Jon Bon Jovi has always carried himself like someone who knows exactly where he's headed. But with his second solo album, "Destination Anywhere," the singer-songwriter-guitarist (and movie actor) steps into the unknown.

Fans will be startled by the trendy dance beats, samples and loops on the new CD, which comes out Tuesday. The tracks - particularly the seven co-produced by Stephen Lironi, a one-time member of the new-wave band Altered Images who more recently has worked with British alternative-rock band Black Grape - began as experiments.

"The first couple of days, I was baffled," says Bon Jovi, a Sayreville native who now lives in Rumson. "It was as if I had never made a record before. Using these loops and putting the bass and the drums on last, (they're) usually first. But once I grasped the way (Lironi) was approaching it, that became the catalyst for the record."

Mostly written during the three months Bon Jovi spent filming "The Leading Man" in London, "Destination Anywhere" revolves around the twin themes of escaping the past and starting over. "Name the place, and I'll be there/Pack a bag, and we're out of here," he begs in the title track.

"I was a foreign man in a foreign land," he says, referring to his
London sojourn in early 1996. He spent his off-set time during those months contemplating life apart from his longtime bandmates, who were planning to reunite for summer shows and then go their separate ways. "I didn't know what the future held. I just knew I was about to take two years off from doing what I do best."

A break was needed, he says, because the band had "nothing left to write about. What were we going to say? 'Isn't the airplane wonderful' and 'multiple nights in stadiums sure are cool.'" He laughs at the thought.

"I needed to explore different ways of expressing myself. When (guitarist-songwriter) Richie (Sambora) and I collaborate, it's not my voice or his voice. It becomes our voice."

That said, the band plans to reunite, probably next year, to release more albums. Bon Jovi hopes everyone will bring "new information" back from the hiatus that will help create a new sound. Or at least return with a fresh perspective.

His bandmates have pursued their own projects in the interim: Sambora is currently working on his second solo album after the first, 1991's "Stranger in This Town," went nowhere. Drummer Tico Torres is spending time at an art gallery he opened in Palm Beach, Fla., and keyboardist David Bryan has been writing songs for an upcoming album by New Orleans legend Dr. John.

"It's all about life experiences," Bon Jovi says, adding that after the band went its separate ways for two years before recording "Keep the Faith" in 1992, "it changed everything. It changed the look of the band, and it changed the sound of the band.

"As wonderful as (being) in the band (is), everyone would have had that same experience (if we stayed together). Now, going off and doing these films and the solo record, I know what story I'm going to tell next year. And whatever ones they're coming back with, we'll have that to share."

This makes sense. After all, Bon Jovi has remained successful (if not exactly hip) for more than a decade by refusing to live in the past.

The group has come a long way from such 1980s lite-metal hits as "You Give Love a Bad Name" and "Bad Medicine." "Keep the Faith" and its most recent album, 1995's "These Days," explored adult issues like disillusionment, deceit and commitment, combining ingratiating pop melodies with quasi-funk beats and layers of heavy guitars. In tours promoting those albums, the band wisely dropped the larger-than-life theatrics of its Û'80s arena concerts and added a dose of bar-band rambunctiousness instead.
The decision to put the band on hold was Bon Jovi's, he says: "I dictate the schedule. I wanted to take some time off, so I encouraged the guys to go off and do some different stuff."

His desire to follow up his 1990 solo debut, "Blaze Of Glory (Songs Inspired by the Film 'Young Guns II),'" wasn't the only factor. He also wanted to see how far he could go with his acting, which he calls "a great passion" and "a great outlet."

"It's a way to be productive and creative and not have to be in control of every aspect of it," he says. "I don't have to write it. I don't have to produce it. I just show up and express myself."

His low-key performance in 1995's "Moonlight and Valentino" brought him far more positive reviews than rock critics have given him over the years. He "generates a nice charismatic warmth," Hollywood Reporter critic Michael Rechtshaffen wrote. "Much to everyone's surprise, (he) did not give acting a bad name," said Entertainment Weekly's Corey
Davidson.

Bon Jovi has two movies coming out this fall: "Homegrown," a black comedy starring Billy Bob Thornton, and "Little City," co-starring Dennis Leary and Annabella Sciorra. ("The Leading Man" has been released in Europe but not the States.)

"I'm still not Daniel Day Lewis," he concedes, "but I only ever claimed to be a student of film. But these are not dumb roles. All these films are dialogue-heavy, with good stories."

Due to movie commitments, Bon Jovi will perform only a handful of gigs to promote the new album. One will take place Wednesday at the Supper Club in New York.

If New York radio station Z-100's May "Z-Day Concert" on the U.S.S. Intrepid is any indication, the atmosphere at the Supper Club will be charged. Appearing with veteran synth-pop band Erasure and relative
newcomers like Paula Cole and Duncan Sheik, Bon Jovi "stole the show," says Z-100 program director Tom Poleman. "The reaction was nothing short of hysteria.

"Jon has done a great job of keeping his image fresh in the public. He's done ads for Versace, and the new movies he's been working on have rejuvenated his perception in the market. He's become much more than a musician. He's part of pop culture."

This Jersey boy is also a global phenomenon. The 1995-96 Bon Jovi tour came to amphitheaters in the United States but to stadiums elsewhere. "Across the world, it was multiple nights in stadiums," Bon
Jovi says.

"They're enormously successful over there," says Little Steven Van Zandt, who performed with the band on a 1995 European stadium
tour. "It's like them and U2, neck and neck.

"In America," Van Zandt continues, "they're known as a pop band because of the hit singles, but in Europe, there aren't those distinctions. It's not quite as polarized. They have respect for the pop hits, but (Bon Jovi is) considered a rock band like Guns N' Roses or Metallica."

Lenny Bloch, director of rock programming at Jersey stations like WDHA (105.5 FM, Cedar Knolls) and WRAT (95.9 FM, Point Pleasant), confirms Van Zandt's assessment. He's staying away from "Midnight in Chelsea," the first "Destination Anywhere" single, because it's too pop, he says, but is playing the harder-edged album track, "Queen of New Orleans."

No matter what his stations are playing, Bloch says, requests for Bon Jovi songs are always heavy in the Garden State.

"Even though he's a big celebrity, he's maintained some of that 'regular guy from New Jersey' mystique," he says. "He still lives in New Jersey, and he married a Jersey girl (Dorothea Hurley), his high-school sweetheart. How cool is that?"