Artist: Bon Jovi
Label: Mercury Records
Release: 2007
Running time: 50.00
Rating: 2/5
What separates bad from even worse? In Bon Jovi’s case, it’s definitely their latest contribution to the world of rock cuisine, fittingly called Lost Highway. Lost? Definitely, but I think the guys got lost long before this latest sugar-coated demonstration of anal-delivered pseudo-rock ideas. Just when you’ve slowly made peace with the fact that Bon Jovi have hit the lowest level possible, Jon and company cheerfully prove you wrong yet again with another particularly tasteless product. It feels less like a document worthy of the band’s undeniable qualities and more like one more in a long line of faceless, utterly empty records we’ve gotten pretty used to from Bon Jovi over the last decade. It has to be said that, with all the machinery that has been “artificially keeping them alive” for years, the old boys can of course afford this kind of tinkering. Seriously, people! Let’s be real: today you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone among us who doubts that Bon Jovi wouldn’t manage to sell out their upcoming tour.
So what do Bon Jovi have to offer us that’s new in 2007? Absolutely nothing! Lost Highway is a commercial product that’s predictable in every element, full of gentle, melodic little ballads and hits, perfect for lounging on a Sunday in the tall grass of your favorite park. Or put differently, one more showcase of the “sexual” prowess of the stallion Jon Bon Jovi, and of the impotence of the great Richie Sambora, whose role on Lost Highway is reduced to an almost unnoticeable level. Apart from the occasional solos, which do nothing to hint at the guitarist’s great potential, it looks like Jon sees Sambora in the future mainly as a backing vocalist who obediently follows his sugary vocal lines. Songs like You Want To Make A Memory, or the country-tinged Seat Next To You and Whole Lot Of Leaving, simply don’t suggest any other way for things to go. So this ear-friendly environment surrounds most of the album, whose “most exciting” moments come with the opening Lost Highway, the bouncy Summertime, and, by these standards, the unimaginably rowdy We Got It Going On, a twin of It’s My Life, whose pathetic lyrics point to Jon’s moronic “bad boy” lyricism. No wonder the guy prefers to stick to heart-friendlier themes and rhythms, which show off all his interpretive qualities that much better, even if they’re clichéd and lemonade-flavored. The whole image of this otherwise very strongly produced album is built on them, but unfortunately it once again sounds like anything but the result of teamwork. What bothers me most is that the barely noticeable contribution of the other three members strongly resembles one of Jon Bon Jovi’s solo efforts along the lines of Destination Anywhere! What David Bryan and Tico Torres offer on Lost Highway, besides the aforementioned Sambora, really isn’t worth a plugged nickel, since their presence can’t be detected practically anywhere. Jon has simply long since subordinated the entire workings of the band to himself, and it functions exclusively according to the singer’s ideas and plans. You can see it on Lost Highway at every step. How much this helps Bon Jovi’s reputation, time will tell. In any case, it would do the man good to think a little about the point of making albums like this, ones that offer less quality than an excuse for yet another megalomaniacal world tour, because Lost Highway is simply one more in a series of boring Bon Jovi albums, which will satisfy plenty of fans of lightly sweetened romantic pop rock, and on the other hand frustrate all their older fans even more.
Line-up
Jon Bon Jovi: vocals
Richie Sambora: guitar, backing vocals
David Bryan: keyboards, backing vocals
Tico Torres: drums
—————–
Hugh McDonald: bass
Bobby Bandiera: guitar
Production
Dann Huff & John Shanks
Track list
1.Lost Highway
2.Summertime
3.(You Want To) Make A Memory
4.Whole Lot Of Leaving
5.We Got It Going On
6.Any Other Day
7.Seat Next To You
8.Everybody’s Broken
9.We Ain’t Strangers Anymore
10.The Last Night
11.One Step Closer
12.I Love This Town
