Bon Jovi: Lost Highway (2007) Review

Let’s face it, Bon Jovi have always wanted to be a cowboy.

They’ve been telling us about it since way back in 1986.

And with no fewer than 26 cowboy-themed songs scattered throughout their catalogue since then – astonishingly, this number does not include the sountrack album he made for Young Guns II – the US rockers have finally decided to go “all in” with it.

Welcome to the Lost Highway…

All Or Nothing

Venturing into new waters can be a daunting experience.

So we would’ve forgiven Bon Jovi had they decided to take the somewhat easier route of releasing, say, a covers album which featured their favourite country music songs.

But if time has taught us one thing, it’s that Bon Jovi are supremely confident human beings.

Their unwavering belief in their own ability was one of the key factors in making them one of the few rock acts to survive the grunge scene – and the thrash scene.. and the nu-metal scene! – relatively unscathed, and we must applaud them for it once again here.

Because not only have Bon Jovi chosen to make this a full-fledged genre switch and construct a whole record of their own original country songs, but it’s actually rather good!

“We were very careful not to insult a genre of music which we’ve always had a lot of respect for, you know? We didn’t set out to make a country album, but rather a Bon Jovi album influenced by Nashville.”

– Richie Sambora

New Direction, Same Formula

Opening track Lost Highway sets the tone for what’s to come.

It sounds exactly how you’d expect Bon Jovi to sound within a country setting, taking the band’s well-utilized anthemic template (previously used on the likes of It’s My Life, Bounce, and more recently Have A Nice Day) and makes it work.

Cue lots of fist-pumping choruses, life-affirming lyrics, and one too many anecdotes about “driving with the top down”.

By this point of their career, they are masters of their craft.

"When you wonder why you're breathing,
Know that you're not alone,
It's so hard to believe,
When it's easier to doubt."

EVERYBODY'S BROKEN

Adopting A Clever Vocal Strategy

One of the hidden benefits of this genre switch is that it enables Bon Jovi to produce songs which are almost as memorable as their rock output, while being nowhere near as taxing on the frontman’s voice.

Deeper album cuts like We Got It Going On and I Love This Town (which sounds like an adult orientated version of Love For Sale) are prime examples.

While neither track is likely to win any awards, they are undoubtedly super-catchy tunes, and we wouldn’t be surprised if they became mainstays of the band’s live setlist due to the ease with which they can be sung.

Perhaps the same could also be said for feel-good anthem Summertime and standout track Any Other Day, which sounds like a countrified adaptation of something from 1995’s These Days.

Meanwhile, the slow-burning hit single Make A Memory does a wonderful job of framing the band’s trademark dual vocals, with Jon and Richie Sambora batting lines back and forth to great effect.

It takes a little time to get going, but it’s worth the wait.

“If someone had told me we’d make a new record in September having come off the road in August, I’d have shot the idea down because I didn’t want to make the same mistake we did from Slippery When Wet into New Jersey.

But lots of things happened in our lives during those four weeks.

Richie finalized a divorce… then his dad passed away after a short battle with cancer… then David also got divorced and was facing a custody battle to see his kids…

For me, watching all of this sadness unfold after such a high point in our careers, I gained a new perspective with regards to what I should be writing about.”

– Jon Bon Jovi

“If someone had told me we’d make a new record in September having come off the road in August, I’d have shot the idea down because I didn’t want to make the same mistake we did from Slippery When Wet into New Jersey.

But lots of things happened in our lives during those four weeks.

Richie finalized a divorce…

… then his dad passed away after a short battle with cancer…

… then David also got divorced and was facing a custody battle to see his kids…

For me, watching all of this sadness unfold after such a high point in our careers, I gained a new perspective with regards to what I should be writing about.”

– Jon Bon Jovi

Same Old Song And Dance

From a lyrical perspective, we know exactly what to expect from Jon Bon Jovi.

He’s been telling us about the struggles of growing older for more than a decade, and likes nothing more than to convey the joys of nowhere feeling quite like home.

Hey, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!

And, somewhat ironically, now that he’s essentially been handed a free license to squeeze as many cowboy-isms (word?) into the songs as humanly possible, he chooses not to.

Instead he discusses everything from mental health (Everybody’s Broken), to falling in love for the first time (Whole Lot Of Leavin’), and, as mentioned earlier, gives us several instances of, err, “driving with the top down” (Lost Highway, Seat Next To You, I Love This Town).

"These trinkets once were treasure,
Life changes like the weather,
You grow up, you grow old,
Or you hit the round round here."

LOST HIGHWAY

Bon Jovi: Lost Highway

Bon Jovi’s tenth studio album is a successful endeavor.

They are well suited to the country genre, and it has allowed the frontman to scratch a long-standing itch (remember when bassist Alec John Such departed in 1994 and snarked, “All his songs are fucking cowboy songs!”..?).

Sure, we’ve heard the syrup-heavy strings of Everybody’s Broken a dozen or so times before…

… and yes, they clearly wrote I Love This Town with one eye on it being played every night on their upcoming world tour…

… but still, there’s something rather comforting in the familiarity of a new Bon Jovi record, and these seasoned New Jerseyans are just so darn good at their job that you can’t help but enjoy the ride.

Lost Highway went on to produce two hit singles, with it’s title track and (You Want To) Make A Memory helping Bon Jovi to achieve the impressive feat of becoming the first rock band – ever – to top the country music chart.

Controversial producer John Shanks (who would go on to become a divisive figure in the band’s lore in years to come) definitely made the right call in encouraging them to double down on the unexpected success of Grammy-winning hit single Who Says You Can’t Go Home, and we’d be surprised if they chose to go back to their rock roots anytime soon.

If that’s indeed the case, then Lost Highway suggests they’re well equipped to make it work.

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