It's taken me a fair while to get around to starting this, but here we go:

NEW JERSEY

Overview -

Fast forward two years from the release of the mammoth selling Slippery When Wet, and take look at the sole photo of the band included in the New Jersey album packaging. It shows a band who have been through a lot together. Gone are the smiling faces and bright colours from the SWW packaging. Here, the band members wear nothing but black and denim. The smiles are replaced by serious faces. The setting appears to be a beach (possibly in keeping with the original Sons Of Beaches title of the album); but rather than being a sunlit beach, it appears to be an evening setting, with the lighting reflecting the mood shown by the band’s appearance. And if you read into such things, there’s a hell of a lot more symbolism in it too … Richie and Jon at opposite ends of the photo; Richie and the rest of the band seeming to be a close knit group while Jon stands separate; Jon’s apparent unwillingness to face the camera, hiding behind his hair and a massive Bon Jovi – New Jersey overcoat.

It seemed that another mammoth tour had once again taken its toll on the band. Like with 7800 Fahrenheit, the pressures of touring and life in the rock n’ roll circus were creating cracks in the band. This time, there was also the added pressure of creating a follow up to SWW. However, in just two years, the hard rock scene had changed again. On the one hand, a number of imitators had sprung up since the release of SWW, peddling pop-metal and power ballad combinations. On another, bands such as Def Leppard and Whitesnake had polished up their sound too, to great commercial success. And on yet another hand, a new “sleaze rock” had been rapidly gaining popularity, with bands such as new bands such as Guns N’ Roses, and the return of old favourites Aerosmith and Motley Crue. With all these pressure, could Bon Jovi make a new album that would stand up not only to their peers, but also their own breakthrough album?

In short … yes. They could. It seems that the poet really does need the pain.

Sticking with the same team that had made SWW such a hit (Bruce Fairbairn, Bob Rock, Desmond Child), the band proceeded to write enough songs to fill a double album, but due to record company pressure were forced to choose only enough for a single album. The result is a set of incredibly strong songs.

Although the glossy production and anthems from SWW remained, here it seems that the band wanted to show that there was more to them. So we are treated to a sound which combines the best of each of their previous albums … the wild, somewhat haphazard instrumentation from the debut; the darker-tinged atmospheric heaviness of 7800; and the overall style of SWW. The album also comes across as a lot more experimental: with long atmosphere building intros (Lay Your Hands On Me), guitar and organ duels (Homebound Train), flamenco guitar (Wild Is The Wind) recording in mono (Ride Cowboy Ride), and recording during a drunken party (Love For Sale). Each of the band members is at the top of their game here, with Jon’s voice sounding as unrestrained as it ever would; and the other band members each managing to both shine in their own right and still somehow hold together as a unit (listen to the intro of Blood On Blood, it sounds like it’s going to fall apart into a big mess at any second, and yet it’s still utterly brilliant).

Only 5 years into there career, and Bon Jovi had already delivered not one but two all-time classic albums: the massive selling Slippery When Went; and this stonewashed denim clad hard rock masterpiece.