Alec John Such - did have actually play bass on the albums.
 

This has probably been covered before, so I will apologuise if it has. I stumbled across a bass players forum about Alec John Such. What I read was interesting. One commentator was at the front of the audience of a Bon Jovi show when Alec was playing bass. This guy had been playing bass himself for 20 years at the time and was watching Alec very intently. He commented that Alec was very good.

The other comments I heard that Alec played bass on all of 'Bon Jovi: Bon Jovi' (except Runaway obviously) and all of '7800 Degrees Fahrenheit' but didn't play on Slippery When Wet, New Jersey, Keep The Faith or Cross Road at all. All those bass parts where written and performed by Hugh McDonald since 1986. Apparently Alec had been dealing with drug and alcoholism during the Slippery When Wet - New Jersey era which affected his playing but was sober by the time they were recording Keep The Faith.

Is this true? I've never read nor heard anything official from Jon Bon Jovi about it. I know Hugh wrote and played the bass for Livin' On A Prayer and Keep The Faith and that Alec wasn't good enough to recorded These Days with them. I remember an interview when he said he wouldn't be recording in the studio anymore because he didn't enjoy it and would be just a touring member. This was before he was fired.

I think Alec certainly had some influence on the band because they made their best albums as the classic quintet. I don't think Bon Jovi was ever the same after he left.

Yes and no. Alec played on the first two albums, but after that he didn't play on the albums at all. And it wasn't about substance abuse, Jon just didn't think Alec could really play. KTF is all Hugh.

And though Jon hasn't said anything official, Hugh McDonald has.

Ice

That must've really hurt Alec's feelings. I've seen videos of him playing live and he's good. Why did Jon keep him in the band if he wasn't very good? I'm suprised Doc McGhee didn't fire him. I thought it was just that he didn't write the bass parts. I know he said he didn't have the talent to write songs himself. I remember Crusher on Noizy Mothers (90s TV rock shows that showed the later rock and metal music videos) refered to him as Alec John Sucks. Jon once said that 'Getting Alec to work is like pulling teeth'. I heard a lot from people who knew him and they all say what a great guy he was. Maybe that why he wasn't fired in 1986.

There's a difference between a good live player and a good studio player. Plus there's also the subject of backing vocals and coming up with the actual basslines.

It's really interesting that I used to have that old .DAT video file, a TV video report from the early 90's. : ) Anyone remember the old BJ Hub on Dc++ in 2001? Anyway, this TV report showed the guys in the studio with Bob Rock. In a small part from that report they showed about 10-15 seconds performance from the recording sessions. The song was Blame it on the love or Little bit of soul. I can't remember exactly which one of those two. Anyway, I just wanted to say that Alec was there.

Alec didn't like to be in the studio and Hugh himself has told that he's played on all the records except Fahrenheit. We all know that. I'm not trying to say that Alec's played on some songs in the final version of the record, because it's pretty clear that it's not Alec on some songs. The title song is a pretty good example. Did Hugh play on all songs? I'm not sure, but because we don't know, we can only assume.

That means that it might be Hugh or maybe some other studio bass player, but it's a fact that in this TV report Alec was there in the studio with a bass in his hands, playing that song. Sadly, I can't find that video anymore. I would greatly appreciate it if someone can share it on youtube.

By the way, check this out:

http://youtu.be/LblfSwKUYME?t=2m52s
Just skip to 2:52! Who's the guitar player? … :) I'm pretty sure we won't see his face on the cover or his name in the credits :)


Finally, I'd like to add here a short list with listed additional musicians (BJ - TD):

Roy Bittan – keyboards, Chuck Burgi - additional drums, David Grahmme - background vocals, Doug Katsaros - additional keyboards, Frankie LaRocka – drums,
Hugh McDonald – bass, Aldo Nova - additional guitar, additional keyboards, Tim Pierce – guitar, Mick Seeley - background vocals, Phil Hoffer*– background vocals
Tom Mandel*– synthesizer, Tom Keenlyside – horns, Lema Moon – horn, Scott Fairbairn - Cello, Audrey Nordwell - Cello, Peter Berring - Vocals, Bruce Fairbairn - Percussion,
Horn, Robbie Buchanan – keyboards, Jerry Cohen – keyboards, Rory Dodd – background vocals, Suzie Katayama – cello, Frank Marocco – accordion, Richie LaBamba – trombone, Ed Manion – baritone saxophone, Mark Pender – trumpet, Jerry Vivino – tenor saxophone, David Campbell – strings, Randy Jackson - bass

Aloha !

I'm not quite sure what you mean with that? That's just Jon standing there or am I mistaken?

Bon Jovi started using session musicians with the release of These Days. Some fans think Bobby doing lead on Wildflower was the first time such a thing happened but These Days has plenty of parts on it that weren't played by David Bryan, which is essentially the same thing. It just got worse over the past few years with Jon finishing entire albums on his own.

Thanks for posting that clip though, I can't remember watching that at all. So much footage of the band recording back then and none of it will ever see the light of day. Such a shame.

Salaam Aleikum,
Sebastiaan

Hahaha, yeah you're damn right, :) but I'm talking about the guy "without face", who plays on that black Les Paul. It's quite visible from 02:53 to 03:34.

Eh.. what makes you think it's not Richie?

If Alec didn't was good enough to play the bass on the albums, I have a heard time believing he played guitar on the albums ;)

Anyway, anyone knows if Alec sang background vocals on the albums? It's obivous that David sang back vocals up to NJ (?) at least, and even Tico from what I've heard on 7800 Fahrenheit. How is it with Alec? Was his voice good enough to be used in the studio ?

On 'It's Hard Letting You Go' only Jon and Richie appear on that track. Jon handled the percussion and Robbie Buchannon played keyboards. Robbie Buchannon also played the keyboards on 'Real Life' because David Bryan was recovering from an accident which reattaching his finger.

Alec did provide backing vocals on first 5 albums, and if you listen all the albums after Cross Road you notice his absence. Alec's singing voice is quite high and you can hear it quite prominantly on 'She Don't Know Me' and 'Only Lonely'. I'm pretty sure you can here him sing the high vocal parts on Blood On Bloond. If you watch 'An Evening With Bon Jovi' he sang the only backing vocals on Blaze Of Glory. He certainly could sing those Steve Perry pitches. There's only one clip I've hear of him singing solo and it's Blood On Blood live. I've always wanted to hear him properly. Hugh McDonald's got a good singing voice. He sounds like a cross between Richie and David. Tico sings on 'Love For Sale' (the very deep backing vocals are his), but he's can't hold notes very well. Tico has sang lead vocals a few times on live shows. I'd it if all the band shared lead vocals or co-lead vocals like Jon and Richie did on Something For The Pain. I think David has a good voice. Nowadays only Jon and Richie sing backing vocals. I heard that Desmond Child sometimes helped on the backing vocals too. There's a demo on youtube of Desmond singing Livin' On A Prayer which is excellent.