Bon Jovi can take a convoy-load of credits from their albums such as Slippery When Wet and New Jersey and even Keep the Faith. Those albums got them fans for life when they were released, they were that special.
But they were real hard rock albums, the kind that got your blood pumping (still do actually). There is none of that left here. It has all been scrubbed clean with a metal wire brush, and all we have left is a very pop, ballad-like, almost country collection of songs that may not be dripping in sugar like the stuff that Def Leppard currently call music, but they aren't really that far off. The steel and acoustic guitars are in prominance here, and the drums just plod along to give Jon something to keep his lyrics timed by. There is no up-tempo tunes at all. In fact, the meandering pace of the album almost seems to stretch through every song, making this the longest ballad ever recorded. Where the hell has the Richie Sambora shredding gone? There is precious little of that to be heard here.
This is the kind of stuff that the 'easy listening' radio stations play. You know those stations, they are the ones that if you happen to come across them when you are tuning the radio in the car, you press SEEK as quickly as possible to get away from them!
OK, so a band and its members do not have to continue in the same vein or style for their entire careers, especially if they have enough money that they don't have to sell albums to make a living. And they are not the only band in the word to move away from the style and genre of music that made them famous. But even given their recent efforts, this is a real departure for the band. If not for Jon's vocals, this album would really be unrecognisable as a Bon Jovi album to me.
Having said all that, I guess there is little doubt that all of the... shall we say... mature... women of the world will be taken in by this, and conitue to fawn over the lead vocalist as they always have. Those that first discovered him in their teens and twenties are now in their forties and fifties, and this will most probably be right up their alley.
For me though... What About Now?... no more thank you...
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