Posts Tagged ‘Richie Sambora’

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Five songs I’d like to hear on the next tour

Wednesday, January 6th, 2010

This is the other half of my posts in response to Jon’s announcement that they’d be playing more rarities and album tracks during the tour for The Circle. (The first part listed five songs that they could cut to make room in the set list.) Now I’m going to list out the five songs that I think Bon Jovi should play during the tour.

  1. Dry County
    I know. I’m grabbing for the low-hanging fruit here. Every real Bon Jovi fan wants this included in the band’s live performances. Why? Because it is really the best song that the band has ever created. It’s soaring, sweeping, epic and emotional. This song is really Bon Jovi at their best. No other band could have created Dry County. Plus, this song captures the themes of the current state of the economy and the middle class more than anything they wrote for The Circle.
  2. Living In Sin
    This song has been included in concerts far more often than Dry County and many other songs in the Bon Jovi catalog, and it was released as a single, so it’s not technically an album track or a rarity. However, it isn’t as well known as many of the other songs from New Jersey, and it is a personal favorite of mine–for a long time my favorite Bon Jovi song–and I have never heard it performed live.
  3. Dirty Little Secret
    One of the best balls-to-the-wall rock songs that Bon Jovi has written in the last ten years, and it’s a shame that it was never released in the US. (This should have been the lead single for Have A Nice Day.) Plus, this is true straight-up riff rock, and would be awesome live.
  4. Rosie
    If they’re going to let Richie sing lead on a song, why not have it be one of his own? I know this isn’t the most likely of scenarios (even if they did let Richie sing one of his own songs it would most likely be one of his singles) but Rosie is one of my favorites, and I would absolutely love to hear Richie sing this live.
  5. I Believe
    This was a great first track for Keep The Faith, and it would make an equally great live performance. The scream at the beginning can be easily eliminated without affecting the rest of the song, so that shouldn’t stop the band from performing it. This is Bon Jovi at their hope-filled, straight-up rock and roll best.

Honorable Mentions:
I didn’t list ‘Blood Money’ or ‘These Days’, because I have been lucky enough to hear both performed live during the Lost Highway tour, even though both were absolutely awesome and I would not object to their continued inclusion. Some of my other favorites, like ‘My Guitar Lies Bleeding in My Arms’ are too dark for good concert songs, or they are too obscure, like ‘Temptation’.

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Richie Sambora Way

Wednesday, November 25th, 2009

Richie has gotten a street in his hometown named after him. There’s even a pretty hot picture of Richie on the news article at the NPR site.

Richie got this honor after he helped refurbish the weight room at the high school and helped raise funds for a local girl with cancer.

It’s nice to see that Richie gets some credit for his charitable activities too. Usually Jon and the Soul Foundation suck up all of the screen time, but Richie is a nice guy too. He deserves some credit too. And it’s time that Richie got a street of his own. Jon already got one. (Well, I guess it was actually named after the band, but still. It’s cool that Richie has one too.)

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We Weren’t Born to Follow (Album Track)

Wednesday, November 11th, 2009

Fundamentally, this is the same as the already released single. (The review of the single version is here.) Most of the points that I already made there still hold true for this version.

The major difference between the two versions is the addition of the new guitar solo. Richie went back and recorded a new solo for the song after the initial bad reaction to the solo (or lack thereof) in the single version. I’m going to focus on the new solo for this review.

This new solo is more what we would have expected from a guitar player of Richie’s caliber. Before, the lead guitar was almost lost in a muddy, overproduced solo. In contrast, the solo from the album track practically sparkles. The rest of the song is a high-energy piece, and the new solo fits much better with the energetic nature of the rest of the track.

Plus, now that there is a well-defined lead guitar presence in the solo, Jon’s yell of ‘Guitar!’ right before doesn’t seem quite so out of place. On the album track, it now leads into something that is clearly identifiable as a guitar solo. It makes a whole lot more sense now.

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The Circle Review Begins

Tuesday, November 10th, 2009

Well, I finally got my hands on my copy of The Circle, and unfortunately my first reaction has been massive disappointment. I know I was setting myself up for it to some degree; I was hoping for the hard rock power of Bounce mixed with the solid ballad writing demonstrated on Lost Highway.

To start off with, Jon promised a hard rock sound on this album. But if you set it up next to Bounce, it falls quite a bit short. It’s really the same radio-friendly, pop-rock that the band delivered on Crush and Have a Nice Day. There are very few tracks on the disc that even remotely qualify as hard.

