A Tribute to Bon Jovi: Covered Dead or Alive

A Tribute to Bon Jovi: Covered Dead or Alive (2001/Deadline) Rating--6.5

A bit of a dissapointing tribute disc, and for several reasons. First off, whether you like his genre or not, Jon Bon Jovi's melodic voice is perfect for the music he sings... and few others can match it. Unfortunately, those who can do as good of a job don't participate on this disc. There are too many vocalists here from the old '80s L.A. scene, and they simply sound tired. Jani Lane does a commendable job as always, but it's a stretch after that. Then you throw in the fact that the majority of the tunes are simple carbon copies of the originals, with little experimentation, and you find yourself just kinda wondering why this disc was really made. Ho hum.
Stevie Rachelle of Tuff does a good job with "In and Out of Love," and Jani Lane's rendition of "Lay Your Hands on Me" is also a keeper. A slightly heavier version of "Livin' On a Prayer" pops up, but Marq Torien (Bulletboys) sounds like Accept's Udo in the chorus... Not good.
Other songs are decent fare: "Bad Medicine" with Jizzy Pearl, "Born to be My Baby" with John Corabi, "Living in Sin" with Spike of the London Quireboys, and "Blaze of Glory" with Warrior Soul's Kory Clarke.
All are good enough songs, but more variety and pizazz would be appreciated in the future, k?
TRACK LIST: Runaway/In and Out of Love/You Give Love a Bad Name/Livin' On a Prayer/Wanted Dead or Alive/Lay Your Hands on Me/Bad Medicine/Born to be My Baby/Living in Sin/I'll Be There For You/Blaze of Glory

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