Customer Reviews

Cross Road Best Of

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

With #1 singles in Bad Medicine, Livin' on a prayer, I'll Be there for you, Blaze of Glory and You Give Love A BAD Name, Bon Jovi has earned their place in history as one of the best metal bands of all-time. Always, a beautiful ballad and a beautiful love song reaching #4 on the Hot 100 Singles chart- Bon Jovi once again proves that they can be successful. Other hits such as Runaway and Keep the Faith on this album- Bon Jovi proves that they are one of the best metal bands of all-time.

Bon Jovi shines on this greatest hits collection.

any1 that calls this album horrible or claims that bon jovi is "fake rock" i'd like 2 see u release an album or some albums that can exceed if not match the success of bon jovi
if u don't like the type of music, then say i don't like it, it's not my taste, but don't jump 2 anything cuz ur only gonna look and sound like an idiot

Bon Jovi's first greatest hits album is entitled "Cross Road". The title is appropriate because by the time of its release in 1994, the group had really reached a true crossroads in their career. Bon Jovi had rode the wave of the hard rock/metal-like influence on the pop music scene in the late 1980s. By the time of 1992's "Keep the Faith", they still were doing what they do best - but now Alternative Music was beginning to dominate the pop scene. Therefore, I think its very appropriate that the group put out a Greatest Hits album - and look back to determine what the next steps should be in their career. This is what the band did on "Cross Road" - a compilation of 11 Bon Jovi songs spread over the groups' 5 albums (plus one Jon Bon Jovi solo effort) as well as the inclusion of 3 new tracks that are truly reflective of this "crossroads" theme.

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.

This is a- okay first time hits CD, but it's 10 years old and needs help. My suggestion would be to REMASTER/REISSUE this short ( only 14 songs ) CD and add 6 hit songs, thus makeing a great HITS album that BON JOVI deserves( Makeing this album 20 songs long, which is needed ). Here are a few of the really great ones left off and should be added for the fans:"Without Love, Born to be my Baby, I die for you, Wild is the wind, Never say goodbye,Thank you for loving me". These are the true "GREATS" of the greats. Anybody who where young adults in the 80's know without these songs, this is NO HITS ALBUM.

Any collection of Bon Jovi songs is near perfect or perfect, so to have to rate this album really is cheating. But I do have some criticisms to make.

If you are only getting this to complete your collection or to get a lineup of Bon Jovi songs played in a refreshingly different order than you are used to, OR just to make sure you have a reference copy to the three songs that as of now aren't available anywhere else, fine.

But if you want to get this 1) because Bon Jovi isn't important enough to purchase their catalog, all they are good for is the hits everyone knows, 2) as an introduction to the band, or 3) you just LOVE that song called "Always", then: shame on you.

Bon Jovi is one of the best bands of the second half of the 20th century, and hopefully more than just that. To think that your Bon Jovi quota can be fulfilled with a hits cd is depressing. Come on now! "New Jersey" and "Keep the Faith" are such incredible albums, you will never know how good they really are if you don't own them. "Always" is just a ripoff of their waaaay better composition entitled "I Want You" from their "Keep the Faith Album." It went to #1 and now barely anyone seems to know of the 2X platinum "Keep the Faith" album. I could go on but I've made the necessary point.

Now to the album itself, rated against the criteria of a solid hits album (equally representative of all major hits, albums up to that point in time, and inclusion of new material).

The new tunes are alright, but against the masterpiece they made only 2 years before, their evolution in sound was slightly worrisome, only because they were really soooo good in '92 (thank God with "Bounce", they're back on track again). "Someday...." has grown on me but it was the beginning of the "strum songs" that would be more and more substituting for creative guitar lick-based output by Richie in the coming years. "Always", as previously mentioned, is fine, but it blindly stole people's hearts away after that should have already been done by "I Want You." No disrespect to big fans of that song, it IS good. And I also am very aware that for Bon Jovi to do what they did in a time when the music industry begin selling its soul to the devil can only be considered a miracle. "Prayer '94" was a hint to how they would continue to play that song off and on to this day, which is fine given you should always be reworking and experimenting, even if the orignial is best (you can't beat the version on Slippery, I'm sorry).

As for the hits: Their first two albums, though not excellent, should have been just slightly more represented. The BIG problem with the album is the huge disappointment in terms of the missing children: "BORN TO BE MY BABY" and "LIVING IN SIN" are nowhere to be found on the American release. "In These Arms" really should have been there also. You can only make a cd so long, but these are huge mistakes. I know it has to do with the record company making money, but if you gotta go to a doubledisc release, you gotta do it.

However, I was very happy to see "Blaze of Glory" on there, and I wish "Ballad of Youth" could have been there as well. The songs that ARE there are flawless, and they all deserve to be there, so although it seems like I'm tearing the album apart, it really is essential to ANY cd collection, and its faults are with the material it lacks, not what is already there. Now just go get the other albums, will you?

Cross Road is a 14 track (11 previously released) Greatest Hits collection Bon Jovi released in 1994. The album was a huge success and gave them one of their biggest singles, Always.

The bulk of the album focuses on Bon Jovi's peak in popularity, roughly 1986-1990. With Slippery When Wet and New Jersey, Bon Jovi were one of the top hard rock bands of the late 1980's. 3 tracks off each album.

With Cross Road, you can get the biggest of the big Bon Jovi hits from 84-94 on one package, prepare to ride on the steel horse or be shot down in a blaze of glory whenever you wish to be.

However, I think it's time for a Cross Road 2. Bon Jovi's had quite a few hits since this album, and they can put in some of the "missing" hits off this album, such as the #3 Born To Be My Baby, the #9 Living In Sin, the radio smash Never Say Goodbye, the top 20 In These Arms, and others.

This 1994 collection is the only Bon Jovi CD many a fan will need. Cross Road covers 10 songs coming from the first five albums, along with "Blaze of Glory" from the Young Guns II soundtrack and 3 1994 tracks: Someday I'll be Saturday Night, Always, and Prayer '94 (a slower acoustic version of Livin' on a Prayer). This is the only Bon Jovi hits package of the original recordings available. Don't confuse the 2003 release "This Left Feels Right: Greatest Hits with a Twist" as a definitive greatest hits because its not original recordings, its experimental versions of all the hits which bare little resemblance to the orginal classics. Pass it up unless you're a hardcore fan and even if you are, listen to samples first before spending money on it. I can highly recommend Cross Road to anyone wanting all the best Bon Jovi tracks neatly compiled on a single disc. Of course, since the band has released three albums since this collection, there may be another hits CD in the future, but as of now Cross Road is your best bet and captures Bon Jovi in all their 80s and 90s glory.

I love cross road. . but cross road does not have all of bon jovi hits. I heard that bon jovi is going to put out a box set of their greatest hits later this year. can some one tell me if this is true ?

Just a note to the person who wrote a review on Feb 4, 2004. What planet r u from if u think this is an accoustic album?!?! This Left Feels Right is an accoustic album, CROSSROADS is NOT!!

I'm not a die-hard Bon Jovi fan, but once I listened to this, I began to like it more and more. This Album has all the good old songs that most Bon Jovi fans will love. 'Always' will have to be my favourtie, closly followed by, 'Keep the faith' For anyone who likes Bon Jovi's newer tracks, get this and listen to the songs that made him what he is today.