I thought it would prudent to post a mini-review today, lest some of you thoughtI had lost my mind earlier. What’s the date again?
BON JOVI – “Born To Be My Baby” (1988 Polygram 7″ single)
This single is a beauty. I bought this 45 at the Zellers store at Stanley Park Mall in Kitchener when I was a young fella. It doesn’t have any exclusive tracks — not even single edits which were very common on Bon Jovi 7″ singles. Instead it came in a collector’s package with cardboard picture sleeve, and three postcards.
The postcards are interesting to me for a reason. Look at the group photos of the band. Jon’s face is always obscured. These pictures from the New Jersey period represent a brief time when Jon was trying to give the band more face time. Check many photos from that era — his back is often to the camera while the others look straight ahead. I read a quote in a magazine where Jon was pissed that people only knew Richie Sambora as “the guy in the cowboy hat”. He was trying to give them attention and I think that’s cool.
The two tracks on the single are two of my New Jersey favourites! “Born To Be My Baby” was always a cool groove. I enjoy listening to Tico Torres’ drums on this track. Understated but perfect. But “Love For Sale”? Shit, I think that’s the best tune on New Jersey! Proof of the talent of this band, drunk or sober. Hard to imagine it was just something that happened and got recorded. It actually makes me a little sad today — sad that Jon and Richie have now broken up this amazing chemistry.
Fun single though! Glad to have kept it all these years.
BON JOVI – Livin’ On A Prayer(1987 Polygram double 12″ single)
For the second time this week comes a record that I acquired via T-Rev. This time, some friends of his were selling off some old vinyl, and he knew I’d be interested in this one. Indeed! From the juggernaut mid-80’s smash hit Slippery When Wet comes “Livin’ On A Prayer”, possibly the best known Bon Jovi hit. Previously, I owned this single on cassette, but we all know how permanent the music on a cassette can be. I was seeking what I call a “hard copy” — something more permanent like vinyl. T-Rev delivered!
There are six tracks total, with two on the first record. What a pair! “Livin’ On A Prayer” is a song I have nothing bad to say about. It’s hard to talk about a song such as this, which I probably hear daily, via the radio. Trying to look past the intense familiarity, I hear some great dark keyboards and a still-great talk box guitar part. It’s a still a great song, achieving musical heights that Bon Jovi would seldom scale.
Even better though is “Borderline”. This song is so hard to find, that I don’t even own it on a CD. It’s not on the (domestic) version of Bon Jovi’s 100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can’t Be Wrong box set (though it is on the Japanese). This is an undiscovered Bon Jovi gem, deep into that Slippery sound and keyboard-heavy. It easily could have been on the album; hell it could be a single in its own right. Songs like this are long-time favourites of Bon Jovi fans in the know.
The second record commences with a Bon Jovi semi-hit, “In and Out of Love” from 7800° Fahrenheit. I used to like this song when I was young. Even though it’s one of Jon and Richie’s hardest rockers, it doesn’t really appeal to me anymore. The words are laughably bad: “You wanted me to meet your what? Your daddy is who? Hey, just how old are you anyway? Oh, no…” Thankfully you can’t keep Sambora down, and Richie nails a cool, memorable guitar solo.
The coup de grâce is the final side, all rare live tracks recorded in Japan on the 7800° tour. These are some of my favourite Bon Jovi live recordings, and once again, I’ve never seen them on any kind of CD. All three tracks are from Bon Jovi’s first album: the single “Runaway”, “Breakout”, and “Shot Through the Heart”.
“Runaway” sounds amazing, and I think this song is underrated. It’s played a bit faster than the album version, and the vocal harmonies of Jon and Richie are young and fresh. “Breakout” is not especially notable, though hearing first-album Bon Jovi played live is a rare treat. Then, a surprise, as the band break into Cher’s “Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)” as a segue into “Shot Through the Heart”. The “Bang Bang” segment is an absolute treat, once again showing off those young voices, accompanied only by some David Bryan keyboards. This intro overshadows the song itself, though it is still one of those great Bon Jovi deep cuts. It’s a dark broken-hearted hard rocker with some smokin’ Sambora axe.
At roughly 32 minutes, I don’t know whether this is a single or an EP.* All I know is, it’s longer than Diver Down.
5/5 stars. An absolute must for any Bon Jovi fan with a turntable.
* It’s an EP, according to the spine, which I only noticed while taking these photos.
Slippery When Wet sold 28 million copies and went to #1 in over half a dozen countries, including Canada. The easy way to follow that might have been creating a carbon copy album, a sequel to follow it. Bravely, Bon Jovi chose not to do that. Their ambition was running high. The next album (tentatively titled Sons of Beaches after a line in the song “99 In the Shade”), was intended to be a double. The record company ixnay’d that due to the cost, but Bon Jovi had written and recorded plenty of good songs. The proof of this is that some of the best, including the B-side “Love Is War”, didn’t make the final single disc album.
