Culmination of the cowboy fixation
 

Here's yet another review, this time off Jon's Young Guns II soundtrack. My New Jersey opinion didn't get much attention and the 7800 Fahrenheit one obviously wasn't well received, but I assume that I'm not posting these just for myself here.


BLAZE OF GLORY (1990)


Perhaps it was always coming that Jon would write an entire album of songs about cowboys. In 1990 Jon was asked to participate in putting together a soundtrack for the movie Young Guns II. The first Young Guns movie had been a minor hit, and the sequel looked like it would become one as well. Otherwise Jon probably wouldn't have jumped into making a soundtrack for the movie, but as the band were in the state that they were in 1990 - they were wreck, exhausted after the long tour for New Jersey and partly not even speaking with each other; you could say they were partly broken up - he decided to look into it. Jon was told that Wanted Dead Or Alive had been an influence on the first Young Guns movie and that they wanted to use it for the soundtrack of the second. As Jon thought Wanted wouldn't have totally worked, he said that he could write something else for them. Jon came up with a track called Blaze Of Glory. Writing one song soon turned into making an entire album, and "Blaze Of Glory: Songs inspired by the film Young Guns II" was produced by Jon and veteran session guitarist Danny Kortchmar and released in August 1990. Jon got some big names to appear on the record: Jeff Beck, Elton John and Little Richard, whom Jon had met on the last tour and asked to be on the record. Jon always insisted that Blaze Of Glory is a soundtrack for a movie and not his first solo album. He had to write it to fit certain parameters, and he had to write songs for particular scenes that the writer of the movie had come up with. And as cowboy songs aren't all he can write about, Blaze Of Glory mustn't really be considered as Jon's first solo album. The album/soundtrack proved to be another hit, and the title track became a #1 single in the US and was voted the "Best original song" at the 1990 Golden Globe film awards, and was nominated for an Academy Award too.



Billy Get Your Guns

Written by: JBJ
Status: Album track

The first track, Billy Get Your Guns, is a middling rock'n'roll song. It's good, but it's a little too repetitive; the repeating of the chorus and the title line may start to annoy after a while. As average a song as there can be, Billy Get Your Guns doesn't cause much of a reaction on the listener. Jeff Beck does play a nice guitar solo though, as he does on many songs on this album. This is one of the two songs on the album that feature Elton John on the piano, and this is also notable for being one of the few songs from this album that have been played live - Jon played this on his Destination Anywhere tour in 1997-98.

Rating: ***


Miracle

Written by: JBJ
Status: Second single from the album released in November 1990, peaked at #12 in the US, at #29 in the UK

Miracle was the second single from the album and it did surprisingly well in the charts, probably enjoying the after-success of the title song. This song is pretty alright lyrically, although there are some clichés and the lyrics fail to make their point to me - Jon's metaphors aren't really working. However, the arrangement isn't perhaps the most fitting for the song; it seems that the song lacks some power that it could have had. It's interesting to imagine what the song would have been like had it been done two years later with the band for Keep The Faith. Much better, you might say. But on this album, Miracle doesn't make a good impression to me. The song clearly lacks power and stamina, it isn't memorable enough and the lyrics are a little perfunctory. A very weak song for a single release.

Rating: ***


Blaze Of Glory

Written by: JBJ
Status: First single from the album released in August 1990, peaked at #1 in the US, at #13 in the UK

The title track, that was a no. 1 single and won a Golden Globe as well as being nominated for an Oscar, is the big song of the album. It's the album's most famous song also because it was featured on the band's Crossroad compilation album and used to be a staple part of Bon Jovi's live set in the 1990s. And Blaze Of Glory is a great song - even better than great. It's excellent lyrically, excellent musically. Jon paints well this romantic, glorified image of the Wild West life; an outlaw wants to die with style. It's musically impressive too, all the acoustic and other guitars in the song are terrific. Blaze Of Glory is a wonderful piece of work and if there ever was a perfect song written about cowboys, this is damn close to being that. The song could have easily been the theme song for any classic western instead of the petty Young Guns II. It's also a song that's hard to view only as Jon's solo song - it's really the best Bon Jovi song the band never did, emphasized by its place on Crossroad and the band's live set too. Blaze Of Glory is a Bon Jovi classic, and, unsurprisingly, the best song on the album.

