This 10-track LP Picture Disc, featuring full colour photographs of Jon solo on the A side and a group shot on the reverse, housed in a clear PVC sleeve with a die-cut picture sleeve with discography on reverse complete with the large fold-out poster, is a Bon Jovi fan must have.

The album is considered a classic by many fans all over the world. The songs speak about growing up in Sayreville, New Jersey.  Lyrically, ‘Slippery When Wet’ captures a more innocent era and presents it in the form of different characters from all walks of life.

It is also the album that made people like Desmond Child and Bruce Fairbairn into household names.  It’s notable for the presence of three smash hit classics namely the country rock tinged Wanted: Dead or Alive, Livin’ On A Prayer, and You Give Love A Bad Name. There are also a couple deep cut classics, like the relatively low down on Social Disease with its juvenile lyrics is not much of a favorite, but a piece of work that the band musters up in this album. Some cheesy pieces are Wild In The Streets, I’d Die For You, and the sappy Without Love.  What helps save these songs are earnest performances from Jon, but especially Richie Sambora.

Two of the best songs are Let It Rock with some really cool sounding keyboards and the other being the very repetitive Raise Your Hands. This one rocks, and has some blazing guitars.  I have always been a fan of Raise Your Hands. The ballad Never Say Goodbye, shows the slow side of Bon Jovi.

From their formation in 1983, Bon Jovi's climb to international superstardom was by no means meteoric, at least not for their first three years. Their self titled debut in 1984 produced two hits namely Runaway and She Don’t Know Me. The next album their second, ‘7800° Fahrenheit’,  generated two hits Only Lonely and the rock based In And Out Of Love.

It was ‘Slippery When Wet’ that changed the fortunes of the New Jersey rockers in August 1986 giving them name and fame in the US and across the world.

Rating: ****

Reviewed by: Verus Ferreira