I like it. It's not Abbey Road, but it's not Lost Highway either. I like the fact it's dark and moody, as opposed to the, well, fruity artwork of the WWBTF single. Honestly I'm not sure why so many people love that cover so much; it's the epitome of a quick photoshop job. Also, while the huddle idea was nice, I think it also would have been a little corny as well.

With this, I like how Sambora is in the dominant position, I like the overall feel, etc. It's not fantastic, but it's the best thing I've seen from this album since the WTWM chorus. We'll see if anything else is good.

Yeah, this basically sums it up. And either way – it's still just a cover. Who the **** cares?

To be honest,the whole "suit and shades" thing bugs me a bit.

LOVE IT. Probably my favorite album cover since Bounce for sure!

Ryan

Not only do I agree with you but the album feels almost like a "Bounce" record if you know what I mean. Big guitars? Let's hope so! Bring it on Richie.

I like this cover.

where are some snippets or leaks of the new songs? are they out there anywhere?

I don't think they're actually wearing suits in the photo. Looks just like designer clothes to me... with shades! :D

Nice job Seb :D

bon jovi are famous for really bad covers and with this one they send in another big time candidate for "worst album art of the century". but the album cover as well as the first single pretty much resembles the sh!t they produced in this decade.
taking a step down on the career ladder is a hard thing to do but coming up with the same stuff for a decade (ok, tlfr and lh are exceptions) really doesn't help anybody.
yes, they will sell out big places again and yes, they will sell three or four million records but there's nothing new or exciting about the same old pseudo-existential crap. this band's dead. sorry

Nope

The cover's alright, I'm really past the point where CD covers mean that much to me. I am quite interested to see the rest of the album artwork though. I actually think their album covers have been fairly good this decade ... Crush was quite cool and modern; Bounce was just a stunning photo and actually linked in with Hook Me Up; and HAND was a great idea for a marketing scheme which was somewhat underused, but has still probably become one of the most recognised symbols of the band after the heart and dagger. Only Lost Highway wasn't really that great, it fit the album but was just really unoriginal.

I do like the cover. And I still believe we may be getting a great new Bon Jovi album.

Totally agree here. But think about it. Jon and Richie write lots of songs that they will be playing almost every night on tour. The point is that they like those songs, otherwise they wouldn't tour. Yes, probably the band's musically dead but as long as they feel good writing such these kinda songs we'll have to deal with it. If the music direction had something to do with me, with Jon having that shitty voice... I would try blues or jazz (just like "You Give Love A Bad Name's" self cover on This Left Feels Right)

BJ has been musically dead since the release of famous pop/rock shit song It's My Life!
Only thing that is somewhat interesting in this decade is 100 million Fans and upcoming movie about the band!

I would love to see you guys have to eat your words if this album actually delivers. Why can't people actually wait until the music's out before writing it off? Is that not the sensible thing to do?

Does anyone else think the surprise that the album art differs so much from the single may relate to the fact that the rest of the album doesn't adhere to a similar sound to WWBTF which may just have been released to get the radio-play?

I really don't know what to expect yet. I'm hopeful, yes. Is it false hope? It could be but nobody can realistically say one way or the other before 9th November.

Not really. Nobody I know who isn't a BJ fan recognises them for their awful covers.

This is one of the biggest bullshitsh I have ever read here!

Yah, musically dead is a tad harsh. Watered done, yes. When you lump every single song together between 2000 and 2009, there's certainly some gems there.

Agree

BJ recorded their best songs after IMLife (Undivided AODay, WLOALeaving, DLSecret...). So no, they are NOT dead. And HAND is probably with New JErsey theit best album ever...

To say BJ are musically dead is a load of crap!

Fair enough, they can do better, but they've brought some brilliant songs out post 2000.

Lets just say Bon jovi has experimented in all sorts of directions.We loved a lot of it,hated a few songs post 2000.But now,its really time to get back to traditional Rock n Roll.If they still don't,would i be disappointed?Hell yeah.

Does Jon have a moustache now??? :)

No,

It's one of those pairs of glasses with the fake nose and moustache attached.



http://i34.tinypic.com/5dukbt.jpg

TOTALLY AGREE WITH IT

Get real please.

