[Becky]

It's good to be Jon Bon Jovi

By Randall Smith | Orlando CityBeat Writer
Posted February 11, 2004

Jon Bon Jovi has got soul. Now that he has purchased the Philadelphia Soul arena football team that is. My first thought about the Bon Jovi Soul ownership was how much money must one have to take on the ownership of an arena football team?

When I started poking around the Internet for some details on Jon Bon Jovi it turns out he is loaded. It also turns out that he has been there, done that, bought the T-shirt, now owns it and will soon sell it back to you. Look at the list of what he has done. The rest of us would have to be reincarnated hundreds of lives to accomplish a small part of any one of his achievements.

Bon Jovi -- the band has sold more than 98 million records worldwide. The band has played more than 2,000 concerts to 32 million fans in 47 countries. He has a Golden Globe award and both a Grammy and Oscar nomination. He has a new greatest hits CD, This Left feels Right, which is a curious acoustic-like mix of the old Bon Jovi favorites.

Bon Jovi the actor has won the Motion Picture Club's Premiere Performance Award for a feature in Moonlight And Valentino. He has been featured in motion pictures such as The Leading Man, Little City, Homegrown, No Looking Back, Row Your Boat, U-571, Pay It Forward and Vampires: Los Muertos. . Bon Jovi the TV actor has appeared on the HBO series Sex and the City and nine episodes of Ally McBeal.

Bon Jovi the philanthropist has actively involved himself in Special Olympics -- he sits on the board of directors for the "Very Special Christmas" music projects. He has organized benefit concerts for slain police officers. He has raised more than a half a million dollars for autistic children. He has been honored by the Foodbank of Monmouth and Ocean Counties as their Humanitarian of the Year.

Bon Jovi the scholar has received an Honorary Doctorate of Humanities from Monmouth University. He has even addressed the Oxford University's Oxford Union.

Bon Jovi the family man has married his high-school sweetheart and has remained married and has three children.

I was surprised when I finished this list. I expected to see some major record sales and maybe some concert dates. I did not expect to see a list impressive enough and diverse enough to rant about.

[Becky]

Feb. 11, 2004
Bon Jovi's new sound feels right
By DAVID BRINN






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Bon Jovi's new sound feels right

BON JOVI
This Left Feels Right
(Helicon)
If there's a band that knows how to serve up mass-appeal and pop-metal confections, it's Bon Jovi. Which is not necessarily such a bad thing. The band's oeuvre includes a fair amount of guilty sing-along pleasures, and has faithfully the essential role of providing a meat-and-potatoes musical center for the alt-rock nation to be an alternative to.

It's therefore refreshing to hear this band, which could write hits in its sleep, try something different on This Left Feels Right. Instead of releasing a greatest hits disc, a live album, or an unplugged session, (three common options for any band buying time between discs), Bon Jovi has taken its best-known songs and radically reworked them.

What was once bombastic and obvious has been replaced by subtlety and restraint. Sounding more like songs you'd hear on an adult contemporary radio station rather than the classic rock airwaves, This Left Feels Right sheds new light on old warhorses, and truly features some of the left turns implied in the title.

Instead of the blind optimism of the original version, "Livin' On a Prayer" is transformed into a fatalistic dirge with evocative guest vocals by former Wonder Years star Olivia d'Abo. And "It's My Life" also loses its boastful Jersey attitude and becomes a piano and strings ballad ringed by a classical motif.

With the toned-down sound, more emphasis is placed on the lyrics and vocals, and here Jon Bon Jovi's material stands up to the test. They may not be masterpieces, but his Bruce-lite glimpses of working-class life and couples is somehow more authentic and touching in a subdued atmosphere. And Richie Samboro's guitar work shines throughout, as his acoustic picking shows a side that's always been obscured by the arena rock power riffs.

Not all the songs benefit from being reborn. "You Give Love a Bad Name" sounds out of place as acoustic blues, and "Bed of Roses" is a little too middle-of-the-road to be effective.

But for the most part, the left turn does feel right for Bon Jovi. Any disc that turns "I'll be There For You" from a melodramatic kiss in the hayride teen puppy love song into an adult affirmation of commitment must be going in the right direction.

Let's hope they keep on this path.

[davefan]

nice *g* even that guy isn`t 100 % up to date *g* not that 2 million CD's would still matter and the 4th kid isn`t born yet

[Jag]

Originally Posted by Becky

Feb. 11, 2004
Bon Jovi's new sound feels right
By DAVID BRINN






Advertisement




Printer Friendly
E-mail This Article
Sign up for SMS alerts
Subscribe


More Music
Bon Jovi's new sound feels right

BON JOVI
This Left Feels Right
(Helicon)
If there's a band that knows how to serve up mass-appeal and pop-metal confections, it's Bon Jovi. Which is not necessarily such a bad thing. The band's oeuvre includes a fair amount of guilty sing-along pleasures, and has faithfully the essential role of providing a meat-and-potatoes musical center for the alt-rock nation to be an alternative to.

It's therefore refreshing to hear this band, which could write hits in its sleep, try something different on This Left Feels Right. Instead of releasing a greatest hits disc, a live album, or an unplugged session, (three common options for any band buying time between discs), Bon Jovi has taken its best-known songs and radically reworked them.

What was once bombastic and obvious has been replaced by subtlety and restraint. Sounding more like songs you'd hear on an adult contemporary radio station rather than the classic rock airwaves, This Left Feels Right sheds new light on old warhorses, and truly features some of the left turns implied in the title.

Instead of the blind optimism of the original version, "Livin' On a Prayer" is transformed into a fatalistic dirge with evocative guest vocals by former Wonder Years star Olivia d'Abo. And "It's My Life" also loses its boastful Jersey attitude and becomes a piano and strings ballad ringed by a classical motif.

With the toned-down sound, more emphasis is placed on the lyrics and vocals, and here Jon Bon Jovi's material stands up to the test. They may not be masterpieces, but his Bruce-lite glimpses of working-class life and couples is somehow more authentic and touching in a subdued atmosphere. And Richie Samboro's guitar work shines throughout, as his acoustic picking shows a side that's always been obscured by the arena rock power riffs.

Not all the songs benefit from being reborn. "You Give Love a Bad Name" sounds out of place as acoustic blues, and "Bed of Roses" is a little too middle-of-the-road to be effective.

But for the most part, the left turn does feel right for Bon Jovi. Any disc that turns "I'll be There For You" from a melodramatic kiss in the hayride teen puppy love song into an adult affirmation of commitment must be going in the right direction.

Let's hope they keep on this path.

cheers for this, good review where do u find these by the way?? u seem like a local bj library