LIVIN' ON A PRAYER
Zebra Records
Produced by: Not Listed
Released: OUT
GENRE: Hard Rock
OVERALL: 55%
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LIVIN' ON A PRAYER Zebra Records Produced by: Not Listed Released: OUT GENRE: Hard Rock |
OVERALL: 55%
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Another day, another tribute album. This one comes from the stable of Deadline records. The same old crowd is involved, some suited to the songs, some clearly not. Die hard fans should get something out of it and fans of the singers will find it collectable. But overall, the barrel is starting to dry out with these tributes. The vocalists involved I will mention, but for the record those providing instrumental support are Danny Wagner, Eric Turner, James Kottak, Jerry Dixon & DJ Ashba. They do the job of supporting the singers, with a solid enough production and high caliber performances. But trying to imitate Jon Bon Jovi can be tough! Opening track Runaway's OK, but vocalist Alan Mitchell takes the easy road, singing in a much lower register and I note, doesn't even attempt any of the songs high pitch squeals towards the end. Lacks a little energy of the original. In And Out Of Love featuring Stevie Rachelle is OK and takes a relatively close run at the original, just a little raspier. You Give Love A Bad Name featuring Kelly Hansen is the best track of the album. The world class vocalist does the best job possible on the track. | |||
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Livin' On A Prayer is pretty good. Mark Torein of the Bulletboys does an admirable job of vocally tough track that doesn't suit him at all. On the chorus parts that call for the higher notes he doesn't quite pull it off. The production on this complicated track is also pretty good. No disrespect intended, but Phil Lewis doing Bon Jovi really doesn't seem like a plausible match-up, but I think he has the best tune for his voice, singing Wanted Dead Or Alive. Having said that, this is still not overly convincing! The style just isn't in Phil's range. Lay Your Hands On Me is sung by Jani Lane, who again doesn't sound completely comfortable, but does an OK job of a tough song. Jizzy Pearl doing Bad Medicine is just plain bad. Sorry Jizzy, love Love/Hate, but stadium rock anthems aren't your bag baby. Fault could also lie with the production, which isn't as together as other tracks. Born To Be My Baby features John Corabi on vocals. This one I was ready to dismiss also, as I didn't think it would work, but that's the beauty of this tribute albums. Some tracks work, others don't. This one does! The production lifts back up a notch and Corabi does a great - if not raspier - version of JBJ. Great backing vocals also. Livin' In Sin is almost as bad as Bad Medicine. The track is sung by The Quireboys' vocalist Spike. More in tuned with Rod Stewart (he did a great tune on Rod's tribute album), he tries to sing this big passionate anthem and falls a little short. There's passion there and he handles the low raspy parts great, but the higher notes evade him. There's something likeable about this track, still not sure what though. I'll Be There For You features vocalist Chaz (?) - who does a good job of the song. Blaze Of Glory features Kory Clarke upfront and is another one of those vocalist out of his range numbers. Again, the lower register is OK, but the higher range of the song is lost. Still, it's not too bad a version. It's actually pretty hard to kill off a good song. It's My Life gets my vote for worse track of the album. In fact it could be one of the most limp covers ever. I am not sure why this version by the 'Dangerous Boys' was included.
| PRODUCTION: 70% | SONGS: 80% | VIBE: 50% | ATTITUDE: 45% | ESSENTIAL FOR: Bon Jovi collectors and die hard fans of the musicians involved. |