Subtitled, The Greatest Hits…With A Twist, this collection from the New Jersey stadium rockers features re-workings of hits and album tracks from throughout their 20-year career. What it amounts to is Bon Jovi – Unplugged: pared-down, largely acoustic versions of arena showstoppers like ‘Living On A Prayer’, ‘Bad Medicine’ and ‘Born To Be My Baby’. Most of the material is instantly recognisable from the original versions, but a few numbers have been given complete makeovers – the country blues version of ‘You Give Love A Bad Name’ sounds uncannily like Clapton’s unplugged ‘Layla’, while ‘Keep The Faith’ benefits from the low-key treatment.
But what should have been a highlight, the cowboy-boot ballad ‘Wanted, Dead Or Alive’, is a shoddy mess here – an attempt to jizz it up with drum machines fails miserably. The nadir is the sugary, lighter-waving power ballad ‘Always’, a song that surely must be close to being covered by a Pop Idol contestant.
Despite some undeniably canny pop-craft and strong musicianship, it’s well nigh impossible to get excited about anything here – the band’s bombastic posturing and unashamed populism is hard to disguise even in an unplugged setting. A bonus DVD featuring a completely different live acoustic session is probably the best thing about this package.