Blueshadow's Bon Jovi Blog

Always Run to You (album track)

admin — Thu, 17 May 2012 00:27:21 +0000

Now, this song is one of the ones that I actually have already done a Random Song pick for, back in April of 2010. The only problem is that now I don’t remember the intro that I wrote for the post for ‘The Hardest Part is the Night’ a couple of weeks ago. I probably should have saved it somewhere…

Right before I started this post, I was listening to Bruce Springsteen. Then I switched over to this song and a couple of others from this album for writing this post.

The only thing that saved it from being complete auditory culture shock was two things: I have an odd collection of music, on the whole; I’m used to jumping from Broadway soundtracks to Ozzy Osbourne to Simon and Garfunkel when I have shuffle on, and that this song isn’t as cheesy or synth-laden as some of the others on this album. Richie’s guitars are front and center here, finally, and it’s great.

Now that I’ve listened to the album as a whole, Richie’s guitar work really starts to stand out from Dave’s synths. When I first got this album, all I could hear was Dave–he is more prominent on some of the earlier tracks in the album, but once I started really listening to it and looking for Richie’s work it really starts to pop out.

Now that I’m this deep into the album and getting to songs with Richie featured more prominently, I’m really starting to hear the beginnings of all the things that are going to be so great on Slippery When Wet. Like I said before, this song still shows a lot of that standard-issue 1980′s pop influence. When Jon and the rest of the band start balancing that out with their own talents, that’s when the great stuff starts happening. This song is definitely moving in that direction.

Late to the Party (again)

admin — Thu, 10 May 2012 00:50:25 +0000

I did know that they were going to run another concert video on the Bon Jovi site tonight. The only problem was that tonight was the first break in the rain in days, and my lawn was in dire need of an encounter with the lawnmower.

So I wound up not making it to the computer until almost an hour into the show. (Landed right in the middle of ‘Something for the Pain’ when I finally managed to get the computer booted up and connected.)

At least I didn’t miss getting to see ‘Keep the Faith’. That song is always one of my favorites to see in a live performance. I’ve always thought that it held up well over many, many hearings. It also lends itself well to live performance, especially the way that they usually play it with the bass and drums cranked up and turned into a pounding, physical force. Especially during the ending solo.

That ending solo is one of the absolute best things there is about getting to see Bon Jovi perform live.

And as a confirmed Jonny girl, I most note that Jon’s bare arms during Wanted were a very welcome and most gorgeous sight. That eye candy was just the thing to put a nice finish on a long day.

The Hardest Part is the Night (album track)

admin — Thu, 03 May 2012 00:50:26 +0000

I just realized exactly how much the songs on this particular album blend together in my memory. I was sure that I had already written an article on this song for the Random Song category. I had already written the intro to this post–based on the fact that I had already reviewed the song once, and this time I was going to find a different angle…

Except for one problem. When I went to link to the original post, I couldn’t find it. The search wasn’t finding it, and when I went back through the categories, I didn’t see it there either. Then I realized that I did two other songs from this album for Random Song picks–‘Secret Dreams’ and ‘Always Run to You’.

That was embarrassing. Especially since this song has one of my favorite openings of any of the songs on this album. Actually, it’s pretty much an all-around favorite of mine.

The lyrics on this one are also a distinct improvement over some of the other songs. This song shows a little bit more of the writing style that I’m used to hearing from Jon–which was one of the things that made me a fan of the band in the first place. It’s not up to his highest standards, but it’s better than some of the other songs on this album.

It also seems like the further I get into this album, the more I hear Richie in these songs. This particular song has a lot of guitars in it. It’s probably the first track that really has its sound identity determined by Richie rather than Dave’s synthesizer. And I like it.

This is one of those songs where I think I can hear the band’s sound evolving. I can hear hints of what they’ll do on Slippery When Wet in this song–both in terms of the guitar sound from Richie and in terms of the lyrics and writing from both Richie and Jon. The seeds are definitely there.

Tokyo Road (album track)

admin — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 23:55:17 +0000

Once you get into the meat of this song, it’s one of the better rock songs 7800° Fahrenheit, with significantly less synthesizer than most of the other tracks. The problem? Getting to it.

The intro to this song is the primary reason that I don’t listen to it anywhere near as often as I otherwise might. (Well, that, and that long, extended talky bit with no guitars in the bridge.) Both of them just drag on forever. I think I get the effect that they were trying to achieve–but it still makes the song feel way too long.

The biggest clue that this song is dragged out far too long? The fact that by the time I get to the end, I want it to end. Then there’s Dry County, which is the longest song in the band’s catalog, and that one always feels like I get to the end far too soon.

Once you get into the main verses, this song is pretty good though. Richie starts delivering some serious guitar parts, and that alone makes it feel totally different from the other songs around it. That, and he does get to deliver a pretty good guitar solo here again. This song–at least in the middle–really lets Richie take the lead role.

Personally though, it’s never going to be a favorite.

Silent Night (album track)

admin — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 00:17:12 +0000

I suppose that this particular song is as close as 7800° Fahrenheit actually gets to delivering a true power ballad. That being said, for a Bon Jovi ballad made during the 80′s, this song feels distinctly underpowered.

I guess the biggest problem that I have with this song is that my favorite Bon Jovi ballads are all from the 90′s and are true arena-rock spectacles. When I think of a power ballad from this band, songs like ‘Bed of Roses’ and ‘I Want You’, both of which are far grander in scale than this particular song.

