Richie Sambora's Undiscovered Soul
 

I thought his 1997 album was okay, particularly "Hard Times Come Easy", "Undiscovered Soul" & "Fallen From Graceland". Could've easily been a Bon Jovi record.

I only hope that he makes his presence felt with future Bon Jovi albums, more guitar solos please! :cool:

http://danielfranklingomez.com/blog/...mes-come-easy/

I really like US...but felt as though it was more commercially produced that Stranger.(which I think is pure genius btw ;) ).

Yep It would be great to see Richie have larger imput not only through his guitar but singing too!...Listening to the recent Billy Falcon stuff his voice still sounds amazing.

My wife and I had "All That Really Matters" as our bridal waltz, so that album will always hold a special place in my heart.

My US album broke a couple of years ago, and I haven't really re-purchased it. but lately I've been wanting to listen to it, I guess I will have to buy it.

Initially I liked it, but grew tired of it fast. "All that Really Matters" appealed to me originally, but after the novelty wore off all that was left was a bunch of cliches. "In it For Love" is sickiningly sweet, "Who I Am" and "Undiscovered Soul" are too long, "Downside of Love" and "Chained" are pure filler while the first four songs are decent but nothing special. It's an alright album but nothing special.

SITT is far, far superior. Barely a weak track and the album fits together better and gives the impression that it is a representation of who Richie Sambora (in 1991) is.

For all the stick Jon gets here for wanting to be popular, I reckon the difference in Richie's two solo albums is a powerful indicator that he is one of the reasons for a lot of the poppy dirge that has been churned out post 2000.

When the mood is right I only listen to a few songs from the album... In It For Love, Who I Am, You're Not Alone and Undiscovered Soul which is my favourite.

Great album. Undiscoverd Soul, the song is one of the best songs ever made by some og the Jovis! Reminds me a lot of Someday I'll Be Saturday Night.
Harlem Rain is also a favoritt.

yes, that's what people don't seem to get, Richie is radio minded alot

True, another good example would be "Take Me On", it screams pop radio imo...

THANK YOU. I say that so much becasue all I hear is "Richie is what's keeping the band going" "He never messes up" "Jon is the mainstream radio guy, Richie's just a tortured artist". Etc. Para-phrased of course. Richie's a lot worse when it comes to making things mainstream. Meh.

I don't really care for undiscovered soul, stranger is a better effort though. Love his tune on the boxset.

Both albums are great buy Stranger is superior. The vocals and guitar work are just a hell lot better on Stranger.

I don't think it's fair to put it solely on either one of them. Since "These Days", they've both written some great songs. They've both written some not-so-great songs, and they've both written some radio oriented pop dribble.

You only have to listen to the demos from "Sex Sells" to know that Jon was going in that direction anyway.

And "Undiscovered Soul" too long? No way!

well, at least Richie didn't simply rip off the entire brit-pop genre with his solo album. He stayed pretty close to his roots trying to make the record somewhat more radio-friendly than Stranger. He might have failed here and there but he did not simply steal from other artists as a different band member did.

Agreed on that point!

I was not a huge fan of a lot of US at first but when I saw him perform it live, the songs really came to life and I now love the album. I always thought the song Undiscovered Soul was incredible though, one of the finest moments of either Jon or Richie. Can't believe someone said it was too long, it's just a fabulous song sang magnificently. The only thing it misses is a classic guitar solo (Which he gave it live!).

I just remembered when Richie was asked in an interview about the guitar sound on Bounce, and his answer was kind of like "well we first did the dropped D tuning on Lay your hands on me, and now that all the young bands are doing it and the kids are diggin it we thought it was time to try it again."
Paraphrased of course.

I think if you read what I originally wrote you will see that I didn't put the blame solely on Richie's shoulders.