Bon Jovi have copped heaps of flak over the years and their seeming decision to rely utterly on their sales figures as a defence is perhaps indicative itself of some of their limitations but lets stop the nit-picking for a moment and give credit where it is due because this is a great AOR-bordering-on-hard-rock album.

The production by Bruce Fairbairn and the entire feel of the record are huger than huge. The songs are catchy and melodic yet still utilise the full band sound typical of hard rock bands despite many of the sentiments put forth are teeny AOR in the extreme. Somehow with this album the uplifting buoyancy of proceedings sounds unmatched by just about any other record in this sphere, the brainless good times just washing over the listener with frontman and namesake Jon as circus master, leading you through a journey of boisterous yet playfully G rated rockers like the massive hits You Give Love A Bad Name and Livin' On A Prayer, songs that still sound good today.

Other rockers are also pretty darn handy as opener Let It Rock pronounces that yes this band is an animal that still remembers the jungles of being a working bar band. Social Disease is both tongue in cheek and serious all at once, walking a fine line and I recall side one (in the old money) finishing with one of the crowning achievements of the entire BJ catalogue in the form of Wanted Dead or Alive. This is an exellent song full of more genuine emotion than any two or three more traditional BJ ballads and is deservedly more remembered than any of them.

As side two - as it was called when this thing originally came out, rolled along it was obvious that the good time rockin' was very much part of the very heartbeat of this band with numbers like Raise Your Hands with massive production values that made much else of what was around sound very very yesterdays news. Ditto for Wild in the Streets as long as you can get over the idea of Bon Jovi being genuinely wild. Alas for side two there are the blights of three ballads in a row but for the times they were pretty spot on. The tryptych does make me think twice about giving this ablum five stars and perhaps I'm being generous, but I figure my gut feeling is the right one here as despite this thing being very calculated indeed, why not? I mean if you take yourself seriously as this mob have steadfastly done then why not calculate your albums?

Anyway, that's my two cents worth regarding this quintessential party rock album that all these years later is probably still the main album this band is known for.
Bon Jovi have copped heaps of flak over the years and their seeming decision to rely utterly on their sales figures as a defence is perhaps indicative itself of some of their limitations but lets stop the nit-picking for a moment and give credit where it is due because this is a great AOR-bordering-on-hard-rock album. The production by Bruce Fairbairn and the entire feel of the record are huger than huge. The songs are catchy and melodic yet still utilise the full band sound typical of hard rock bands despite many of the sentiments put forth are teeny AOR in the extreme. Somehow with this album the uplifting buoyancy of proceedings sounds unmatched by just about any other record in this sphere, the brainless good times just washing over the listener with frontman and namesake Jon as circus master, leading you through a journey of boisterous yet playfully G rated rockers like the massive hits You Give Love A Bad Name and Livin' On A Prayer, songs that still sound good today. Other rockers are also pretty darn handy as opener Let It Rock pronounces that yes this band is an animal that still remembers the jungles of being a working bar band. Social Disease is both tongue in cheek and serious all at once, walking a fine line and I recall side one (in the old money) finishing with one of the crowning achievements of the entire BJ catalogue in the form of Wanted Dead or Alive. This is an exellent song full of more genuine emotion than any two or three more traditional BJ ballads and is deservedly more remembered than any of them. As side two - as it was called when this thing originally came out, rolled along it was obvious that the good time rockin' was very much part of the very heartbeat of this band with numbers like Raise Your Hands with massive production values that made much else of what was around sound very very yesterdays news. Ditto for Wild in the Streets as long as you can get over the idea of Bon Jovi being genuinely wild. Alas for side two there are the blights of three ballads in a row but for the times they were pretty spot on. The tryptych does make me think twice about giving this ablum five stars and perhaps I'm being generous, but I figure my gut feeling is the right one here as despite this thing being very calculated indeed, why not? I mean if you take yourself seriously as this mob have steadfastly done then why not calculate your albums? Anyway, that's my two cents worth regarding this quintessential party rock album that all these years later is probably still the main album this band is known for.