Rating: *****


Blood Money

Written by: JBJ
Status: Album track

Blood Money is a short acoustic song about Billy the Kid and Pat Garret, the sheriff who killed him. Basically the song is just two minutes of Jon singing over an acoustic guitar. But for some reason this song has always been one of my great favourites. I just really love the lyrics, the acoustic guitars and the accordion. There's a great feeling in the song. Sadly though, the song ends a bit too soon; it fades away while Jon is still in the middle of singing the lyrics and with little effort the song could have been a minute or two longer. But I really love this little song, and to my great delight the song was played live several times in Bon Jovi shows in the 1990s.

Rating: ****


Santa Fe

Written by: JBJ
Status: Album track

The power ballad-like Santa Fe is one of the stand-out tracks of the album. The lyrics, that are about another outlaw going to Santa Fe to face his destiny, are pretty decent. The orchestral arrangement (by Alan Silvestri and Aldo Nova) is good and fits well to the song. The song is bombastic and powerful, and could have been a natural choice for a single. It's a really good song, although not really any of my favourites. It's interesting to note that Jon does the (barely audible) guitar solo in the song.

Rating: ****


Justice In The Barrel

Written by: JBJ
Status: Album track

Justice In The Barrel begins with a two-minute intro that consists of apparently some Native Americans doing a few vocals and then Kenny Aronoff doing a short drum solo. Justice In The Barrel is probably the weakest track on the album. It's a wodge of a song, cloggy and somewhat forgettable. The song doesn't really go anywhere and if one song on the album should be called a filler, it would be this one. It's not a too terrible song but it's a bit torpid and very, very mediocre in every way.

Rating: **


Never Say Die

Written by: JBJ
Status: Album track

Probably the most rocking song on the album, Never Say Die is another song of praise of that heroic, untamed cowboy spirit. There's a nice guitar riff in the song, one that was much later borrowed for a Bon Jovi B-side track. The song rocks but somehow it feels a little languid and powerless - which is probably due to the lack of Jon's real band members. With their input this could have rocked a lot more. Never Say Die is nice, but nothing special; an average rock song that has a nice guitar riff but in the end is a rather forgettable song.

Rating: ***


You Really Got Me Now

Written by: JBJ
Status: Album track (also released as B-side to Blaze Of Glory)

There are several guest stars appearing on this album, here's Mr. Little Richard. He sings and plays piano in this song that sounds like it was recorded in a jolly, lively saloon in the Wild West in the 1880s. No Jon Bon Jovi or recording equipment there, sure, but you can just imagine this little song played wildly on a piano in Arizona right there in the heyday of those legendary cowmen. Little Richard's presence is as much welcome as it is surprising - you couldn't really imagine someone as legendary as him playing on a Bon Jovi song, could you. Unfortunately, while You Really Got Me Now is still a fun song, even his visit doesn't really make this track much better as this short and unambitious song just can't be compared to the best songs on this album.

Rating: **

continued
 

Bang A Drum

Written by: JBJ
Status: Album track (also released as B-side to Miracle)

It's naturally strange to think that a Bon Jovi song, even a solo one, might be gospel influenced, but here's a song that carries out that miracle: Bang A Drum is clearly a slightly gospel orientated song. There are lyrics somewhat related to believing and religion and a woman choir that could convincingly sing real gospel songs. Jon's lyrics are not really great or too original but it's not a bad idea to try something a little bit different in the middle of all cowboy songs. Bang A Drum is middling. Good enough for a small experiment, but not a great song.

Rating: ***


Dyin' Ain't Much Of A Livin'

Written by: JBJ
Status: Album track (also released as B-side to Miracle)

Another notable guest appearance: Elton John. He played piano on another song too, but this one here has him more in a starring role. Not only does Elton play piano and sing backing vocals, but this song actually sounds more like an Elton John song than a Bon Jovi song. It's good to have the man visiting here then, and apparently Jon was a fan of Elton's stuff when he was growing up and was happy to have him on the record. Jon's lyrics are about the uncomfortable state of mind of an outlaw; nothing new is brought to the familiar Wild West scenery, but I like the lyrics anyway. Dyin' Ain't Much Of A Livin' is a solid performance and a very good song, the best on the latter half of the album.

