Only 1 year after their debut album Bon Jovi rushed to the studio and recorded a second one. Having toured with the major Rock bands of the time, the band was fresh off the road and willing to embrace a second experience in the studio.
Still growing up as a band and trying to find the best ways to work as a team, Jon was again en charged with the composition process. However in terms of musical arrangements there was a step forward with this record since it is easy to identify Richie Sambora's more elaborate guitar riffs or David Bryan's experiences with his keyboards.
Lance Queen, who had produced the first record along Tony Bongiovi, was now fully in charge of Production and took the band to Philadelphia. From there he forged a heavier sound and layered all songs with endless details.
The album was titled "7800º Fahrenheit" (temperature of a volcano in eruption) and was meant to set the band on fire to conquer the charts, or so they thought.
 | The band members were however having some troubles with their personal lives (mostly relation ruptures) and the feeling was brought to the lyrical content of the record. While the first record's thematic was Lust Love, the second's about the dark side of Love - which is easily seen by the song's titles. |
"In and Out of Love" starts with a fade in of the whole band repeating the title at the top of their lungs. A drum beat gives the sign to the guitar and it begins its repeating riff while the whole band joins in for a heavy number. Much in the line of the previous record's last tracks, this is a catchy rocker in which the band is relaxed and you can sense as they are having fun. They don't need to force it, they instinctively deliver coolness, playing with the song structure and even having time to include some laughter in its interlude. An excellent opener that would last for about 10 minutes when performed live, being introduced by a guitar and drum solo that really set the mood for the song to erupt. The band shot a video for this one, as it was released as a single, but despite fun, the band tried too hard to parallel a storyline with live shots, confusing the viewer and not being able to get their message through (a recurrent problem on all the videos made for this album). All in all a good kick off, creating good prospects for the rest of the album.
The second song, "Price of Love", is a rush rocker with several guitar riffs, loud choirs and a steady rhythm section providing room for the guitars to shine and the keyboards to enhance the song with various licks. The overdobed guitars start to make their appearance, something that is a trade mark of this record. This was never played live perhaps because of the difficulty to replicate so many guitars at the same time, a shame since despite not being brilliant you can sense the musician's developing process here.
"Only Lonely" was the first single and if the first album had some dramatic numbers, this one beats all of them easily. The keyboard sets the mood to a suspense scene and it is like if we are watching a movie where multiple guitar layers shape a crescendo rhythm that is only relived with the loud choirs of the chorus, during which the song's title is repeated endlessly. The bridge with the ticketing effect of a bomb really enhances the solo that like a loud cry explodes to deliver the final chorus and further fade out. Too dramatic, it's true. The song tries too hard to be cinematic, loosing the overall good vibe the record had been carrying that far. With the video they also tried to invest in a storyline that also turned out to be too confusing, leading to the MTV's refusal to play it.
"King of the Mountain" tries to be a back to basis kind of groove, with bass and drums taking the lead. However the drama of the previous song is somehow able to spread to this one, turning it to a filler with little more than a good guitar solo to be remembered.
Then we get to the album's ballad, "Silent Night", an acoustic driven ballad with keyboards setting the mood and the distortion of the power chords echoing at the end of each sentence. Probably the first time Jon is able to capture disappointment and pain into a song, this one is a perfect example of a stepping stone to one of the band's future trademarks: the power ballad. Although it is obviously still too rough and production wise there would be some things to improve, overall it is a good song that captures the blues of the end of a relationship.
With a Japanese traditional melody and a celestial child singing voice we are taken to "Tokyo Road", a deserved homenage to the country that best supported the band during its first year. This is probably the best song on the record since the band sets itself completely free from the dramatic feel and delivers loud Rock'n'Roll. The song is fun, straightforward and gives what people want primarily from a Rock band: to celebrate music with a good vibe. The interlude before the guitar solo slows down the pace and does really create the expectation needed so the guitar can deliver its magic. A rocker ruled by the guitar in which even the choirs fit as a glove. For some reason it was the most enduring track of this album in the band's live set lists.
The guitar riff of the intro to "The Hardest part is the night" creates a separation between this and the previous song and right after it the keyboards start another dramatic story. This song captures the album's mood and is therefore probably its best representative. The high choirs, cinematic keyboards, crying riffs and desperate words collapse all together in a well structured song that overall still feels more real than others in the album.
"Always Run to you" has a tremendous guitar work, just as well as interesting synthesizers. Other than that, just another dramatic number.
Like a volcano cracking up, giving signs of a eminent eruption, "(I don't wanna fall) To the Fire" gets on its way to the chorus, where it cries. Guitar and keyboard work well together filling the paced down, still very intense, beat. Nothing to be remembered here, something even the band figured right away by never picking this one to play live.
Another guitar riff marks the beginning of a song that starts sounding fresh and groovy, but as the bridge comes in we kind of realize we will get another desperate chorus. "Secret Dreams" despite with a good verse rhythm, a guitar solo that fits like a glove (having two guitars that really work as a team) and an interlude after the solo in which the band can really intensify the dramatic tense of the song, ends up adding nothing to the overall result, closing the album with the same taste we were given all way through: desperate drama.
Unfortunately this is a perfect example of an album that suffers from overproduction, since there are too much overdubs and there are many times the melody gets asphyxiated in the middle of so many sounds played at the same time - something that would be fixed with their next producer.
Overall not a bad second album, but still with some tuning that lacked to be done. Some mistakes could had probably been avoided easily, still a handful of good songs that mark the band's second year of life, giving them the chance to headline their first tour in Japan, keep playing live around the globe, supporting major bands of the time and even to make their first appearance in the Monster of Rock U.K. Festival.
While failing to becoming a hit and being completely destructed by critics(erasing the good impression the first record had earned from them), "7800º Fahrenheit" gave the band their first Gold record and kept them alive in the Rock scene. This record is a good example of a work in process of a band on its way to the top. Much like the first album, this was another stepping stone in the band's growing up process. They improved song structures from the first record and were allowed to learn with their mistakes. The two and a half year period from the end of 1983 to mid 1986 was the incubation period for this band, the time they needed to know each other, try many things and figure which way to go next. 6/10
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