Let's rate: Bon Jovi 2020, the album

It swings from outright cringeworthy to passable for me. I think a lot of these reviews will lower over time. Before anyone jumps in an says that's normal, it hasn't been for the 20-25 years I have been listening to the pre-2000s work.

I rate it a 4/10, some of the songs could be turned into Bon Jovi masterpieces if 90s Jon was singing them, they were more ambitious, and Richie was playing on them. Dry County MkII among them. Others are utterly laughably, while the rest tread the line of standard 2010s fare.

I don't hate it, don't love it, and will probably discard most of it within a few days.

I'll wait with my final rating for at least two more weeks to see what wears off and what doesn't. When The Circle came out, I thought it was the best thing by a landslide and it dropped down rather rapidly (like it did overall on the forum).
I feel this might be a different one since it fell quite low upon first listen and some of it (second half and bonus tracks) then rose up with time. The first tracks, especially Limitless, will stay utter garbage for me.
Even if most of it might wear off, if there are three or four tracks that'll really stick with me, it's more than on the last albums, more than I expected and the most I think I can hope for these days.
I can already go as far as saying that the original tracklist would've made me rate it higher.

So heard it twice in the order is was originally intended and I much prefer it that way.
DWYC has been deleted from my phone as I think it’s worse than WSYCGH and I can’t stand that song .
Gonna listen a few more times before I give my verdict but I’m enjoying it a lot more than I thought I would and more importantly enjoying it much much more than THINFS which I could never get into.


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So let me preface my review by saying that at this point like many of you I'm not nearly as big of a fan of the band as I was, say, 8 years ago. I've still gone to the shows when they're in my area and buy the albums, but it's not even close to how I was in the early 2000's when I literally worshiped this band, and I probably never will be again. Richie being gone still really sucks, and with him gone it doesn't feel like the band I grew up with. I was however pleasantly surprised by This House is Not For Sale, and while it was a little bloated I probably give it about an 8/10. Limitless lowered my expectations for this album dramatically, and I wasn't really a fan of any the singles. With that backdrop of low expectations, here's my track by track review.

Limitless- I believe it's the worst lead single in Bon Jovi history. Extremely generic and forgettable. However, I was afraid that the album was going to be filled with 9 other variations of this song, and luckily that wasn't the case. 3/10.

Do What You Can- It means well and has a nice positive message. But as I said when it came out, I don't think it will age well since most of us will want to forget about the dreadful year that has been 2020. I do like the video but it's a pretty weak song at it's core. 5/10

American Reckoning - Again, this is a tough one since listening to this song will always remind me of when my city was literally on fire and the whole week was a living nightmare. But I do appreciate that he takes some risks and the harmonica solo is really good. He did about as well as you can writing a song about this topic, but like Springsteen's 41 Shots it's not a pleasant song to listen to, which I guess is the point. 6/10.

Beautiful Drug- The guitar riff reminds me of Smells Like Teens Spirit. Very catchy and a good up beat rocker after the previous song was a huge downer. I like this one, 8/10.

Story of Love- Kind of forgettable. I wonder if Jon got some influence from Hamilton on this one? Li-da-da-dee-dah-la-dah-da-da-di-dee-dah.... Guitar solo at the end is pretty good. 6.5/10.

Let It Rain- This might be my favorite on the album. Really catchy. The beginning reminds me a little bit of Springsteen's Land of Hope and Dreams (2012 version). Like the lyrics too. Richie harmonizing on this would've made it even more awesome. 8.5/10

Lower The Flag- Similar to American Reckoning in that it achieves it's goal of making you uncomfortable, but I think this one is better written and a better overall song. Very powerful and sad to listen to. I also appreciate that this song has a message other than "live your life" and it does a good job of delivering it. 7/10

Blood In the Water- I don't like that I read some people comparing it to Dry County before listening to it, since that raised my expectations too high. But still it's in the running for best song on the album. I think Jon's voice sounds really good on this one, and the lyrics are very good. With Richie's backing vocals and guitar solo this song could be a 9 or 10. Reminds me a little bit of Next 100 years on Crush and Brokenpromiseland on the Circle. 8.5/10.

Brothers in Arms- Other than the chorus this to me sounds like a total rip off of Born on the Bayou. At least it's copying a good song, but I don't think this one will stick with me. 6.5/10

Unbroken- I didn't like this that much when I first heard it last year, but as others have said it works really well as a closer and fits the theme of the album. This one is growing on me. 8/10.

So that brings the album average to 6.7/10. I think it's not as strong as THINFS, but slightly exceeded expectations. It takes a lot of risks and I like that it wasn't repetitive. Very short album as well, and it's odd that I think the 3 weakest songs are the opening 3 songs. Whenever concerts are allowed again it'll be interesting to see which songs see regular rotation. By the second year of the tour only 3 or 4 songs from THINFS were being played on a nightly basis, and it'll be interesting to see if Jon has the guts to play songs like American Reckoning or Lower the Flag on a nightly basis. Unfortunately I feel like American audiences would treat them as bathroom breaks. I would like to hear Beautiful Drug, Let it Rain, and Unbroken live, whenever that becomes possible again of course. I'm way more exciting for Springsteen's new album in a few weeks, but this will still end up in my top 5 albums of the year. Bon Jovi Forever!

I'm sorry to everyone, but for me it's THE WORST Bon Jovi album ever

And the reasons?????

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He's a Russian hack by trade

I’ve got to say that everything leading up to this release has made me cringe. From the online performances to the album cover to the album title and the singles. I didn’t really want anything to do with it.

I’m in no position to write a full review and am still formulating my thoughts but after around 5 listens I’m pretty impressed! The singles weren’t working for me at all but put them in the context of the album and, wow, my opinion is flipped on it's head.

There’s something for me about the difference between the Jon Bon Jovi on autopilot, Bon Jovi by numbers, ie WAN, and the Jon Bon Jovi that’s completely into what he’s creating. By no means is Lost Highway high on my list of favourites but that was the last time I think he was totally into a project and I bought into it - that tour was the last tour where I was satisfied by what I’d witnessed live.

Yes there’s still moments on the album that make me wince, I could do without Limitless (actually I think I could just do without the chorus of Limitless) as a starter, and vocally it’s sometimes hard to accept that the Jon of his prime is gone. I will always struggle to get over the fact that without Richie the isn’t the Bon Jovi I fell in love with way back when.

The Bruce comparison will follow Bon Jovi for the rest of time and this album couldn’t be closer but I don’t see that as a negative. The lyrics seem sincere enough, it’s not forced, it’s totally relevant, and I salute Jon for going all out on the message. Critics will have a hard time with all of this but I love that the words come from the heart.

I agree. Well, that or WAN.

Before someone say Im a hater, I was never a critic of Jon like a lot in this forums. I even defended him many times and really enjoyed THINFS.

I guess I just prefer rock tunes, or even slow ones with good melody(like his solo album DA). But glad others are enjoying it. Bon Jovi needs to get positive reactions in this day and age/and to stay relevant.

I just hope they wont play most of the songs here in the next tour. It will be a snoozefest.

For me I'd say it's quite a lot better than This House, WAN and even The Circle, which i never warmed to. But Burning Bridges is still the best BJ album since Lost Highway for me...