Musically, they're not dead, but they're certainly a bit poorly.

if the circle was released 20 years ago

awesome!!!!! :p

Brilliant!

Very nice :) except the shadow/reflections don't line up..... or this is one of those RichieandDavidaredead clues?:p

Then you shouldn't take the words literally,musically dead doesn't mean that they aren't write anymore or that every other post 00 release is crap,songwriting approach after It's My Life has the same concept in almost every single that follows,solo parts are vanishing,swarm of mid-tempo "live your life" songs,mix arrangement is generic and feels like copy/paste sectioned songs...and that story continues with WWBTF.

It's not that I hate all post 00's stuff,I just find them lame in term of creativity,complexity,mix and meaning...look at the thread labeled YOUR Post-2000 Album and you will see which are my post 00 favorite songs ...

I totally agree with you,but the WWBTF single doesn't encourage me at all,although I still hope that The Circle will have at least one or two songs in the vain of LMS,DLS!



Well If WWBTF was released 20 years ago,it would be a huge failure,and Bon Jovi would sound like boy band with guitars considering the era of late 80's!

I'm enthusiastic about the circle, bare in mind that the last rock album they did was HAND which is arguably the best post-2000 album and has some really great songs on it: LMS, DLS, Novocaine. So theres nothing to say the circle can't be at least HAND quality or better.

I think the guys have still got it, but because of LH everyone became caught up with BJ 'going country' but now I think we're back on the rails and if Jon can keep the vocals from the LH tour I think we may be in for a great few years of Jovi. It would be excellent if the circle tour merged with a GH tour and they started doing some more TD again.

Am I the only one that thinks the cover makes them look like aliens emerging from their ship?

I don’t like it, personally. I liked the huddle idea…it seemed more representative of band-bonding (or something)…this looks industrial and detached to me. However, I do like that Richie seems to be front and center for once

Just hope the music on it is good…would be really awesome to close out this crappy decade with a blow-away album. Fingers crossed, but not betting the house on it…….

Ok. That's your opinion. Personally I think Bon Jovi have many poor (or not good) songs before 2000. They also have some poor songs after 2000 but not as much to say that their music post 2000 is more shit than before. That's my opinion.

@rs8mbor8: i'd be glad if the album delivered and thou shan't judge the book by it's cover but after crush, bounce and HAND i'd rather call my judgement "experienced" than "premature" :d

@ktf2211: ok, i put it the wrong way but nobody actually knows bj for their great covers, too :-)

@bj100: your post shows me that we have very different perspectives. never in my life would i prefer HAND to any other bj record. i'd not even prefer it to roxette's have a nice day record which is one of the worst albums in my not so small cd collection. but different guys like different stuff.
my "this band's dead" comment was made on my oppinion that bj have majorly focused on one single concept to which i referred as "pseudo-existential crap". and as long as they want to spread their wings and fly in order to live their lifes everyday they'll tell everyone that they weren't born to follow. although they quickly left the unbeaten tracks after they appareantly (i'll never write this word correctly*g*) got bashed by LA Reid for trying something new (tlfr and lh). this directly leads us to Crush Vol IV aka The Circle

tata,
martin

They should've added the 4 ninja turtles in that cover picture. You know, those 4 are the kings of the sewer. BJ was just invading their space.

the ablum going by the pic on the cover should be called the tunnel

i am really looking forward to this album - it will never be a New Jersey but thats life.

TokyoRockChick tweeted again :D

ooh juicy stuff! A couple of lyrics in there too :)

It raises my hopes for the album, however, Superman tonight sounds like a She's a mystery/Wildflower/You had me from hello kind of song. You know the generic filler ballad about a mysterious woman who Jon inexplicably loves because "she don't like wearin' shoes in December".

I hope I'm wrong but that's the impression I get here.

Yeah, Superman Tonight sounds as lame as expected. Then again, a song with a title that embarrassing was only gonna be good if it was quite literally about Superman battling Lex Luthor or something. That would have been so absurd it would have been awesome.

I like the stuff I read here; granted, you can find interviews where Jon makes Right Side of Wrong sound amazing, and I think it's an awfully boring song. Still, there's potential of themes actually showing here. Also, unless the translation is incorrect, is he actually saying that Thorn In My Side was written way back in the day?