Book Review: Bon Jovi Encyclopaedia
Neil Daniels’ Comprehensive Overview of a 25-Year Career
Aug 24, 2009
The Bon Jovi Enclyclopaedia is certainly comprehensive. The A-Z section and appendices include biographies of each band member; album discography; tour details; and entries on key events, venues, collaborators, and support acts. There are also exclusive interviews with songwriters Andreas Carlsson and Holly Knight, record executive Derek Shulman, music photographers Ron Boudreau and Ross Halfin, and several others. These provide an interesting insight into Bon Jovi and their sometimes understated impact on their audience and the industry.
About Neil Daniels
Neil Daniels is a freelance writer based in England. He specialises in popular culture and contributes to various rock and metal magazines and the Get Ready to Rock website. He is also the author of The Story of Judas Priest: Defenders of the Faith, Robert Plant: Led Zeppelin, Jimmy Page and the Solo Years, and All Pens Blazing: A Heavy Metal Writer's Handbook.
Criticisms of the Bon Jovi Encyclopaedia
While there is plenty of useful and interesting information in the book, some of it is skewed by the author’s personal views. Daniels’ reviews of each Bon Jovi album are sometimes distracting and seem out of place in an encyclopaedia entry. As the mini-biography near the beginning of the book states, Daniels’ favourite Bon Jovi album is Slippery When Wet, which he gushingly describes as “one of rock’s best albums”. Interestingly, he describes its follow-up New Jersey as possessing “a couple too many ballads”. Most of Bon Jovi's diehard fan base also consider the 10-minute epic “Dry County” to be a masterpiece and one of the band’s greatest songs, but Daniels describes it as “just too ambitious” and “trying to be too clever”. This raises an interesting question about whether something as subjective as a review should be included in an "encyclopaedia”, and if so, whose views should be reflected or accounted for.
More recently, Bon Jovi’s 10-night stand at New Jersey’s Prudential Center at the beginning of the Lost Highway Tour was condemned by fans and critics alike for some lacklustre performances and sets as well as exorbitant ticket prices. This, too, is overlooked in the book.
There are also a couple of minor errors; for example, it is “Raise Your Hands” that appears the Star Wars parody Spaceballs, not “Lay Your Hands On Me” as stated in the book.
Verdict
Although all the entries are listed in alphabetical order, it would be easier to find the specific information you were looking for if an index was included. It may also have been worth spending some time in various fan forums to gauge opinions on songs, albums, shows and tours, if only to get a more rounded picture of them. Citing Wikipedia a source can also be fraught with danger.
On the other hand, it is clear a lot of time and effort went into the project, and one cannot help but be impressed with the detail and enormity of it. Casual fans and anyone interested in learning about the band will find the Bon Jovi Encyclopaedia an ideal place to start. Diehard fans will enjoy reliving some of the key moments of Bon Jovi’s history in this unique biography, as well as perhaps learning a few details they didn’t know and gaining some fresh insights into the band.
 |
