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b,b,b,b,b Bounce! Bounce! ( what!!!)
good a times, awful at others!
Bounce! I have to admit, the title didn't hit me straight away, however as soon as I pressed play and heard the drop tuned guitar intro to 'undivided', I knew bon jovi were back, or were they?
With 'undiveded's' amazing chorus came a wry smile from myself, the lyrics in the verse however leave something to be desired. Jon's lost the ability to scout around a subject, to be diplomatic. In this song he is horriably frank "that was my brother lost in the rubble, that was my sister lost in the crush", I can only feel for those who lost people in 9/11. For someone who slagged off Springsteen's 'The Rising' ( a supposed friend of Jons ) for signing about 9/11, I found the lyrics most distasteful.
However, with 'The distance' we find our selfs back on track. ( the less said about 'Everyday' the better! ) It has it's hard edge as well, but when the first verse hits, everything comes down and a lovely melody starts, followed by a nice rhymical bridge into a catchy chorus. 'Joey' finds Jon in Elton John mood ( a hero of Jon's! ) It's a very well written song, with a much more roar feel to it, compared to the rest of the album. The story however failed to reel me in, but it might find a place in your heart?
'Missunderstood' is a great pop song, and a nice idea from a guys point of view. I mean how many times have you been missunderstood by your wife and had one hell of a argument. A clever chorus and nice chord progression make for an album highlight.
'All about loving you'. I can't blaim the band for writing big chessy balleds, I mean their 38 year old house wife fans need them, this song however is very bad! The obvious richie guitar lick at the start, the strings, the power chorus, I mean all it lacked was a key change at the end! Moving on quickly to 'Hook Me Up', the drop 'D' guitars are back, and bon jovi go back into the Mettalica phase again. A clever song though, nicely put together but very thick in studio effects.
Next is 'The right side of wrong'. Good title, but thats where everything good ends with this song. A never ending balled about getting of town, and stopping for "smokes and a six pack" But as far as balleds go, much better than Crush's 'Thankyou for Loving Me'.
With 'Love me back to life' the talk box is back for a 2nd helping ( or is it 3rd, 4th or 5th... god knows? ) Anyway, it's well constructed song, in the vains of 'The Goo Goo Dolls' with nice studio touches such as the orchestra, and middle 8, where Jons voice is almost the only thing in the mix, bar an acoustic guitar mixed quite low. You can almost hear all those Marlboro lights jons been smoking!
'You Had me from hello' is breath taking at first. An acoustic guitar riff by riche in the stlye of 'Undiscoverd Soul's 'In it for love'. Jon sings it with honesty and feeling, however when the band hits for the middle 8, we loose that intimite feeling, it does however return for the outro. The title track 'Bounce' is a little to close to 'It's my life' for my liking. It's got effects all over it, and guess what folks...the talk box is back! Having said that the chorus is very oringinal, where Jon stutters 'b,b,b,b,b, Bounce, Bounce!' One for the dedicated Bon Jovi fan. 'Open all night' starts with what sounds like wind chimes gently blowing in the wind, it's magical you think " Oh whats gonna happen hear then " and then a few seconds later you realise it's another sad slow and boaring balled. God! This article makes it sound like I hate balleds, I don't I promise you! but 5 on the same album?
Balleds to me are 'This ain't a love song' 'Always' and 'Lie To Me', the ones on bounce are plody and lack feeling.
So an overview? At it's best, ( undiveded, the distance, Joey, missunderstood) Bounce rocks with the best of them, at it's worse it falls way behind bands like ATTICA, Goo Goo Dolls and DMB for great releases last year!
A good album for all bon jovi fans! It won't however win over your mates who love 'the Stokes' and 'Blink 182'
Rating: 7/10
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