BON JOVI:GREATEST HITS-DELUXE -2CD-

Firstly, I'd just like to state that I'm by no means a casual Bon Jovi fan having a gripe about something just for the sake of it. I am genuinly a huge fan who has spent an aweful lot of money on concert tickets and various music releases imported from all over the world, and i will always buy whatever they release, no matter what.

This said, I have to admit that I was more than a little dissapointed with this DVD release.
I pre-ordered this weeks ago, and received it 2 days early, along with the deluxe edition of the GH album, which as you could imagine, was a very nice surprise. However, upon watching it this evening, it wasn't quit what I'd hoped for.

I wasn't entirely sure what would be on the DVD, as most websites listed 17 tracks for this release, but images of the front cover stated 34 full track videos. I initially imagined that all 34 tracks would be music videos, which I was really excited about, as they've never released a comprehensive collection of thier music videos before. I later found out that the DVD was made up of 17 music videos and 17 live performances of the same songs. I soon warmed to this idea, as they were listed as 'The Greatest Live Performances' of these songs, and all in all I thought 34 tracks on one DVD was pretty good value for money.

Imagine my disappointment to find that 15 of the 17 live tracks were taken from the 5 live DVD's that they have released over the last few years, (Madison Square garden/Live From London/This Left Feels Right - Live/The Crush Tour/ Lost Highway - The Concert), all of which I already own. (Not sure why they included the MSG videos, as you can very clearly tell that Jon's vocals were re-recorded over the live video footage. They are badly out of sync, illustrated by the fact they use lots of shots where you can't actually see Jon's mouth when he's singing, i.e, shots from strange side angles, and lots of shots where the mic is completely obscuring his mouth.)

I can't speak for everyone, but as a serious fan, i felt genuinly overlooked, and uncatered for by this release.
This feels like a release with only the casual fan in mind.
I can honestly say I was expecting more. I genuinly thought the live videos would be culled from the Bon Jovi archives, which I know are extensive, as it's well documented that they film all of their concerts for their own private collection. Why couldn't they have given the long time fans something we've never seen before.

It just seemed like one big advert for their other DVD releases to me.

In addition, all of the music videos are full frame, and as a result have 2 thick, vertical bars on either side of the screen. The picture quality is also fairly grainy throughout, even on the newer vidoes, which probably explains why there is no Blu-Ray release for this. (Again, another missed opportunity.)

I know not everyone will agree with me, and I certainly wouldn't discourage anyone from buying this DVD, and everything I have said above is just my opinion, but this just wasn't what I was expecting.

It would have been amazing beyond words if they'd have invested a little time and money in cleaning up all of their videos, and released them as a complete 'Ultimate Collection' on Blu-Ray. Sadly, I don't believe that this will ever happen.

On the plus side, there are exclusive live videos for 'We Weren't Born to Follow' and 'What Do You Got?', as well as the standard music videos for both of these songs, all of which I don't have on any other release.
Also, as i have stated before, there is quit a lot of content on this DVD for the price.

It's definitely worth the 3 stars I gave it for these reasons alone, but sadly for me, it fell extremely short of my own, personal expectations.

Certainly not 'The Ultimate Video Collection' as the box suggests!

Still a huge, huge fan though. Already got my tickets for their GH tour next year.

Once more a case of Bon Jovi not looking after their core fans. Too many times over the years this band has released stuff aiming for the mass market casual buyer, too many concerts aimed at the same people too.

Why release a 34 track dvd but put the same 17 songs on twice!!! Thats just stupid.

Oh, and most of us already have the 17 live versions of these songs on their other dvd releases.

If they had room for 34 tracks they should have put 34 promo vids on there, making a more complete overview of the bands career.

If you look on ebay you can buy dvd's with all their promo videos on, I would recommend that rather than buying this ill thought out, re-hashed rubbish.

I can only agree with the two reviews above and I too can only give two stars for this the latest release from Bon Jovi, while these reviewers are really top fans of the band, there are thousands of casual fans out there who probably dont have everything and thats what this is aimed at (the one stop shop) I first came across Bon Jovi when they supported my fav band in 1984 on their animalised tour........ KISS, as every rock fan knows this band (and they are still my fav band) have gone on to become a BRAND and not just a band, Bon Jovi have now entered this world Iam afraid to say and are catering for the masses not the true fans, its a shame but a fact, Kiss did release Kissology in three volumes ( mainly to stop the booglegs that were flying around) which proved popular with everybody, maybe Jon should look at this avenue to please not only the casuals but also the die hards with cleaned up hard to find archive material...........what next Bon Jovi condoms or coffins (we kiss fans have them both)..... this is for the casual fan................Ive see Bon Jovi six times and met Jon himself while supporting Kiss at stafford Bingly Hall on the animalised tour, I love the band and Iam looking forward to 24th June 2011 in Manchester,my veiw point is from the heart and not in anyway having a go at the band or its fans,die hard or casual.