Cross Road Best Of [Best of]

It's important to know that this is really a sampling of Bon Jovi's greatest hits. This collection doesn't attempt to go deeper. It really took the most popular songs from the group's previous albums and included them on one collection. I think the reason for 3 new tracks was to try to attract the pure Bon Jovi fans who were looking for more I was disappointed there was only 1 song from "7800 Degrees Fahrenheit" ("In and Out of Love") and one song from the self-titled "Bon Jovi" album ("Runaway") . It is also worth noting that Bon Jovi has done other Greatest Hits compilations - such as the live album "One Wild Night" and the acoustic-sounding remake of their greatest hits on "This Left Feels Right". This is going to be the only pure studio recorded greatest hits album that has been released.

Of the three new songs, the best of the new songs is "Someday I'll Be Saturday Night". I feel the "cross roads" theme is very evident here as this has a very acoustic like theme to it. Jon Bon Jovi has some great vocals, but it's Richie Sambora's guitar and background vocals are going to make this song stand out. The lyrics are catchy and melody are both catchy. Sticking with this "cross roads" theme, Bon Jovi re-recorded an acoustic, slower version of "Livin on a Prayer" - this one is just called "Prayer 94". On the "This Left Feels Right", there is a much better acoustic recording of this song, but the Bon Jovi fans should still appreciate this song. The group also includes the "Slippery When Wet" version of the song as well. The final new song is "Always". Once again, this is consistent with the crossroads theme of a calmer, more mellow Bon Jovi sound. Despite the fact that "Always" has more of a classic Bon Jovi sound with Jon's vocals and David Bryan's keyboards - this is a pretty weak song. "Always" seems like it was custom made for Top 40 radio. I was surprised that "Always" got the nod to be the single released over "Someday I'll Be Saturday Night". One final note, I do think Richie Sambora provides some nice background vocals again on this single.

As for the other albums, "Slippery When Wet" is represented by the megahits "You Give Love a Bad Name", "Livin' on a Prayer", and "Wanted Dead or Alive". "New Jersey" is represented by "Lay Your Hands on Me", "Bad Medicine", and "I'll Be There for You". "Keep the Faith" is represented by "Keep the Faith" and "Bed of Roses" (I thought that "In These Arms" should have also be included). "Blaze of Glory", the single that Jon Bon Jovi recorded for the "Young Guns II" movie (from the "Blaze of Glory" album he recorded) is also included on here. I think "Blaze of Glory" is a great song, but it isn't a pure Bon Jovi song and I would have liked to see another song by the full band included in place of this song.

The liner notes for this album are extremely poor. The credits are pretty poor as well - there basically are some footnotes making it tough to read. There are no lyrics included for any of the songs (including the new ones). There are pictures of the album covers, but the associated albums the songs are from are not corresponded with the songs. I also thought it was interesting that a picture of the album cover from Richie Sambora's album is included, but yet none of his solo stuff is included while one of Jon's solo songs was. Much of the liner notes is a fold-out into a picture of the band in a New Jersey diner with a pseudo autograph "Thanks for Believing" signed by Jon Bon Jovi. The songs aren't in chronological order and usually I prefer a greatest hits album to go in that order.

I'm hoping that the band eventually will release a boxed set that goes much deeper with their music portfolio. This album is a nice way for someone to get an introduction to Bon Jovi. It also does keep with theme of "Cross Road", so that is a plus. However, if you are a pure Bon Jovi fan - stick with the original studio albums. Finally, once Bon Jovi reached this "cross roads" in their career - I don't think the band was ever the same in terms of their later releases and never captured the magic of the earlier days.