Also, I despise this type of packaging. Most of my storage that I have for CDs is designed for jewel cases, and not this new ‘environnmentally friendly’ type. The cardboard cases only fit into one of my CD racks, and it’s filling up rapidly. Also, I have a terrible time actually getting the discs out of the case without getting fingerprints on the front. It’s annoying. (If anyone has a brilliant method for how to get the disc out of this type of case, please leave a comment. I’m probably missing something really obvious here.)

Over the next 12 days, I’ll break down the album into individual tracks and review each one separately. That way I can analyze each song on its individual merits, and dive deeper into each one. It’ll also give me the space to separate each song from my first impression of it. I’ll do a final review of the overall album after the last track review.

I’ll give the album another listen tonight. That way I can give it my undivided attention, and hopefully notice more of the depth of the album and pay more attention to the lyrics.

Track List:

  1. We Weren’t Born to Follow
  2. When We Were Beautiful
  3. Work For The Working Man
  4. Superman Tonight
  5. Bullet
  6. Thorn in My Side
  7. Live Before You Die
  8. Brokenpromiseland
  9. Love’s The Only Rule
  10. Fast Cars
  11. Happy Now
  12. Learn to Love

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Get a Guitar Autographed by Richie Sambora

Wednesday, November 4th, 2009

The animal rescue group Precious Paws will be auctioning off a guitar signed by Richie Sambora. (There’s a full list of the items that they will be auctioning at Tonic.)

Unfortunately the article doesn’t say whether it is a guitar that Richie has actually used. I know the money is going to a good cause, but I’d want a guitar that Richie actually used. Especially at the kind of prices that these auctions bring in.

If the guitars start to get pricey, I guess I could always bid on the autographed beer can from Joe Elliott.

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Access Hollywood / ‘Superman Tonight’ Reaction

Saturday, October 24th, 2009

Well, last night I stopped playing the Ghostbusters game on the Xbox and tuned in to actual television.

I caught the Access Hollywood segment at 7:30. I hadn’t heard much about it, and I had kind of figured that it was a promo more for the tour. I only have basic cable, so I had forgotten that When We Were Beautiful airs on Showtime tonight. (I’m pretty much figuring on waiting for the DVD on this.) I was totally not expecting to hear Richie’s issues rehashed again.

While I could have done without another discussion of Richie’s stint in rehab, the segment was otherwise pretty good. It’s definitely good to hear that Richie has got his life back on track and is looking to move on. He deserves to have a good family life like Jon has.

Also, I still think Jon needs to get some highlights. His hair had been looking better for awhile, like the ‘We Weren’t Born to Follow’ video. Now it looks like it’s back to being that unfortunate flat dark brown. He really needs to get some highlights put in, both because he looks better blond, and because they make it look more natural. The dark brown color just screams ‘dye job’.

I also caught the ‘Superman Tonight’ USA promo during White Collar. Unfortunately, I didn’t really enjoy the show. (I will probably give it another chance; I think when it’s in standard hour-show format and they have to be more concise, it won’t drag so much.) Also, I found the promo to really be too short for me to get any real feel for the song. At this point, I’m still kind of ambivalent about it; hopefully it winds up being a ‘grower’ or being better when heard in its entirety. I just feel I can’t really review it in any meaningful way without having access to more of the song.

(No, I didn’t get watch the video on Ausiello’s blog yesterday; I had my lunch cut short.)

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Richie’s Story in Chicken Soup for the Soul Book

Monday, September 21st, 2009

Richie Sambora’s story is to be included into a new “Chicken Soup for the Soul” book focusing on musicians. (You can check out the press release at Reuters.)

Unfortunately it also includes stories from the likes of Kanye West, Christina Aguilera, Melissa Etheridge and Paul Anka, all of whom qualify as resounding disincentives to buy the book, at least in my world. I don’t like any of them, some to a greater degree than others. Etheridge in particular is one of the people whose work is part of the reason that I hated music during my teenage years.

Plus, these books are really expensive, especially if I only want one story out of the whole thing. The list price for them is $14.95. (You can get them for $10.17 if you buy ‘em from Amazon, but that’s still expensive when I only want one story out of the whole book.)

It’s also supposed to include stories from Mick Jones and Joan Jett, whose stories I probably wouldn’t mind reading, but aren’t anything that I would particularly seek out, either.

Sorry Richie, but I’d rather drop my $15 on a used Xbox game at the Gamestop.

Note: Comments closed due to excessive spam.

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We Weren’t Born to Follow Will Have a Real Solo

Wednesday, September 16th, 2009

According to an interview with Richie Sambora at MusicRadar, the guitar solo in the album version of ‘We Weren’t Born to Follow’ has been replaced. Sounds like somebody was listening to the online reaction to the song. I certainly wasn’t the only one to notice the conspicuous absence of the solo.

