Listening Post: Bon Jovi - Keep the Faith

Great things come from New Jersey. Frank Sinatra. The Boss. Me. And, of course, Jon Bongiovi.
I know nothing about Bon Jovi save the big super hits that catapulted him and his group to megastardom. Is there anything more to the once high-haired glam pop rock than just faux country anthem rock?
Let's find out.



Bon Jovi - Keep The Faith - 1992 (Buy it)

Huh.
So, in the early 80s, when Power Pop was all the rage, Jon Bongiovi and his band sounded more like Rick Springfield than even Mr. Springfield would at times.
In the mid-80's the group experienced their biggest success by melding Bruce Springsteen-esque storytelling and sense of epic with Def Leppard's sound.
After a four year absence, where Jon was nominated for an Oscar for his most excellent Blaze of Glory single and the guys went off in different directions, JBJ and the crew got back in the studio, this time with Bruce Fairbairn protege, Bob Rock, and, I can only assume, listened to Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby way too many times.
Seriously. Keep The Faith is filled with rhythmic chk-chk-chking guitars and a sweeping sense of self=importance Christianity and, you know what? It almost works.
Why almost? Because it came, of course, during the early 90s, which means it's 20 minutes longer than it should ever be. This is partially accounted for by the inclusion of the 9+ minute "Dry County" a song which is almost NOT weighted down by it's own sense of anthemia.
Thing is, they just run out of ideas. They even have a song called "Blame it on the Love of Rock and Roll. I just don't buy it. I would rather it be called, "Blame it on the need to make a living the only way I know how that is the most fun and requires the least amount of work."
There's some tough stuff on this album. The title track. And, especially, I Believe are both keepers.
It's not nearly as bad as New Jersey and they band gets high marks for stepping outside of their hair-gel box. In fact, I think it's the second best album in their catalogue so far.
Not bad.

Grade C+
A Side: Keep the Faith
Blindside: I Believe
Downside: Bed of Roses. (The hookiness of the chorus doesn't make up for the hokeyness of the tune.

Listening Post: Bon Jovi - Jon Bongiovi's Blaze of Glory

A side trip on the Bon Jovi retrospective train....



Jon Bon Jovi - Blaze of Glory single - 1990

I know so little about Jon Bon Jovi and his "music". It's all so generic. So derivative. I almost regret deciding to delve into the catalogue.
Fortunately I got to include this little gem from 18 years ago. It's not that I actually forgot about it, per se, it just never seems to get any airplay and the movie was so freaking bad that it came from.
Blaze of Glory takes the quasi-cowboy rock from Wanted: Dead or Alive from 4 years prior and builds on it. It's epic. Big. Sweeping. It does everything that is required of it.
It makes me wonder what Bon Jovi has in store for me as the next album doesn't come for 2 years after this single and that was 2 years after New Jersey.
In the meantime. Revisit this. It's a treat.

Grade A

Listening Post: Bon Jovi - New Jersey

Great things come from New Jersey. Frank Sinatra. The Boss. Me. And, of course, Jon Bongiovi.
I know nothing about Bon Jovi save the big super hits that catapulted him and his group to megastardom. Is there anything more to the once high-haired glam pop rock than just faux country anthem rock?
Let's find out.



Bon Jovi - New Jersey - 1988 (Buy it)

This was interesting to me. All the reviews I've read about this album have given it really high marks. Higher than Slippery. I don't agree. While Slippery When Wet is the embodiment of 80s glam faux metal, New Jersey is a different animal. Perfectly competent. Tuneful. Nothing inherently wrong with it.
Except....
Queen followed A Night at the Opera with A Day at the Races.
U2 followed Joshua Tree with Achtung Baby.
These albums built on the previous success without really tampering with the formula. It's a smart idea and tons of bands have done it.
Bon Jovi is one of those bands. The difference is that they don't build on anything. Maybe they aren't capable. Maybe it's a case of "give the people what they have decided they want. It worked. They sold a ton of this.
But.
There is nothing new explored here. No new ideas. Nothing fresh. Just "music inspired by Slippery When Wet", it could have been called.
The singles are boring. Everything is so freaking long....I get it, big chorus, modulation, move on, fer god's sake. Obviously, this bloat is a product of the CD age. We can put an HOUR on one disc?!? Let's do it!!!
And we all suffer.
Do you own Slippery When Wet? Then you have absolutely no reason to ever listen to this record.

Grade C-
A Side: Bad Medicine
Blindside: Homebound Train (It's a keeper. Put it on your ipod)
Downside: I'll Be There For You (Is it Whitesnake? Where's Tawny Kitaen??)

