I like reviewing things, it's just what I do. And after Baikonur's rekindling of reviews for the albums, I thought I'd write some slightly more insightful reviews than the ones I did a few years ago. Which means .... they're going to be very long. So I'll split them up into different posts: One for an overview, one for each track, and one for a conclusion. This is the review for the first album. Songs get reviews out of 5, albums out of 10. So far I've only written the overview and the review for Runaway, but I'll get everything else up as and when I write it:

OVERVIEW:

In 1984, Bon Jovi released their debut self titled album. The band came about after the popularity of Runaway, a song performed by a temporary band fronted by Jon Bon Jovi, the song’s main writer. The lineup for the band changed prior to recording this first album, and the band Bon Jovi, with the lineup that existed until 1994 was formed in 1983.

Their debut album was never a huge hit, despite having similarities to other bands who were popular at the time. However, although the album did indeed share the huge singalong choruses and polished yet gritty pop metal sound of, among others, Pyromania by Def Leppard or Shout At The Devil by Motley Crue, it still did a fine job of drawing together these, and a number of other influences, and creating something that was not just a clone of any of them. Here in one album was the street poetry and twin guitar of Def Leppard and Thin Lizzy, the rock riffing of Motley Crue, the guitar virtuosity and pop sensibilities of Van Halen and Ozzy Osbourne’s solo work, and the songs that ordinary working class people could relate to of Bruce Springsteen. Yet also, it was an album of its own: youthful, hungry, and possessed of a fiery spirit.

The working title for the album was “Tough Talk”, which seems appropriate. The vibe of the album is of a bunch of kids from the street who are disillusioned, cheated and chained by burning, untruthful and unrecquited love, who keep company with prostitutes, and whose only escape is to go out to a club and take a girl home. There’s a solidarity of lyrical themes here, which may be seen as creating a united album, or may be seen as a lack of variation. There’s not much in the way of fantastic lyrics, but some solid metaphors and youthful poetic imagery show up enough that it’s not a lyrically bad album.

Musically, these first two albums were possibly the ones where each instrument was at it’s most pronounced stage … Tico’s drum sound was huge, Dave’s keyboards were a lot more prominent than they’d later be (which can sound a little dated at times by today’s standards), the bass at times sounds like an earthquake, Richie and Jon trade wild riffs and squealing licks all over the place, with Richie playing most of it like he’s the reincarnation of Randy Rhoads. This is both a good thing and a negative thing … it’s almost as though they haven’t quite figured out how to write cohesive songs yet, and the whole effect it gives is almost a trainwreck which is barely holding together … which I find to be quite exciting, but I can see how some people might see it to be a bit sloppy. Over the top of it all is Jon’s voice, distinctive from other vocalists of the day, youthful and hungry for life and fame. And love ‘em or hate ‘em, this is of course the album which is notable for those ridiculously high falsetto notes that usually come towards the end of the song. Also noticeable in the vocal department is the standard early 80’s rock gang backing vocal … the legendary Jon and Richie harmonies don’t seem to have been discovered yet.

As an entire package, it’s nothing really to write home about … a cover shot of Jon and what I assume to be a prostitute standing on a street, with the rest of the band further over to the left; and a booklet with lyrics and one black and white photo of the band looking tough … its not creative genius, but it works in terms of the original “Tough Talk” theme.