While playing this album I couldn´t help thinking the title The Circle was chosen because this album sees Bon Jovi return to their more rocking days of old. Which is a good thing of course. I mean, the more recent albums don´t exactly raise the roof in my humble opinion…
So yes, I am happy to report that the tempo is up, the ballad count is down and the guitar rocks again. Sure, Bon Jovi will never be regarded as the band that reinvented themselves on numerous occasions. They have found their style and stick to it. A case of never change a winning team I guess. Not exactly poor chaps eh ;-), so who am I?
What we have have here are a number of driving tracks like opener We Weren`t Born To Follow, Work for The Working Man (which hints at Living On A Prayer) or Bullet, some in between tracks like Superman Tonight or Thorn In My Side, and yes, some trademark ballads too. It is the best album in recent years, but still not on the same energy level that got me into them in the first place. Kind of on par with These Days or so. Time will tell how it sinks in, for now I enjoy playing it!