Listening Post: Bon Jovi - Slippery When Wet

Great things come from New Jersey. Frank Sinatra. The Boss. Me. And, of course, Jon Bongiovi.
I know nothing about Bon Jovi save the big super hits that catapulted him and his group to megastardom. Is there anything more to the once high-haired glam pop rock than just faux country anthem rock?
Let's find out.



Bon Jovi - Slippery When Wet - 1986
(buy it)

Bruce Fairbairn. Need I say more? He worked with all of them: Loverboy. Van Halen. Poison. Jackyl. He is one of the architects of the 80s glam-metal sound. And he crafted this piece of time-capsuleness.
Slippery is more a product of great production and hiring the right guys than it is great songwriting or timeless poetry. Listen to Livin' on a Prayer. Listen to that modulation. It's a minor epic. Because it really isn't an epic, it's just a hopeful little song masquerading as something bigger.
John Mellencamp was writing about these people. Bruce was. Tons of artists were writing little stories about desperate people on the edge of society, who were just "livin' on a prayer". Why did this one make it? Why was this so huge? can it be the talk box? No, it's that Mutt Lange was right. He crafted some pop confection goodness with Def Leppard and, in the mid 80s, you couldn't go wrong copying that sound. Toss in a little Desmond Child to rewrite your mundane high school lyrics, put some money in hair gel and videos and, blam. Hit after hit.
I wish this was really just about those three monsters. But, Slippery When Wet actually is a cheeky, fun cruise. The horns on Social Disease (not to mention the disappointed chica at the top) give that tune an extra push.
Here's what I wanna know: Why do rockers from New Jersey fancy themselves cowboys? I lived in New Jersey. There are some lovely spots. Rural, even. I grew up in the great swamp. There were deer in our backyard. But, it's not cowboy country.
And yet, Wanted, Dead or Alive is a blast. This could be because it is the most fun song to play on drums on Rock Band (expert level, natch!) or it could be that its just a great tune.
I'm leaning toward the Rock Band theory.
Without a doubt I would have been embarrassed to own this when it came out. I could never wear my cuban heels, my beetle boots, my pirate blouses my leather, in public again. But 25 years later, no archive, no comprehensive collection of great albums would be complete without this, maybe the most representative album of the 80s glam rock era.

Grade A
A Side: Tommy and Gina, baby!
Blindside: Raise Your Hands & Wild in the Streets & Social Disease &......
Downside: None. This is almost perfect.

Listening Post: Bon Jovi - 7800 Farenheit

Great things come from New Jersey. Frank Sinatra. The Boss. Me. And, of course, Jon Bongiovi.
I know nothing about Bon Jovi save the big super hits that catapulted him and his group to megastardom. Is there anything more to the once high-haired glam pop rock than just faux country anthem rock?
Let's find out.



Bon Jovi - 7800 Farenheit - 1985 (Buy it)

Hey! Is that Motley Crue? Is it Def Leppard??? No, it's generic metal power pop gods Bon Jovi!
The opening track sounds like it the band sat down, listened to the radio, listened to High and Dry and Shout at the Devil and decided, hey we can do that! The result? Watered down rock that shoots a perfectly aimed bullet between the legs of teenage girls who, 20 years later, would probably have eschewed this for *NSync.
There is absolutely no change to the formula. Big, echoing snare drums, doubled (tripled) lead vocals, power chords, soaring leads, it's all here. And completely forgettable in a St. Elmo's Fire soundtrack kind of way.
I have a theory that Bon Jovi is to glam metal as Billy Joel is to classic rock. Harmless, hummable and sellable. I think I am doing Mr. Joel a disservice. Based on 7800 Farenheit, there's no there there.
It's frustrating and infuriating to listen to JB struggle to emulate Bruce on songs like "Silent Night". And that's probably why I was predisposed to hating Bongie from the get go. I'm a Jersey boy. The ONLY roots rocker from Jersey is Bruce. You can try, sure, to dethrone him, but don't steal his sound to do it. John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band have more credibility than this record.
There is aboslutely no reason, even if you are the biggest, most desperate, cry-when-you-look-at-his-poster-on-your wall, fan, that you need to ever listen to this album.

Grade D
A Side: In and Out of Love
Blindside: There are no surprises on this record.
Downside: Silent Night

Listening Post: Bon Jovi - Bon Jovi

Great things come from New Jersey. Frank Sinatra. The Boss. Me. And, of course, Jon Bongiovi.
I know nothing about Bon Jovi save the big super hits that catapulted him and his group to megastardom. Is there anything more to the once high-haired glam pop rock than just faux country anthem rock?
Let's find out.