New Jersey is not a carbon copy of Slippery nor any other Bon Jovi record. It’s more raw, more rock and roll, with bluesy elements added. There are dueling solos, long song structures, live jams and even a song in mono! Bon Jovi’s three main musicians (Richie Sambora, David Bryan, Tico Torres) performed and recorded some of their best playing on this album. Indeed, if New Jersey had come out under a different band name I don’t think many people would have recognized it as Bon Jovi. I think it remains one of their highest achievements, if not the very highest. Clocking in at almost an hour, it was a long varied album even if it wasn’t a double.
Slippery began with a long, ominous opening and New Jersey maintained that. “Lay Your Hands On Me” begins with drums and chants, but soon morphs into a top-ten (US) soul-rock single. The guitar is muscular and song is about as heavy as Bon Jovi get. “Bad Medicine” follows; the first single and one of the more pop-rock oriented songs. On the last album, Jon claimed he had a “Social Disease”, this time he needs a shot of “Bad Medicine”. I don’t think “Bad Medicine” is one of their best songs (I felt it was “just another Bon Jovi song” back then) but it sure had legs. It’s still a concert highlight today. I do prefer the album version to the single version with its playful, “Wait a minute, wait a minute, I’m not done!” false ending.
“Born To Be My Baby” was written acoustically and intended to be “the hit”. I think it’s just fine electrically, which is how it was recorded. I got this one as a single in a cardboard sleeve with post cards (see below), and I prefer it to “Bad Medicine” by a fair deal. The “na na na, na na na” vocal part is catchy as hell and the song rocks hard enough for the dudes. The ballad and single “Living In Sin” follows. It too was a huge hit, helped by a black & white video with some blonde-haired male model that looked like Mike Tramp, for the ladies.
Side one’s closer was the heartfelt epic “Blood On Blood”, which was not a single, but still gets played live today. Once again, Jon has managed to capture the essence of his young adulthood, growing up in Sayreville, New Jersey. Jon, “Danny” and “Bobby” are three friends who went through everything together. But with the years and miles between them, Jon lets them know that if he got that call, he’d be right by their sides. Lyrically, it’s this kind of thing that was Jon’s bread and butter, and it also resulted in a great song musically. “Blood On Blood” is one of the band’s proudest achievements.
If “Blood On Blood” was not enough musicality for ya, then “Homebound Train” is Bon Jovi at their most impressive. A 5-minute blues-rock workout, “Homebound Train” is one of those tracks that laymen just won’t believe is Bon Jovi. The band laid down some harmonica and guitar solos backed by some serious groove, something not often associated with Bon Jovi. “Homebound Train” would have to be among the band’s best tracks, and it serves to open a killer side of vinyl.
“Wild Is the Wind” might be considered a ballad, I think it’s more an anthem. If you can’t stop singing along to it, congratulations, you have a pulse! The chorus is brain-explodingly good. “Ride Cowboy Ride” follows, which is a brief instrumental in mono. Although it’s intentionally just an intro to the next song, on its own it’s an enjoyable listen – in fact it made my own mix tapes on its own a few times. “Ride Cowboy Ride” serves to introduce another cowboy anthem, “Stick To Your Guns”. The title reflects the positive affirmations of the lyrics, but this is just another standout song. Any one of these songs could have been singles.
A massive single, “I’ll Be There For You”, slows the side down a bit by being so soft. I’m sure there are those out there who don’t hate this song. Musically it’s fine, but the lyrics…I just can’t handle the lyrics. “When you breathe, I wanna be the air for you.” What does that even mean?
“99 In the Shade” contains the lyric that almost named the album: “I see those Sons of Beaches out there living it up, in the surf and the sand, yeah that life ain’t so tough.” This would be the weakest song on the album. It’s a standard Bon Jovi boogie, nothing wrong with it, but it pales compared to the rest of the songs on the record. Having said that if it were on Bon Jovi’s latest, it would be one of the best songs…
A personal favourite is last: “Love For Sale”, recorded live “during one hell of a party”. This drunken jam is among the most magical musical moments on any Bon Jovi album. Consider that it was the 1980’s, and the band just came off the ultra-sleek Slippery When Wet. They threw down a drunken, smoking acoustic blues jam to close the album? Yeah, man – cool! I’m down. It’s hilarious and fun, not to mention Richie just smokes on that six-string. Tico’s on the brushes and Jon sounds blasted.
