How do you follow up an album as successful as Crush?

Easy, you re-write it!

This seems to have been the general consensus in the Bon Jovi studio in the fall of 2002 as they set about creating their eighth full-length effort, Bounce.

It takes everything which was good about it’s predecessor (the crunching riff of It’s My Life, the solid ballads with those trademark baby-I’d-die-for-you lyrics) and attempts to amplify them further, but it ends up producing a rather jarring listening experience.

You see, the material here consists of several numbers which weren’t quite ready for the previous LP, as well as a handful of tracks which were written in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, which took place a stone’s throw away from their beloved hometown of New Jersey. The result is a mixed bag of an album which quite literally “bounces” from songs which are packed with jagged emotion to chart-ready anthems.

That’s not to say Bounce is without it’s fair share of great songs, of course.

As with any (and every) Bon Jovi album you can expect at least one song which is eventually going to take a spot on what will surely rank amongst the greatest of Greatest Hits collections ever compiled.

Hit single Everyday is a strong candidate for that spot, delivering thick layers of the guitar hooks and uplifting lyrics which the band are well-known for – and while it never truly reaches the heights of It’s My Life, it rocks hard enough to warrant multiple listens, and catapulted the band into the UK Top 10 (#5).

This is a running theme throughout the whole album; it’s a consistent from start to finish, but it doesn’t create a single moment capable of toppling any of the band’s long-established classics.

Lyrically, Jon Bon Jovi is on fire.

Where their mid-90s output saw him focus his song-writing abilities on the challenges of growing older and feeling washed up, here he’s channelling his anger at the devastating 9/11 attacks in the hope of inspiring the American people to pull together in unity.

When this works, it works spectacularly.

Album opener Undivided captures the wave of raw emotion which swept across the country during the days and weeks following the tragic events of September 11th, 2001, as the frontman tries his best to transform the listener’s rage into focus, and hate into hope.

It’s one of the best songs they’ve ever written, and undoubtedly the standout on Bounce.

“How many hands…
How many hearts…
How many dreams…
Been torn apart?
Enough.”

Undivided

One of the other interesting aspects of Bounce is Richie Sambora’s new guitar tone.

The axeman seems to have decided that he’s going to It’s My Life the fuck out of everything.

He swings an ultra-heavy riff at everything which gets in his way, but there’s not a single track on this album (excluding the aforementioned Undivided) which really needs this kind of treatment. At times you can hear the musical arrangements gasping for air beneath the sheer weight of his lumbering axe.

Elsewhere, the album produces a few strong ballads (The Distance, All About Loving You, Right Side Of Wrong) and a handful of decent rockers (Hook Me Up, Bounce, Misunderstood) but nothing which I expect to trouble the mainstays of the band’s infamous live catalogue beyond the duration of Bounce’s supporting world tour.

Interestingly, this is the final Bon Jovi album to be produced by the trio of Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, and Luke Ebbin. The frontman was said to have arrived at a crossroads in his career upon completion of this LP and tour, and sought a change in sound on subsequent releases (a decision which led him towards that ill-fated collaboration with John Shanks, which many fans consider the catalyst for Richie Sambora’s eventual exit).

The real winner of Bounce, though, is the lyrical content.

Long-time song-writing collaborator Desmond Child returned to the fold and it really shows.

For instance, mid-album rocker Hook Me Up is inspired by a newspaper article about a young Palestinian man who was trapped in occupied territory while trying to make contact with the outside world via a beat up old ham radio.

Elsewhere, Jon continues to apologise to his wife for the guilt he feels at missing important family moments due to his role in the all-consuming Bon Jovi machine on Misunderstood (something he’s been doing since 1992), and ballad Open All Night was actually penned as a back-and-forth dialogue between two characters on TV show Ally McBeal (Jon’s character of Victor Morrison and Calista Flockhart’s Ally McBeal).

Let’s be honest, there’s no reason for Bon Jovi to be going this “deep” when their fans would probably be happy with another It’s My Life re-hash, so they deserve their flowers for the growth they have made in this area.

In summary:

Bounce makes up for lacking the huge hit singles which Bon Jovi had become synonymous with by this point in their career by providing a much more consistent listening experience from start to finish.

Bounce receives 6/11.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

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