Bon Jovi - Bon Jovi - 1984 (Buy it)

It's a little bit Bruce, a little bit Bay City Rollers/Hudson Brothers and a whole lot of Rick Springfield.
Pushed to make an album after the success of the contest winning single, Runaway, this is the first album of what would be Bon Jovi.
Taken as a single, Runaway is a really great Rick Springfield song. And I don't mean Working Class Dog Rick. I'm talking Wait for Night Rick. It's glammy, sparkly, edgy with the blades all dulled out to be inoffensive. All the way through are the shadows of Rick.
Of course, I'm not really surprised. One of the session men on part of this record is Tim Pierce of the big soaring power pop guitars on Rick's Love Somebody.
Where does Bon Jovi succeed Rick, then? I think it's the hair. Rick had the look but he was about to be passed by for glam metal. Rick had skinny ties and suits. Jon has Final Net.
Jon is posing as a Jersey boy hair metal god while really doing nothing more interesting or groundbreaking than power pop. The drums are a little more Arena ready but that's about it. Tico "double kick" Torres knows what the hell he's doing and even professor Roy Bittan shows up for a little side work for the kid from his homestate.
But it's mainly:
Hair, spandex and...hair.
That's not to say there isn't some good stuff here, it's just that guys like Rick were doing it better with better songs before this little kid whose cousin owned The Power Station.
I'm usually pretty lenient with first offerings and I won't break ranks here.
It isn't great. It's not bad. It doesn't really portend a career spanning a quarter century, though.
Confession: I tried to listen to this a few days ago and fell asleep around the 7th or 8th song in. When I woke up I thought, 'Yikes, this is a LONG track'. It was the 4th song on the next album. Needless to say, not all that much variety going on here. The reason I bring this up is that I am listening to it again and found myself forgetting that it was on. During the same freaking song, Burning for Love. It's gonna be a long week.


Grade B-
A Side: Runaway
Blindside: Get Ready & Come Back
Downside: Breakout & Burning for Love

Listening Post: AC/DC Stiff Upper Lip

AC/DC - Stiff Upper Lip - 2000

Done.
The last AC/DC album. I want to say that I gave it my full attention and that it was a treat and that there was a lot of great stuff, but it's just not true.
After the first song, the title track which is pretty good, it just all sounds the same. It all sounds like....like them.
The answer to the question of how much AC/DC is too much AC/DC has been answered. Talk about a guest that overstays its welcome. 25 years after they did their most interesting stuff and they still want us to buy their shit. At Wal-Mart, no less.
Truth is, Stiff Upper Lip is fine. It's no better than The Razor's Edge. Not as boring as Ballbreaker. Not as bad as those three horrible ones that came after For Those About to Rock.
I do miss Bon Scott. He was the soul of this group and I don't think they ever recovered.

Okay. Whew. I'm exhausted.

Grade C
A Side: Stiff Upper Lip
Blindside: Can't Stand Still
Down Side: Safe in New York City

listening Post: AC/DC Ballbreaker

They wrote one of the 10 greatest RAWK songs ever. The pretty much invented the fist pumping, devil horned, head banging arena rock sound. The lead guitarist is the star, in his outrageous schoolboy uniform but the real backbone is the Rhythm Guitarist. Without Malcolm there is no AC/DC. Just a lead singer and a cock of the walk screecher.
I have heard about a dozen or so songs, and, like everyone who grew up in the 70s, Back in Black was your graduation present.
But aside from the big tunes, what do I really know about the Aussie boys?
Let's find out.




AC/DC - Ballbreaker - 1995 (buy it)

Rick Rubin. Who hasn't he worked with? Isn't Bruce Springsteen on a short list or something? I mean, really.
So, what does Rick bring to the AC/DC party? Nothing, really. Ballbreaker is just what I would hope and expect from the follow-up to return-to-form The Razor's Edge. It's blues-rock, great licks and lots of double entendre (and single entendre). I mean, "Hard as a Rock"? Subtlety is not in the Young brothers' vocabulary.
They don't reinvent the wheel here, in fact, I'm not sure anyone actually owns this besides true blue die hard fans. It's just a reason to say, "hey, we're still here and now we have a reason to tour, come see us and we'll play the stuff you love." Or something.
AllMusic says there isn't a bad song on the album and I would tend to agree but also add that there isn't a truly great song on it, either.
It will be another 5 years before AC/DC will put out their last effort (And, as of this writing, another 8 after that as they announced a new album for 2008 to only be sold at Wal-Mart).

