyrics in a world that is much darker. It feels forced and is presented in a way that might seem bright and fun, but it is boring and a wonderful cure for insomnia. Am I being too harsh? We will see…
“Because We Can” opens with some gang vocals spouting positive affirmations that is bouncy, bright and full of sunshine. And about as exciting as a root canal. And sadly, it is one of the better songs on the album. It is fun, catchy and has a great hook…but holy crap how many times do we need the same song that has been on every album of this millennium but with different titles…hello, “It’s My Life”, “Have a Nice Day”, “Undivided”…should I go on…I think not. This was the first single and it made it to the Adult Top 40 and not the Billboard Hot 100 Top 40, so you know the band is now full on AOR. That speaks volumes.
The next track, “I’m With You”, does contain a killer guitar solo, but that is about it. There is a weird effect on Jon’s vocals that I don’t particularly care for. The song isn’t a ballad and yet not heavy enough to be a rocker, despite that solo. It drones on and on and doesn’t do much for me at all. I want to like it, but can’t.
Only the band’s second live album, ‘Inside Out’, was released on November 27, 2012. It was not one show though, it was spread across 3 epic venues as the back of the box states. The songs are from the 25th Anniversary show at Madison Square Garden, the Hometown opening night at New Meadowlands Stadium and then from the Historic 12 night run at London’s O2 Arena. 12 nights…damn!! Usually, I would hate something that wasn’t all one show, but this works. If I’m not mistaken, this is only available on iTunes. Well, that is unless you are able to find the Australian promo of the actual video…which I do. And that is what we are reviewing here, the DVD and not the iTunes version.
The DVD is a promo as it says on the back of the box and on the disc itself, “not for sale”. The video is the actual screening from the theatrical release and it does something cool. We get 14 tracks from the 3 venues and what they do at times during the songs is switch to split screen and show shots of them performing the song from the other arena or arenas in some cases. An interesting way of doing things and it makes it fun to watch. It is 75 minutes of pure Bon Jovi live energy.
The show kicks off with one of my favorite tracks, “Blood on Blood”, from ‘New Jersey’. It feels untouched as you can here the little wobbles and cracks in Jon’s voice like a good live show should have. The song might not have the same grit live as it does on the studio version, but they do put their all in to it. “Lost Highway” sees Jon dripping wet with sweat and when they show the split screens, he is perfectly dry in those which tells me one song was played early in the set and the other later.
2 Loud 2 Old Music 