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Review
As like most Bon Jovi fans, I ran out and bought this album the day it came out (though in New Zealand it came out a few days later than everyone else in the World.. damnit!) I ended up listening to the CD at work a couple of times over and I was not impressed.
Over the past month or so, I have watched the album disappear off most of the charts in the world (in the UK it has dropped off the top 75, and off the top 50 in Australia, in NZL it debuted at 19 then 21,23,-,50 - though BJV do not have a large fan base in NZL).
I was disappointed by the first single 'everyday', and don't even start me on their decision for the second single!
A month after the release I understand why Bounce is becoming the least successful album (commercially) since SWW.
The album starts off with the catchy 'undivided', but I can't help think they could have made more of the song. Like with many of Bon Jovi's songs it needed more verses with less reliance on the chorus (e.g. 'always') and be employing such a strategy they could have made the song longer and more epic as a result (e.g. 'hey God') - though then ending was brilliant. (7/10)
'Everyday' is a very average song, nothing grabbed me - lyrics, music, though nice bridge. Whoever made the decision to make this the first single needed their head checked. (5/10)
'The distance' has grown on me, and like the placing on the album. The music is good and the lyrics are average and somewhat disjointed. Like 'undivided' I thought they could have made more of the song as it too much like 'love me back to life'. In its current form it should have remained a b-side. (6/10)
'Joey' had promise. I thought the music was good, and the story was told well in the first verse and then Jon lost it. There was no depth to the story from this point on. Though there may have been an intention to make the song ambiguous, it still needed more. (6/10)
When I first heard 'misunderstood' I was disappointed, it was just very bland and nothing drew me to the song. My opinion has not changed. The theme of the song was good, but it just was not delivered effectively. The first verse was good, but the chorus is just not catchy enough, though it seems the writers tried their hardest to make it this way. Why they are making this the second single escapes me...don't they want to sell albums??? (4/10)
'Love me back to life' is a typical balled. Though nice production, it steals too much from Aerosmith and offers nothing new. What is the bet this becomes the 3rd single! (4/10)
'Hook me up' is another average song. Like many other songs on this album it could have been better. The chorus tried to be catchy, but failed, and the lyrics failed to inspire. (5/10)
'Wrong side of right' , the other story-telling song, is far superior - though is heavily influenced by Bruce Springsteen. The music and lyrics are well aligned and , though predictable and cliche, the story is a page-turner. (8/10)
'Love me back to life' in my humble opinion is one of the best on the album. The lyrics are ok, the music is powerful and it rocks! (9/10)
"You had me from hello" - what were they thinking? This just has cheese written all over it! AT this point, there are just too many ballads on the album, and this song just put me into disillusion - Bon Jovi are not Michael Bolton and couldn't they pick a less cliche movie line??? (1/10)
'Bounce' is a welcome relief. Nice and rocking and very uplifting. I don't know if it is just me, but this could be a very good song to dance to (maybe a remix). This song should be the second single. (9/10)
'Open all night'. One of the better ballads on the album. I think the song, given its track listing, would have much more of an impact if the album had a lot more rock songs preceding it (not the rock-slow-rock-slow song pattern bounce ended up having from track 5 on). (8/10)
The production on the album was very good, and the best since New Jersey. And, why can't Bon Jovi team up with Billy Falcon more? He helped write Say it isn't so, Another reason to believe, undivided and bounce. This guy is a talent so why waste time with Andreas Carlsson?
Rating: 6/10
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