Dave’s back with his synthesizer on this one again, front and center, using an effect that I think is supposed to sound like strings. Unfortunately, it really doesn’t, and that hinders the emotional depth of the sound of the song. It just sounds… well, fake. And that synth riff that plays through the intro and most of the verses is the only part of the song that I ever really remember.

Richie doesn’t do a whole lot in this song, but other than a few chords of electric guitar here and there, and a too-short guitar solo, most of it gets lost. The acoustic guitar in the verses really just gets lost in all of the synths. As I’m writing this and listening closer, I’m realizing that this song could have had a whole lot more punch if they’d flipped Dave and Richie–turned down the synths and turned Richie’s guitar way up.

Jon’s vocals are decent enough, but they’re overpowered by the synths too. That man can really sing a ballad. He does really try to bring some vocal power to the bridge, but it just doesn’t have the same punch that the band’s later ballads managed to ac

King of the Mountain (album track)

admin — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 22:54:42 +0000

This is one of those songs that I usually never ever listen to. Every time that I heard that pounding intro start up, I just hit skip.

I actually checked the play count on this one. (Yes, I really do over-analyze my listening habits. I think it’s fun. I’m also a nerd.) I’ve only ever played this whole song five times since I got this computer.

Today, I actually listened to it, and it wasn’t quite as bad as I remembered. The intro repeats for little too long without any significant variation to lighten it up, and the chorus is much the same. Since the verses aren’t particularly long in comparison to the rest of the song, that makes the chorus feel really overbearing.

But Richie’s guitar solo on this one really delivers. After the last couple of songs that weren’t delivering anything all that great from Richie, this song has a really great one. It works great with the rest of the song, while still having enough variation in it to make it stand out.

Overall, this is probably one of the worst examples of Jon and Richie’s songwriting, at least when it comes to the lyrics. But that guitar solo almost makes up for the rest of the song, and takes this from something that truly deserved to get skipped to a song that deserves an occasional listen.

‘Posts by Artist’ updated

admin — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 00:54:12 +0000

Well, I hadn’t been spending enough time on managing the Posts by Artist page. I really should’ve updated it every time that I added a new artist tag, but I got lazy. I finally got around to taking care of … Continue reading → Related posts:

Top Posts of 2009

Only Lonely (album track)

admin — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 00:39:31 +0000

7800º Fahrenheit has an extremely distinct sound, almost all of it derived from the synthesizers that Dave’s contributing. Now, most of the time, I think Dave’s work gives the band’s music a lot of its soul–well, ‘Dry County’ is pretty much proof of that. But the synths used here just leave me feeling a bit like I’ve time warped all the way back to my childhood.

This particular song really seems to get a double dose of the synthesizers. Not sure why they seem much more prominent on this song, but when I listen to this song, the guitar sounds totally overwhelmed.

(I did find that cranking the volume way up on this one makes it feel a whole lot harder. I think it pulls out the bass. Definitely an up-to-11 song.)

I guess this just goes to show exactly how critical Richie Sambora’s guitar playing really is to the overall sound of Bon Jovi that I’ve gotten used to. This song just doesn’t sound right to somebody like me, who’s used to hearing the band’s later stuff. He does get a pretty good solo in this one. It starts off a little bit repetitive, but then he really starts to soar and show off.

The lyrics are pretty good–better than the first two songs, at any rate. Jon’s always been pretty good with words. The ‘time bomb’ line toward the end of the song might be a little bit over the top, but the rest of it has Jon’s usual expert use of imagery.

Once the volume is turned up, this is probably one of my favorite songs off this album.

The Price of Love (album track)

admin — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 00:54:02 +0000

Not much of an intro on this song, but between Tico and Richie, it hits hard. Between that intro and the melody and overall sound of the rest of the song, I like it a lot, and it’s one of my most listened-to songs on the entire album. There’s some very synthesizer-sounding keyboards throughout the song, though. It’s got that one particularly synthetic sound that really identifies this album almost instantly.

The lyrics here don’t seem quite as clear as some of their other songs. There’s a lot of imagery in it, but for some reason it doesn’t really come together to paint a complete picture for me. ‘Runaway’ was sort of similar, in that it had a lot of great single lines in it that could conjure up an image in a heartbeat, but there didn’t really seem to be anything to draw all of it together into a whole.

The guitar solo isn’t my favorite. It just doesn’t feel as original as most of Richie’s solos do, and it doesn’t seem to be as well integrated into the rest of the song. I don’t think it incorporates enough of the melody of the song to feel like part of it.

That being said, the song is still one of my favorites from the album. I love the melody, and both the lyrics and the solo are good enough to make the song work as a complete whole.

In and Out of Love (album track)

admin — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 00:07:05 +0000

This song has a rather repetitive chorus–but even at that, it’s certainly not the worst or even the most repetitive song that I’ve ever heard. And the chorus is insanely catchy anyway. (Yes, I have had the chorus of this song stuck in my head.)

The spoken parts of the song don’t really add anything to it, and come across as unnecessarily crude and obnoxious. The lyrics of the song proper get the basic rock star lifestyle theme of the song across perfectly well, and with a lot more subtlety and artistry. I know that I would certainly like the whole song better without the spoken parts.

But there’s the guitar solo. On this song, Richie delivers. It might not be quite as epic as some of the other solos that he’s contributed over the years, but this one is substantial and impressive without going even the least little bit overboard. And on a song like this, it would be absurdly easy to go overboard on the guitar solo.