Released on 7 August 1990 "Blaze Of Glory" was the debut solo studio album by Jon Bon Jovi, it includes songs from and inspired by the movie Young Guns II. The album spawned four singles "Blaze Of Glory", "Miracle", "Never Say Die", & "Dyin' Ain't Much Of A Livin'". it was succesful and awarded with a Golden Globe and received Academy Award and Grammy nominations.
The story was like this: After the extensive worldwide tour for Bon Jovi's "New Jersey" album, the band was spent. They were exhausted and Bon Jovi needed a break or it was going to be over. The band members stayed busy. After being approached by actor, Emilio Estevez, to use the Bon Jovi song “Wanted Dead or Alive” for the soundtrack to his new movie, the western ‘Young Guns II’, Jon declined the offer. Instead of flat out declining though, Jon offered to write a new song for the movie and that one song turned in to a whole album of songs from and inspired by the movie. In fact, only 2 songs were actually in the movie, the song Jon promised to write "Blaze of Glory" and then the song "Billy Get Your Guns" which both appeared during the end credits. The rest were only inspired by the movie. Jon was so in to the movie, he was actually in the movie where he appeared in the movie during the scene where Doc and Chavez were prisoners in the pit…Jon was one of the other prisoners.
In the album there is Jeff Beck, Elton John and Little Richard. But there are some other collaborators as Kenny Aronoff on drums, Robbin Crosy from Ratt, Randy Jackson and Aldo Nova. The songs were not about rock & roll and girls anymore. Jon really pushed his boundaries and wrote about more mature subject matters.
The album sold over 2 million copies but wasn't that much of a departure from Bon Jovi. It has the same cowboy rock style like their songs "Wanted Dead or Alive", "Stick To Your Guns" and "Wild is the Wind". So no surprise it did well.
The opener "Billy Get Your Guns", which was played during the end credits of the movie. The song is about Billy the Kid (like most of the album) and how he needs to get ready to fight as the law is coming for him. The song features Jeff Beck on guitar and Elton John on keyboards. It is an upbeat rocker and sounded like anything off the New Jersey album. next "Miracle" it was the second single from the album. This one turns the western style up a notch and is by far one of the more radio friendly songs on the album. There is a casual feel to the song, very relaxed, but very enjoyable. A really pleasant song. The title track, "Blaze of Glory", started off with a great line of the movie between Keifer Sutherland and Emilio Estevez…"William H. Bonnie, you are not a God"…"Why don't you pull the trigger and find out". The songs started slow with some very twangy slide guitars and then Jon came in softly and then intensfied as the song goes on. It was powerful both musically and lyrically as it was about going out fighting. Jeff Beck’s solo was a killer and one of the best on the album. "Blood Money" was a pure country ballad. The song was about Pat Garret selling his soul to go after Billy. The money he was paid is blood money. Billy envisions himself in that role going after Pat as if he was the killer.
Next up was "Santa Fe" and it was filed with orchestration, piano and is another slower track, almost ballad style. The song is about Billy blaming the world for making him who he was. He heads back to Santa Fe to make his peace. "Justice in the Barrel" exploded and then with the final gunshot, the song was slower in pacing and has a great groove to it while the chorus is the money shot here with its phrasing and emotion and another great solo by Beck. "Never Say Die" brought in a guest gunslinger with Ratt's own Robbin Crosby. This was the closest thing to a pure Bon Jovi song as it would feel at home on either of their last two albums. "You Really Got Me Now" saw Jon singing along with the great Little Richard. "Bang a Drum" was another strange song for me. this was filler it was a country rock song with a great guitar solo, but nothing else
The final Jon track was "Dyin' Ain't Much of A Livin?" which started with Keifer's character saying "You drove a 15 year old boy straight in to his grave and the rest of us, straight to hell". A little morbid theme, but touching and heartfelt nonetheless. Then the strange piece from the movie. "Guano City" was a score piece from the move by Alan Silverstri.
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