In summary:

The New Jersey rockers return with Bounce, an album which is more consistent than it’s predecessor, but lacks the killer hit single they’d become synonymous with by this stage of their career.

Bounce receives 6/11.
★★★★★★

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

Easy, you re-write it!

This seems to have been the general consensus as Bon Jovi entered the studio to complete Bounce, their 8th album, set for release in late 2002.

That’s not to say it’s without its fair share of standout moments, but that it’s hamstrung by a copy and paste approach which doesn’t allow the new material to fully break free of what came before.

For example, lead single Everyday, which became a hit in 2003, is an instantly recognizable attempt to re-create the magic of It’s My Life; and it’s a decent track, too, but it lacks the inherent catchiness of the source material.

To be fair, Bounce is actually a more consistent album than Crush in many respects.

There are more rockers here, and the ballads are of a higher standard – but the fact that it’s lacks a juggernaut-sized lead single means it can’t topple it’s predecessor, and that’s a shame.

Because lyrically, Jon Bon Jovi is on fire.

Written in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, he channels his frustrations into a lyrical style we had not seen in several years; one of hope and pulling together, which seemed to have been replaced by tales of ageing on their late 90s and early 00s output.

When it works, it works spectacularly.

Most notably on Undivided, the standout track which captures the wave of different emotions the American public were feeling in the days following September 11, 2001, and frames it in a unique perspective by transforming the anger into hope, and the rage into determination.

It’s one of the best tracks they’ve ever written.

“How many hands? How many hearts? How many dreams have been torn apart? Enough.”

It’s also the first introduction to another key feature of Bounce, and that’s Richie Sambora’s new guitar tone. Sambora seems to have decided he’s going to It’s My Life the fuck out of everything here, and wields a lumbering, super-heavy guitar at every possible opportunity.

Sometimes it works very well (e.g. Undivided), but it mostly squashes the music beneath it.

Elsewhere, we get a couple of strong ballads (The Distance, All About Loving You, Right Side Of Wrong) and a few decent rockers (Hook Me Up, Bounce, Misunderstood) but nothing that’s going to trouble the mainstays of the band’s live catalogue.

In summary:

The New Jersey rockers return with Bounce, an album which is more consistent than it’s predecessor, but lacks the killer hit single they’d become synonymous with by this stage of their career.

Bounce receives 6/11.
★★★★★★