BON JOVI: THE CIRCLE (2009)
1) We Weren't Born To Follow;
2) When We Were Beautiful; 3) Work For The Working Man; 4) Superman Tonight; 5)
Bullet; 6) Thorn In My Side; 7) Live Before You Die; 8) Brokenpromiseland; 9)
Love's The Only Rule; 10) Fast Cars; 11) Happy Now; 12) Learn To Love.
The best I can say here is that at least they
had the good sense to swerve off that cheeky country road. The Circle is, without a doubt, a «rock» album again, with bluesy electric
riffs reclaiming their territory back from twangy slides, and lyrics about the
world and its problems stealing our attention away from lyrics about traveling
on lost highways, breaking up, patching up, breaking up again, and romancing
the local ranch lady 'til the cows come home. So, at the very least, Jon and
Richie are back on their natural turf where they are theoretically capable of
doing something as good as... well, at least as good as a whole album of ʽWe
Got It Going Onʼ.
Unfortunately, theory and practice rarely go
hand in hand when you deal with aging rockers who were never all that awesome
to begin with. In general, The Circle
follows the same standards as Have A
Nice Day — lots of stale rock'n'roll with worn-out hooks, lots of
self-repetition and not a lot of energy. I mean, if the album really
"sounds fresh", as Richie claimed in an interview (and what else could he have claimed?), why is it that
the foundational bass line of ʽWork For The Working Manʼ is taken directly from
ʽLivin' On A Prayerʼ? Or why is it that the lead single, ʽWe Weren't Born To
Followʼ, sounds like ʽBorn To Be My Babyʼ and ʽIt's My Lifeʼ at the exact same
time? Whatever be the general case, The
Circle, as an LP, was certainly born to follow; it is very hard for me to
name even one single outstanding moment on the entire record.
Here is one funny bit of brainwork: I thought that,
although the song itself was totally formulaic and dull, Sambora's guitar solo
on ʽThorn In My Sideʼ somehow did stand out, and even managed to set the jaded
spirit on fire for a few bars. How and why remained unclear, but then it dawned
upon me, as that important third listen came around, that it was really simple
— all he had to do was lift a few licks from Lindsey Buckingham's guitar solo
on ʽGo Your Own Wayʼ. Subconsciously, perhaps, but the songs do have similar
chorus beats, so it may have triggered some special mechanism. And in this way,
what officially looks like a third-rate Fleetwood Mac imitation becomes the
best moment on The Circle.
Of course, we also have ourselves some talkbox,
because a Bon Jovi album just ain't a proper Bon Jovi without some legitimate
pig grunting (the completely unremarkable otherwise ʽBulletʼ); we have
ourselves some de-lovely ballads (ʽLearn To Loveʼ, in case you still haven't
after decades of professional scholarship under the guidance of Jon Bon Jovi,
Ph. D.); and we do have one or two attempts at «modernizing» their sound —
ʽLove's The Only Ruleʼ, with its dutifully «electronized» lead guitar, is
probably the best example. I forget, though, who they are imitating here... U2?
Must be U2, I guess. They probably wouldn't have heard of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
Besides, they weren't born to follow, at least not those who were born after them. Following U2,
chronology-wise, does not violate the rules of filial piety.
It's not as if they seem totally incapable of putting
out another record that would at least be on the level of Crush and Bounce — they
just don't seem to care all that much, or perhaps they just leave it all in the
hands of the producer. On Bounce,
they had the good luck of having David Campbell, a musician ten times the size
of anyone in the band, write orchestrations for them; on The Circle, they put themselves at the mercy of John Shanks, whose
past credits include Miley Cyrus, Take That, Jessica Simpson, the Backstreet
Boys, Celine Dion, Alanis Morissette, and, uh, Lindsey Lohan (remember her?).
(Admittedly, he also co-produced Fleetwood Mac's Say You Will, which was a fine recording, but it is hard to imagine
Lindsey Buckingham not supervising his work every inch of the way). All very
safe, predictable, glossy à la 2009,
and completely without any surprises — hence, a natural thumbs down.
Aaah, the mere idea of Bon Jovi finally going into the light made me like something about said band^^.
ReplyDeleteBtw: it's Lindsay Lohan. Liked her in 'The Parent Trap'.
So you advise Bon Jovi to hire Lindsey Buckingham as a producer (and perhaps co-writer)? That would be an interesting thought. JBJ blurting out "you can go your own way" is not that unimaginable.
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