Rating: ***


Guano City

Written by: Alan Silvestri

The last track on the album proves again that this is more of a soundtrack for a movie than a JBJ solo album; the last track has nothing to do with Jon at all, it's an instrumental piece of score from the film, composed, conducted and produced by Alan Silvestri. Guano City is ok, I guess, but who am I to review an orchestral composition from a movie... (Alan Silvestri, by the way, is good, but not the best film composer there is.) But anyway, as this isn't really a song and has nothing to do with Jon the Bon, it is not rated.



THE BEST SONG: Blaze Of Glory is without a doubt the best song, it's a classic, terrific cowboy song that the band took and treated as if it was their own song. The second one I have to mention is my personal favourite Blood Money, a short but great acoustic song that I have always loved.

OVERALL: Blaze Of Glory is more of a soundtrack for a movie rather than Jon Bon Jovi's first solo album, and that does affect a little how the album should be reviewed. This album probably shouldn't be compared to neither the band's albums nor other solo efforts from the Bon Jovi camp, but comparing it to other movie soundtracks would in the end be just senseless... Although, I will say that as a movie soundtrack this is pretty exceptional; from my experience it's very rare that any rock band or its frontman would do an entire album worth of songs just for a movie soundtrack. The movie Jon got his hands on - a lame B class western - isn't great but it was very suitable for him, his style and talents, and I guess Scorsese was never going to ask Jon to write songs for Goodfellas...

What comes to his (at this time) constantly developing lyrical skills, Blaze Of Glory is a good piece of work from Jon. On preceding Bon Jovi albums Jon wrote one song unaided for New Jersey and Slippery When Wet and a few for 7800 Fahrenheit. Now he wrote ten songs, and quite well, too. The lyrics on the album are for the most part pretty good and there's no doubt that here are the best lyrics he's written up to this point. The title track, Blood Money and Miracle alone outplay everything he wrote before. The romantic Wild West scenery Jon creates may be clichéd sometimes, but it's enjoyable nevertheless. You can hardly call him a great songwriter, but he's getting better and learning all the time.

One thing that sticks out on this album is the lack of other Bon Jovi band members. It really shows that they aren't present. Many of the songs would have been a lot better if the others were playing; there's no way Kenny Aronoff, Aldo Nova and Danny Kortchmar - not even Jeff Beck - could replace Jon's real band mates. The songs would be more powerful, more "fuller" and complete as band songs - besides, several of the songs here sound much like Bon Jovi songs anyway, they could have easily been done for a band album. Jon's special guest stars are on the other hand impressive: everyone who has a recording contract would gladly have Jeff Beck, Elton John and Little Richard playing on their album.

Blaze Of Glory is a good solo album or a soundtrack, whichever way one likes to think of it. It's full of entertaining cowboy songs, it gave us the classic title track and several really good songs, as well as presents Jon developing as a songwriter. The project was fruitful for Jon personally too, as Young Guns II inspired him to start taking acting lessons and he later began a modest career as an actor. But it's not really a great album outside the movie soundtrack category; it pales in comparison to the band albums around it and Richie's solo effort Stranger In This Town that came out the following year.


OVERALL SCORE: 12 OUT OF 20

Thanks for your review. I'd probably rate this cd a little higher than you overall. Unlike you, I think the Miracle lyrics work very well. I don't find them cliche at all and they certainly resonate with me.

deb

No-one asked you to review the albums. Get over yourself.

Nobody asked you to be an ass, but...

B

Keep em coming. ;)

Which one?

oh shut it asshole

I like these reviews - don't always agree but they're good quality writing.

totally agree about Blaze, great song and a v.good album in my opinion

I'm going to guess "I don't wanna live forever" But I'd say that falls closer to "Blood on Blood" than "Never Say Die". Although those two are pretty close to being the same song, heh.

Funny, I thought this was a discussion forum.