Classic Rock Bottom

ALBUM OF THE WEEK # 36 RICHIE SAMBORA - STRANGER IN THIS TOWN (1991)


***click the album cover to listen***

 

1. Rest In Peace *

2. Church Of Desire *

3. Stranger In This Town *

4. Ballad Of Youth *

5. One Light Burning *

6. Mr. Bluesman (solo by Eric Clapton) *

7. Rosie *

8. River Of Love

9. Father Time

10. The Answer

 

We're gonna look at an album that probably won't get much love from you bottom feeders this week, and that's Richie Sambora's 1991 release "Stranger In This Town".  As I'm sure most of you know, Richie Sambora is the lead guitarist in the band Bon Jovi, and this was his first solo outing.  It's a very blues oriented album and I think a bit of a departure from the typical Bon Jovi sound.  Sambora handles the vocals and guitar work, except for a solo on the song Mr. Bluesman, which was performed by Eric Clapton.  He gets help from Bon Jovi bandmates Tico Torres (drums) and David Bryan (keyboards).

 

Overall, I like the album.  To me, it's really good up until the last 3 tracks.  It's not like those 3 are bad, just not as good to me.  Richie has a pretty good singing voice, better than the lead singer in many bands, but not on the level of his bandmate Jon, or any other top realm vocalists.  But it's more than adequate for this release.  My only complaint is that he over-sings in a couple of spots.  His guitar playing works well here.  I like the blues sound.  One thing he doesn't do is over-play the guitar, so that's a good thing.  The album had 3 singles, none of which made any real noise on the charts, so I'd say this is probably more in Jon's category of Lost/Forgotten Album, but I'm going with it anyway.  The three singles are in red.  One surprise for me is that Rosie was not a single.  It sure seems like I heard it somewhere other than the CD.  According to wikipedia, it was originally meant as a Bon Jovi song, and it sounds like one.  I'm not sure why they didn't record it that way. 

 

It's still pretty cheap if you buy it used on Amazon.  I certainly think it's a valid work, but I guess we'll see what you guys think.  Enjoy.

 

Favorite Single: Stranger In This Town

 

Favorite Hidden Gem: Church Of Desire

 

Most Likely To Skip: River Of Love

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I think you knew, at least in my case, that Bon Jovi isnt a band I can get into, and I dont think they have had a very big footprint in any of our discussions, in fact they almost dont exist in our content at all.  I think I'm content with that, but would welcome anyone else who wants to discuss them to add a topic.  For now, Ritchie Sambora is guilty by association and so it is that my expectaitons are set prior to clicking on play...

 

I didnt think the album would begin, it took until 40 seconds into the second song for music to start, that was truly an annoying beginning.  I think the production team blew that.

 

I found only one track that I actually liked, and that was "Ballad Of Youth".  Everything else was slow and droning on and on or felt very monotone in style.  But I will give him credit for writing some cool solos...

Hmm, not THAT bad, but not that good either. I kind of liked "Stranger in this town" and "Ballad of youth". His singing-voice reminds me a bit of Steve Lukather.

Desmond Child released an album around that time, and that was pretty good, but I have'nt got it. Do you know that one?

I don't have it, but I checked wikipedia.  It's called Discipline (Amazon has a cd version that's titled Love On A Rooftop).  You can get the cd used for a penny, which means it's about 3 dollars with shipping.  I did see that Richie Sambora played guitar and wrote 2 of the songs, while Tico Torres played drums on the album.  I'd say Jon is your best bet to have it, but having a decent idea of his tastes, I'd also say that he doesn't have it.
Well, there's an idea for a video in today's VOTW.
Did you get the new Sixx: AM and John Waite videos I sent you?
I did, and unless I find something VERY interesting tonight, when I'm going to "work" on VOTW, they'll be in this time around.
Nice..I'm in the same boat as Scott so will force myself to listen. I shall do that tomorrow and regale you all with how superlative I think this album is. Or not.
Umm...sorry. This just didn't do anything for me at all. Every song made me grimace. "Father Time" truly sucked. Nice pick Rjhog but it just was bad. IMHO, of course.  
I think this is a thumb and a half up! Richie Sambora has a great voice, and it's good he was able to show it off more here. This album is much better than his second solo release (which was trying to be to pop). I'd like to hear Sambora create an album in which there weren't so many puppet masters pulling his strings. This album shows a bit of his blues roots, but muddles it down too much trying to make it a commercial album.

I checked this out way back when it came out, and was disappointed in it. I do, however, think both "Ballad Of Youth" and "Mr. Bluesman" are great tunes. And I actually think Sambora sings better than Bon Jovi does. It always seems to be Sambora that takes the higher octave range when he sings together with JBJ.

 

I'm getting closer to being caught up in AOTW postings, and then I'll go back and get "re-caught up" on the NMC postings. Then, I'll have to check out Jon's lost/forgotten posts.

So much music to listen too, so little time....

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