THE GROOVEMAN'S COLLECTION

REVIEWS FROM MY VINYL COLLECTION

Tag: bon jovi

BON JOVI – s/t

May 5, 2023 /

The album that started it all. Interestingly enough, the song that really drew attention to the band, Runaway wasn’t even recorded by the band other than Jon on vocals. It was recorded by a bunch of session guys a year earlier. I guess the label didn’t have that much faith in the old BJ’s, as I would have at least re-recorded it with the band to get that continuity. How they were wrong ,hey?

Let’s be straight here, this album is chock full of bangers, not a dull moment. I rate this album as high as Slippery, and if the production was better it’s a close run thing. Other than the obvious Runaway, I’m going to pick a track that deserves your attention but doesn’t get the spotlight too much and that’s Roulette. A much heavier sound and groove and yet that commercial vibe and feel isn’t lost.

If you saw Bon Jovi early, say after the first three albums, they could rock it out with the best of them and they put on a great show. Sure, it’s a great album.

9.5/10 from The Grooveman.

BON JOVI – New Jersey

March 18, 2022 /

This is the only By Jovi (if you’re from Yorkshire, you’ll know) record that I own. The first album was ok – especially Runaway which was a big hit for the band. Then the follow up, 7800° Fahrenheit, was really quite disappointing and the record company was giving them a bit of pressure for the next album. Well we all know now that Slippery When Wet went mega huge and success was there’s, but then came the problem of how do you follow that? With the best record of your career that’s how!

The band had matured a lot by this point and Jon’s love of Springsteen came out big time on this record. There were 5 huge singles on the album and 4 of them open up the record: Lay Your Hands On Me with its killer intro, Bad Medicine which made it to number 1, Born To Be My Baby, and the syrupy ballad Living In Sin with Jon’s best Springsteen impression. Not a bad opening to a record. To assure the success though, they brought in super songwriter Desmond Child to help them get the hits.

This is one of those albums I don’t play that often as I have heard so much of it on the radio that I feel I know it inside out. Still, there’s no denying that it’s a classic record.

9/10 from The Grooveman.

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