Artist: Bon Jovi
Label: Mercury Records
Release: 1995
Runtime: 63.53
Rating: 4/5
“These Days” ticks the boxes of the “mainstream”-minded rock ideology that, in the shaky mid-’90s, blossomed into the lifeline of most protagonists of the surviving “hair metal” circus. At the same time, Bon Jovi don’t turn their backs on their roots with this album. You could say that, armed with a heaping dose of creative inspiration, they stop one last time at the point where principles still come before a blind hunger for commercial recognition.
“These Days” successfully pulls the band’s main expressive ace out of its sleeve, namely the ballad, which in a newer, slightly more polished version, wrapped in a melodic framework of warm color tones, keeps steadily gaining accessibility. All for the sake of a new commercial triumph? Not a chance! While the album was taking shape, Bon Jovi were still capable of intense build-ups and, in reverse, of calming the mood down, even in their most tender element, both of course mainly thanks to the indispensable contribution of Richie Sambora. Jon’s vocal and lyrical leanings are of course the soul and the main driving force behind the achingly heartfelt jolts of “This Ain’t a Love Song” and “Lie To Me”, and it would be a sin to forget the excellent “My Guitar Lies Bleeding In My Arms”, which, a good dozen years after its birth, still proudly defies the tooth of time as a monument to one of the last outbursts of creative mastery from Jon’s partnership with the guitarist. Sambora is excellent both as an inspired guitarist and songwriter and as the indispensable supplier of three-part backing vocals that grace the choruses with an unmistakable bounty of catchiness. Richie’s presence is key to creating a homogeneous, organic-sounding sonic backdrop, which this time, one last time, draws without shame or regret from the well of solid rock language.
Speaking of the sturdy offspring of rock & roll, you can’t skip the opener “Hey God”, which, in a way atypical for Bon Jovi, adds a feeling of chaos to the opener’s snappiness with its pointedly dissonant guitar intonation. “Something For The Pain” revives the spirit of “Sleep When I’m Dead” and quickly brings us back to the familiar groove, with Sambora again taking the spotlight, this time with a sharp-tongued slide solo. With “Damned” Bon Jovi dare to go a step further, this time with a slinky spin of the rhythmic gears that, at the peak of funk-rock ecstasy, serves up a showcase of the guitar mastery of the indispensable Richie Sambora. The track’s lustful ambience is polished off even further by the bold placement of horn arrangements, with which Bon Jovi, under Kalodner’s noticeable influence, even give off some sultry vibes in the vein of the old Aerosmith school. The track’s enriched layering and its emphatic finish put the dot on the i of the album’s lively atmosphere, which not even the compositional and performance mediocrity of “It’s Hard Letting You Go” or “Hearts Breaking Even” can spoil.
“These Days” is a major milestone in the success-studded saga of the rockers from New Jersey, meticulously wedged between rock accessible enough for a “mature” listening crowd and organic music with plenty of high-octane piston-pumping in the band’s engine, with which Bon Jovi cleverly held on to most of their credibility as a heavy rock attraction. The album’s added value lies precisely in the fact that Bon Jovi didn’t keep their heads above water solely by radically trimming back the solid rock substance, but exactly the opposite, by delivering a bold and thoroughly vital musical approach.
Lineup
Jon Bon Jovi: vocals, harmonica
Richie Sambora: guitar, backing vocals
David Bryan: keyboards, backing vocals
Tico Torres: drums
GUEST MUSICIAN:
Hugh McDonald: bass
Production
Peter Collins, Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora
Track list
1. Hey God
2. Something for the Pain
3. This Ain’t a Love Song
4. These Days
5. Lie to Me
6. Damned
7. My Guitar Lies Bleeding in My Arms
8. (It’s Hard) Letting You Go
9. Hearts Breaking Even
10. Something to Believe In
11. If That’s What It Takes
12. Diamond Ring
13. All I Want Is Everything
14. Bitter Wine
