Love.lies.bleeding.2024

Bon Jovi After ushering in the era of pop-metal with their 1986 blockbuster Slippery When Wet and its hit singles "You Give Love a Bad Name," "Wanted Dead or Alive," and "Living on a Prayer," Bon Jovi transcended the big-haired '80s, withstanding changes in style and sound to become – and stay – one of the biggest American rock bands. Unlike a lot of their peers, Bon Jovi's appeal isn't limited to the States. Slippery When Wet, its 1988 sequel New Jersey, and 1992's Keep the Faith were all international smashes, each selling over ten million copies worldwide. Another way they have differed from other MTV favorites of the late '80s lies in how Bon Jovi has cannily and subtly changed their sound to fit the time. First, the group slowly lessened their reliance on arena rock guitars, emphasizing melody and ballads without rejecting hard rock. They incorporated elements of soft rock and country, moves that helped them sustain their popularity into the 21st century – a long run they celebrated in 2024 with the documentary Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story and the album Forever.

Gavin Friday's much-awaited new album, Ecce Homo, his first in over thirteen years, is being released via BMG. It is a work that heralds a fuller, more sonorous form of expression for this ever-evolving artist, one that transcends the prescribed conventions of genre, breaks new ground and brooks no compromise. Where loss, filial grief, remorse and existential disquiet were the more conspicuous tenets of Friday's 2011 release, Catholic, the presiding spirit of Ecce Homo is altogether freer, less shackled, and sovereign - indomitable, too.

Recorded live at the Ventura Theater in Ventura, California on April 21, 1991.

This four-CD set has had a somewhat confused history, mostly owing to licensing changes and the mergers and acquisitions of various record labels. Prepared in the late '80s by MCA Records, which had the rights to Elton John's U.S. catalog, To Be Continued… marked a major improvement over the sound of his extant CDs of the period. But MCA's rights lapsed in the 1990s, and the Elton John catalog reverted to Polydor Records, which put it back out in upgraded editions on the Island Records label. This set was deleted by 1994, and was soon selling for serious amounts of money as a collector's item. Then, in 1999, MCA's parent company, Universal Music, bought Polydor, and suddenly this box reappeared. As to its virtues, the 68 songs here include all of the highlights of the first 25 years of…

Bestival would like to thank Elton and his wonderful team including Barrie Marshall, Doris Dixon, Keith Bradley, Jon Lewis, Mike Stewart, Ben Martin, Rachel Richards. And of course, to Elton for finally agreeing to do Bestival after all these years of asking.

All tracks recorded live in concert April 16 2010 in Hoffman Estates, IL, USA.

Bob Dylan: 1984 Soundboard Collection, VERY RARE! Extremely Ltd 500 copies.