Bon Jovi have been huge in Japan since the beginning. As a result, Japan gets all the cool stuff and they did again this time as well. Bon Jovi reissued their first three albums on SHM-CDs and in a 7″ Vinyl format…but on CD. You get Bon Jovi, 7800° Fahrenheit and Slippery When Wet. We will walk through what you get with each disc and how it differs from the two recent U.S. Reissues of Bon Jovi and Slippery When Wet.
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With Bon Jovi’s return and their ‘Crush’ album, the band was literally crushing it. The album was selling great and their worldwide tour was a smash hit selling out and reaching over 1 million people around the globe. In May of 2001, they released a live album with a collection of live songs from throughout the years to help capitalize on the new found success again. But before that, the band released a greatest hits package on March 28, 2001. The album was called ‘Tokyo Road: Best of Bon Jovi’ and it was released exclusively in Japan. As a result, I didn’t hear about it for years, but I finally did get a copy.
The album contains 16 songs only one of which is a new version which was “One Wild Night” which was remixed for this release. All the other songs appear to be album versions for the most part. Now, if you bought one of the initial pressings of the album, you were given a bonus 3″ Mini CD with 4 exclusive live tracks. My copy has that plus it still has the OBI strip and the extra booklet with the lyrics in both English and Japanese. It is all there in all it’s glory.
The opening track was the only unreleased track which was a remix of “One Wild Night 2001” which was originally off the ‘Crush’ album. “One Wild Night” originally had a cartoon tune opening, but that was removed and the song just starts with some weird sounding guitar licks that are less rocking, but then the song does rock out. The song is anthem and if you had heard this live your hands would be high in the airing, pumping along with the beat. The song is throwback to the early rock legends of the 60’s. They really changed up the sound and tone with this one all thought the heart of the song is still there.
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.
I love when I’m out digging and I find something I’ve never seen before and that happened yet again with this Bon Jovi release. It is a UK only release called ‘Red Hot and 2 Parts Live’ and is a 12″ Single. Okay, I’m not being honest when I say I haven’t seen it because my bud Mike Ladano wrote about it a few years ago, so I have seen pictures of it, but I have never seen it in the wild and now I have a copy. The reason for this special edition of the single is probably because this was actually the first Bon Jovi single released in the UK.
What we have here is a thing of beauty. It is a three song EP on stunning translucent red vinyl. It has two live tracks both recorded in Japan in 1985 and one remix of the song “Hardest Part is the Night” from7800° Fahrenheit.
I have to say the sound quality is off-the-charts as it is loud. I had previously listened to an album prior to this release and when the E.P. played, it was so much louder I had to turn the volume down a little as it was too loud. I guess I shouldn’t admit that as it goes against the name of the site. Another thing is the beauty of the vinyl. I mean just look at it…
2 Loud 2 Old Music 