New Jersey is probably my second favourate BJ album. The band had matured quite a bit since Slippery and the songs in some cases are more meaningful. I suppose I've done a track by track analysis of the other albums so here goes:


Lay Your Hands On Me - Great into and a good opening to the album. The song rocks, but Bon Jovi haven't blown me away with their song writing skills here. It's a song many people could have written. 3.5/5

Bad Medicine - One of my favourate BJ rockers. Love the piano riff into the power chords. The lyrics are well written, about a love relationship gone sour, and you've been bitten but you're still addicted and crave more. Love the way Jon almost shouts the lyrics, but live he doesn't do that anymore. Bon Jovi need to either rock it up live or drop it from the setlist. 4.5/5

Born To Be My Baby - "Na na na naaa na nana na na..." . This is another good rocker about a couple that fall in love and would do anything to be together no matter what anyone (parents, etc) thinks. *I don't know.... just where we fit in.... sometimes it scares me." Simple, but I think that's a great lyric. 4.5/5

Living In Sin - Didn't like this on the first few listens, but it later became one of my favourate BJ ballads. Slow intro, but when it kicks in it's got power and a decent solo. It's about the same kind of thing as BTBMB with not knowing where you fit in. I.e. You're in love and other people don't approve and you feel isolated. 4/5

Blood on Blood - This is (I think) a fictional story, but one of my all time favourates. I think it's a great piece of imagination and writing. I think by "Blood on Blood" they mean the crowning of a friendship back in old times between cowboys, when they used to cut their hands and and shake hands. This signalled a kind of unbreable friendship if I remember rightly. The song rocks and I love the drums in the solo into a much quieter part of the song, before building up again. Great song! 5/5

Homebound Train - Great rocker. Hearing the intro it could be ballad, but the song kicks in big style into a great riff. They should play this more often live, because it's got a real hard feel to it and the solo is really long which is good. The first part of the solo the Harmonica blasts sound great, before Richie explodes into a great piece of playing. 4/5

Wild Is The Wind - Good ballad. Bacially it's about a guy's frustration that he has done all he can for his woman, but she isn't satisfied that he isn't there all the time. Jon's voice sounds really strong and so does the guitar which gives the ballad power! 4/5

Ride Cowboy Ride - The studio version is barely audible. It doesn't sound good at all, probably because it's not meant to, but I find myself drifting off big time when listening to this. Thank god it's only 1 min and about 20 odd secs long. I think it's about a cowboy being in the middle of nowhere who craves the touch of a woman, or just having to ride on from somewhere and may not be able to return. The live version sounds good, and proves its a decent bit of writing, but I hate the studio version. 1/5

Stick To Your Guns - I think this is sung to a woman, but insists on riding along with a cowboy. *So you wanna be a cowboy, then you gotta know it's more that just a ride...". It's almost of if the cowboy is teaching her how to be like him, or advising her how to be more successful in life. I don't know if this is correct, but that's my take on it. It's a mature song and there are lots of positive messages you can take from it. 4/5

I'll Be There For You - Love the intro and it's a good ballad. It has power (unlike the ballads of Crush and Bounce), and the guy is losing his girl and is begging for another chance. Only bad thing was that the "These five words..." lyric became a sort of Bon Jovi cliche. 3.5/5

99 In The Shade - Worst song on the album? I don't think so pal! I think it's a great rock party song. It's 99 degrees in the shade and the main character has just been paid, nicked his dads Chevrolet for the day, and is on his way to meet the boys to go party and meet some women. Couldn't be better! Good solo. 4/5

Love For Sale - What a great way to end an album. It's so unexpected after the hard rockers and powerful heart felt ballads of the album. I love the Harmonica and the fast fingerpicking acoustic riff. It's a good story too about his mum sending him a funny Valentine, and the lyrics sound great. 4/5


To say it was pretty much a rushed album I think Bon Jovi did a great job. There is only one weak track, and that's not all that weak actually when you hear it live. Overall it gets 4/5. This is Bon Jovi very very near their best in my opinion!