Bon Jovi "Fan Album": Burning Bridges- Out 21 Aug

Oh man....I’m loving this álbum. The main reason is because there are different things on it. Not only the same old. And even the same old (like Saturday Night) are very good! But songs like teardrop, we don’t run, I’m your man and the snippet of who would you die for, completely surprised me. See Jon getting out of his comfort zone, even a little bit, is very worthwhile.

I am very intrigued by Take Back The Night. The bonus tracks are usually good.

Definitely not gonna take top spot.
Interested to see how chart performance is going to be monitored, seeing as I will be getting it via Apple Music as I have the 3 month free trial.
Therefore I'm not actually buying the album, but will still be downloading it.

Jess Glynne will easily take top spot.
Nice to see Natalie Imbruglia making a return as well.

I think this is a really interesting album. Many are praising the songs so far, some not, but the general consensus seems to be that this collection is solid, better than WAN, and more towards what we expect and want.

I am trying to figure why that is and I think it is because for the most part they ditch the "socially conscience" pretext under which most Bon Jovi output has come with in recent years. Of course, while Bon Jovi flew under the banner of socially conscience since Bounce (HAND and LH also trod this line) it was with the circle and then WAN where Jon really started to see himself as a voice for the people.

Obviously, we know that is misguided on his part, but aside from that it really started to take away from the music. What Jon fails to get (or it seems that way) is that he spoke to people from the start, his and myriad co-songwriters lyrics and music spoke to a massive amount of people on all kinds of levels. Since he moved away from that and started attempting to deliver a deeper message on the human condition he lost the touch for just connecting with people through song. I am sure plenty who love WAN and The Circle will disagree, but I think Jon's social soapbox direction for the songs on those albums took away the core and heart of what his music always emoted.

Back to these new songs. While the social commentary is certainly not entirely absent, it is definitely less obvious than the majority of content on the last two full studio releases. I think this is the reason why most can say, "sure, these songs are not masterpieces, but I can get behind these, they speak to me".

These songs were written just for the sake of it, and are much more traditional Bon Jovi than those tracks with a social bent. There seems to be more honesty behind them (I am not saying they are honest), whereas the last two albums seemed utterly contrived and smacked of a guy trying too hard to be something his artistic output never was. Before wrapping up what is admittedly a long post, I want to clear up that some of what I have heard from Burning Bridges I hate, other things I love, but I think my general point applies regardless.

I find it interesting that these are a collection of songs that Jon did not want to release, he is obligated to do it and in the brief official news he has offered seems to be distancing himself from them. In other words, this album is unlikely to point a way forward and may actually be the last fleeting glimpse of the Bon Jovi I imagine most of us loved in the first place.

I hope I am wrong in that, but could the next album build on this or is this truly the closing of a chapter and we are really getting into what Jon really wants next year... more socially conscience records?

It's a real shame that the most different and exciting Bon Jovi album in many years is the one that will be least promoted and fly under the radar for anyone other than us.

It would have been great to have this promoted as usual with We Don't Run as lead single, followed by Teardrop for the slow follow up then SN/SM for the mid tempo number.

We can but hope that the next album is more in this vein as well as proves that Jovi aren't releasing the same old stuff like the last few singles/album have been.

All very true... I thought the exact same thing...

Unfortunately, it's not going to be much different...

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I don't want to be a party killer but don't make the mistake of thinking that the general consensus on this board is THE rule in Joviland. FYI, the general consensus on non-English speaking fanpages/boards is the exact opposite and methinks it'll show in the record sales figures in the coming weeks.

Anyways! I've bought a stock of Guinness (and I don't mean the book), I'm ready for the whole of "Burning Bridges" (the song). Cheers! Tchin-tchin! Prosit! Cent'anni! Sláinte! Salud! Skål!

In my opinion all of those points are exactly the reason why this albums seems to be turning out quite well. Because Jon doesn't care. If it sells 10 millions he'd be more than happy. If it totally flops he doesn't give a damn because it's just to fulfill commitments. So there's a lack of self-made pressure to hit it big or to send a special message. This time it is what it is: Some rock & roll music.

And we all know that those songs Jon didn't put on any record were mostly the best ones

I am not making a mistake, what I wrote is what I meant.

Rob Thomas from Matchbox Twenty has a solo album dropping on the 21st also. (in the US, not sure if it's dropping the same date world wide.)