And that’s New Jersey, an album the band had to be proud of. It went #1 all over the place, and multi-platinum in the US. It’s a curious mix of rootsy hard rock quality, and pop melody. It’s certainly among the best examples of such a mixture.
4.5/5 stars
BONUS GALLERY! “Born To Be My Baby” 45 rpm single!
I believe this baby was about $2.99 at Zellers in 1988. It came with postcards which I obviously kept.
BON JOVI – Slippery When Wet(1986, 2010 Universal special edition)
I’m not blown away by the new series of Bon Jovi reissues. For the running time of a CD, they could give you a heck of a lot more content. I mean, I’ve bought this album 3 times. I bought it on cassette back in ’87, then I bought the first round of remastered CD issues of the entire Bon Jovi catalogue. Now, begrudgingly, I’m starting to pick these up, because I’m a completist. How many times have you bought Slippery When Wet already? At least once, I’m guessing.
Slippery When Wet is one of those oddball albums: It’s considered the classic landmark by a very successful band, but it is by no means their best. I’ll tell you what it is though: It’s a concept album. When I listen to Slippery When Wet, all I can hear is a concept album about growing up in Sayreville, New Jersey. Think about it! “Wanted: Dead or Alive”? That’s not about touring, man. That’s a song about dreaming, while writing songs in Richie Sambora’s mom’s laundry room. Lyrically, Slippery When Wet captures a more innocent era and presents it in the form of different characters from all walks of life.
She says we’ve got to hold on to what we’ve got Cause it doesn’t make a difference if we’re naked or not
Slippery is the album that made people like Desmond Child and Bruce Fairbairn into household names. It’s notable for the presence of three smash hit classics: “Wanted: Dead or Alive”, “Livin’ On A Prayer”, and “You Give Love A Bad Name”. All three are obviously available on various Bon Jovi hits compilations. There are a couple deep cut classics, but Slippery is mostly padded out with filler. Surely, “Social Disease” with its juvenile lyrics and terrible synth-horns is one that Jon would like to disown? Also cheesy are “Wild In The Streets”, “I’d Die For You”, and the sappy “Without Love”. What helps save these songs are earnest performances from Jon, but especially Richie Sambora.
Two of the best songs are the deep cuts. “Let It Rock” is a cool song, a bit muddy in the mix, but with some really cool sounding keyboards. The atmospherics of it were unique for the time. It still stands as one of Jon’s better moments. Then there is “Raise Your Hands” which opened side 2. This one rocks, and has some blazing guitars. I have always been a fan of “Raise Your Hands”. Remember when it was used in that one scene in Spaceballs? Sweet!
John freakin’ Candy
The production, by the late Bruce Fairbairn, is muddy at times and too glossy at others. Fairbairn’s work on the 80’s Aerosmith albums was more innovative and interesting. I’ve always liked talk-box on guitar solos though, so I’ll give him and Richie Sambora credit for the catchiest talk-box solo in history. Regardless this album set new standards. Suddenly, everybody wanted to work with Desmond Child and Bruce Fairbairn. Aerosmith were next, then Poison, then AC/DC. As for Desmond Child, his old pal Paul Stanley came-a-knockin’ when it was time to write for the next Kiss album. Slippery When Wet was undeniably one of the biggest influences on the second half of the 1980’s. Rock bands were adding keyboardists, and trying to find ways to get played on radio and MTV the way Bon Jovi had. Jon also used his newfound influence by helping friends like Cinderella and Skid Row get signed. Cinderella certainly benefited from having Jon and Richie appear as rivals in their “Somebody Save Me” music video.
As influential as it is, albums such as New Jersey, Keep the Faith, and These Days are superior in my ears. When I was swept up in the Bon Jovi tide in ’87, I finally picked up Slippery on cassette. I was surprised, because I expected it to be a lot better. Considering all the hits, all the hype, and all the sales, I was hoping for more than half an album of good songs.
As far as the reissue goes, the reason I picked this particular one up was that I saw there was a “live acoustic” version of “Wanted” on here. I hoped and prayed that it was the acoustic version from the original 1987 “Wanted” cassette single. (If you haven’t heard it, man, you absolutely need to.) I only have that on cassette. However, it’s not the same version. It’s a good live acoustic version, with just Richie and Jon. It’s purportedly from the Slippery tour, and made stronger by Richie’s powerful vocals. “Prayer” and “Bad Name” are the other two live songs included, sounding pretty standard. These three bonus tracks are all there is; no era B-sides such as “Edge of a Broken Heart” or “Borderline” are included. Songs like these would have gone a long way to strengthen an album that’s a little weak in the knees.
I was pleased to see a retro looking backstage pass included within the slipcase. That made me a bit happier with my purchase. Nice touch, this is the kind of thing that rewards people for buying the CD rather than downloading.
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