Grade C
A Side: Ballbreaker
Blindside: Hard as a Rock
Downside: Hail Caeser

Listening Post: AC/DC The Razor's Edge

They wrote one of the 10 greatest RAWK songs ever. The pretty much invented the fist pumping, devil horned, head banging arena rock sound. The lead guitarist is the star, in his outrageous schoolboy uniform but the real backbone is the Rhythm Guitarist. Without Malcolm there is no AC/DC. Just a lead singer and a cock of the walk screecher.
I have heard about a dozen or so songs, and, like everyone who grew up in the 70s, Back in Black was your graduation present.
But aside from the big tunes, what do I really know about the Aussie boys?
Let's find out.



AC/DC - The Razor's Edge - 1990 (buy it)

What the fuck is this???
The opening blistering guitar riff of Thunderstruck and the crystal clear production, the minimalist ball breaking rock sound is BACK!
I was so worried that I would have no reason to raise my fists in the air, make the devil horns, bang my head and then I get this. Should I worry that it's a laser tight opener and 35 minutes of filler? Not if the second track, "Fire your guns" is any indication. Could the time off malcolm took from the Blow Up Your Video tour to get over alcoholism have had anything to do with this? Surely, taking any songwriting chores out of Brian Johnson's hands has had some positive effect. This album is what AC/DC should have been doing the entire last decade.
Getting their music in the hands of a producer who knows what the hell he's doing, like the late Bruce Fairbairn does here, and clearly loves the band was a smart move.
The great journeyman drummer Chris Slade (ex gary Numan, Ex Asia, ex...everybody) performs on his only AC/DC album and it's a real kick in the ass for the boys to be playing with someone so obviously more talented than any previous rhythm section. Slade is in great form as are the Young brothers.
There's a fair share of filler and pablum and they run out steam somewhere near the end but nothing is reprehensible. All things considered this is a nice return to form.
Welcome back, boys.

Grade C+
A Side: Moneytalks & Thunderstruck
Blindside: Fire Your Guns & Rock Your Heart Out
Downside: Mistress for Christmas

Listening Post: AC/DC Blow Up Your Video

They wrote one of the 10 greatest RAWK songs ever. The pretty much invented the fist pumping, devil horned, head banging arena rock sound. The lead guitarist is the star, in his outrageous schoolboy uniform but the real backbone is the Rhythm Guitarist. Without Malcolm there is no AC/DC. Just a lead singer and a cock of the walk screecher.
I have heard about a dozen or so songs, and, like everyone who grew up in the 70s, Back in Black was your graduation present.
But aside from the big tunes, what do I really know about the Aussie boys?
Let's find out.




AC/DC - Blow Up Your Video - 1988 (buy it)

Okay. I'm more than a little daunted here. After the last two albums, and knowing just how much is on it's way, I think the only thing I can do here is to LiveBlog the listening experience to this album.
Let's get some crap out of the way first. This album comes THREE years after Fly On the Wall. Which is the longest span between releases by the band. And, as of now it's 20 years old. It came out the year after GnR ripped off everything AC/DC had ever done and went through the stratosphere with Appetite.
So, let's start.
Okay, it's not so bad.. The sound is awful but that's sort of endemic of the era. Where everything was sort of squashed and quashed and flattened and melded into one wall of noise. if not for that they actually sound good. The band is tight and the songs, so far, aren't all that offensively screechy. I know this is the last time Brian Johnson will be allowed to write lyrics for the band, probably a good thing. But something like "That's the way I wanna rock n roll" could have been written in the old days. It's just that, by now, metal was all about Metallica and Pantera and the like and unless they get back to their roots, just who is this for?
It might actually be that someone asked Brian to try to sound a little more like Bon. And he kind of does when he gets out of the screech. But, holy crow it's dull.
Halfway through and I just think they've run out of ideas. No one's pushing them to discover anything and I am bored beyond tears......
One thing I have noticed about Malcolm Young in the 80s is his penchant for ripping of Pete Townshend. He really likes the Baba O'Reilly sound. It's very noticeable. Just sayin. Not all that original. Can I turn this off now? 2 more songs????? Okay.......
All right. The album was almost ALL filler. After the first two tracks it was a chore to say the least. (I deserve something in compensation for this shit, I tell ya) The final track "This Means War" actually shows a glimmer of the old AC and gives me a sparkle of hope for the next album....


Grade D+
A side: Heatseeker
Blindside: That's the Way I Wanna Rock N Roll & This Means War
Downside: Meanstreak