The debate at the time of the release centered mostly on the fact that the radio edit made it painfully obvious that a solo was missing. Whether it was never there or had been brutally hacked out for the radio edit was the question. Now it appears that Jon’s yell of “Guitar!” was indeed meant to lead into a solo in the actual song.

What I find interesting is that the band has replaced the solo that no fans have even heard yet. The critiques that were out there up to this point, mine included, were critiques of the radio edit, because that was all that the fans had to go on.

I have to wonder what the original solo sounded like. Richie’s description in the interview made it sound like it didn’t live up to the “real rock album” sound that Jon promised for the record and that was why he went back and re-recorded it.

At least it sounds like they’re trying to deliver on that promise. If it means some last-minute edits, so be it. And if the band needs to push back the release date to deliver, then push back the release date. I’d rather wait a couple of months for a superior product than get an inferior album now.

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Random Song: Hell Is Living Without You

Monday, July 13th, 2009

Artist: Alice Cooper
Album: Trash

I actually purchased this album at the same time as Richie Sambora’s Stranger In This Town. (There’s a Random Song pick for Rosie too.) This was the one that I listened to on the drive home that day. I initially bought this album for no better reason than that I had discovered the video for Poison on the internet and loved the song. Since I was already ordering Stranger, I just tacked Trash onto the order as well.

I can understand why the purists among Alice’s fans don’t like this album. It sounds like hair metal. (Well, actually, it sounds like it was produced and heavily co-written by Desmond Child, which it was.) However, it was a perfect fit for pop radio in its day. And it also explains why I was instantly attracted to the songs from this album.

That first day, driving home in the car, something about Hell Is Living Without You stood out in particular. It sounded an awful lot like a Bon Jovi song. I initially just wrote it off to recognizing Child’s writing style as a common influence. It wasn’t until I got it home and actually checked all the songwriter credits that I discovered that Jon and Richie actually were co-writers on the song as well.

If you listen closely to the song, you can hear a lot of the same lyrical qualities that Jon and Richie bring to their power ballads. They have a singular ability to create emotionally powerful lyrics while at the same time delivering solid rock in a tidy, radio-friendly form. Alice Cooper’s influence on the songwriting is also a powerful presence, bringing a darker, more menacing tone than is present in Bon Jovi’s work. (Only Alice could take what is fundamentally an intense, beautiful love song and make it feel menacing. It’s his gift.)

The unfortunate thing about this is that this is a really under-appreciated song. (It doesn’t get played anywhere, not even on the Boneyard on XM.) The album was disowned by Alice’s hardcore fans because it represented too drastic a shift in sound. If this song had been released by Bon Jovi, this song has all of the makings of a hit (at least in my opinion). It would certainly fit in right alongside all the rest of Bon Jovi’s power ballads.

This is still one of my favorite songs of all time. I still stop whatever I’m doing when I hear it come up on the stereo and sing along, with hand gestures. I have a weakness for all the bombast of big power ballads, and Hell Is Living Without You delivers on all counts. Plus, the extra bit of a dark edge that Alice brings to it makes it deliciously different from every other power ballad that I’ve ever heard.

I’d love to hear Richie perform this song, but seeing as how they reverted right back to doing I’ll Be There For You instead of These Days, the chances of hearing something like this performed is nonexistent.

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Stand By Me

Wednesday, July 1st, 2009

I just got to watch the video of Stand By Me that Jon and Richie recorded with Andy Madadian to help draw attention to the Iranian people.

It’s wonderful to see Jon using his celebrity to try to help people this way. His presence alone ensures that this song and video–and their message–gets viewed all over the world. It also brings this message directly to a lot of people that might not otherwise have thought about what the people of Iran are going through.

Jon also did a wonderful job on the vocals in this piece. Some of the songs that he has done lately can sound a bit strained in places; this song didn’t show a single sign of it. Just Jon’s wonderful, clear voice. I don’t think I’ve heard him sing that well since Crush, honestly.

Richie’s guitar solo was perfect; it demonstrates the wonderful sensitivity that Richie brings to his guitar playing. So many guitarists of Richie’s caliber add excessive noodling around to every song that they perform, simply because they can. One of the wonderful things about Richie’s talent is his ability to play beautifully without his ego getting in the way–he gives the song exactly what it needs and not a bit more.

Also, Jon is looking hot. The longer, blonder hair does wonders for him; he looks at least ten years younger than he did a few months ago, and it really softens his face. The short dark hair just made him look underfed and brought out the lines in his face. This is a great improvement.

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