In summary:
Bon Jovi switched to a harder, heavier sound on 1992’s Keep The Faith. It’s a titanic effort which features several career highlights, and the bulk of the material has stood the test of time.
Keep The Faith receives 10/11.
★★★★★★★★★★
Jon Bon Jovi’s hairstyle is one of the few things to transcend both the 1980s and the 1990s, as is his knack for writing catchy tunes, and his epic pronunciation of the word “thay-eengs” (that’s “things” to you and I).
All of these beauties are out in force on the band’s 5th studio album, the aptly named Keep The Faith.
Released in the midst of the changing musical landscape of 1992, it seemed like this project was doomed to fail, but it actually became a remarkable success, spawning no fewer than six hit singles, and selling more than 10 million copies around the world.
The success of this album cemented their position as one of the biggest rock bands around, and elevated the U.S. rockers into an elite tier of artists who were seemingly immune to the rock industry destruction caused by the grunge wave (the other members of this group being Guns N’ Roses and U2).
There are several career highlights scattered throughout Keep The Faith’s lengthy 66-minute runtime.
The first is album opener I Believe.
At its core it’s a tight, laser focused rock song, and it’s easy to see it as a signpost on the road which led to the eventual creation of It’s My Life. When we look beneath the surface, it’s a track which discusses the mental health risks of trying to live up to the unrealistic standards set by Hollywood, and it also takes several pot-shots at their former contemporaries, many of whom Jon Bon Jovi felt were “selling their soul” to try and cash in on the short-lived grunge trend.
Lead single Keep The Faith is also a high point for the band, as they uncork one of the best choruses they’ve ever written. It sits in a prime position in an album which is front-loaded with massive hits, alongside classic singles I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead, In These Arms, and splendid power ballad Bed Of Roses which features some top tier fret work from Richie Sambora.
There’s something to be said for the musical direction (or lack thereof) of this album.
It’s an element which as added to Keep The Faith’s charm over the years, because 1992 found the frontman at a point in his career where his ever-expanding musical ambition continually chased with his inability to save himself from himself.
For example, on one hand he’s trying to distance himself from his party rock past (evidenced by the superior production of this album), but on the other he’s frequently yelling that “Seven days of Saturday is all that I need” (I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead) and declaring his undying lust for all of womankind (Woman In Love).
It’s this jarring combination of backwards and forwards which leads to some of the album’s best (and worst) moments.
Jon Bon Jovi: “”When we got back together in a room in Vancouver, we closed the door and ignored what had happened to our genre of music. We’d been kicked in the teeth by Nirvana, but we didn’t pay attention to that. We got rid of the clichés, wrote some socially conscious lyrics and got a haircut. I didn’t do a grunge thing and I didn’t do a rap thing. But I knew I couldn’t re-write Livin’ on a Prayer again, so I didn’t try. And it paid off. It made me a better songwriter, too, because it would never have been possible for me to write Bed Of Roses or Dry County five years ago.”
Speaking of Dry County, this juggernaut of a track is almost 10-minutes long, making it (by far) the longest song Bon Jovi have ever released.
It’s worth every second, and stands tall as the main highlight of Keep The Faith.
It’s a song which emphasizes how much Jon Bon Jovi has grown as a songwriter since 1988’s New Jersey, and it provides Richie Sambora with an opportunity to shine. It’s an opportunity he doesn’t pass up, resulting in some Earth-shattering guitar riffs on the way to what will ultimately be remembered as his greatest ever guitar solo.
Seriously, it’s the type of stuff you’ll want to tell your grandkids about!
The ferocious Fear, which captures the band at their rawest (and loudest), is another standout track. Written as a cynical sequel to mega hit Livin’ On A Prayer (“Take my hand, I Know we’ll make it!”), the singer replaces the hopefulness of the mid-80s with a bleak story that sounds like it came from the rain-soaked streets of Gotham City. His lyrics are top notch, and the band really smashes through your speakers like never before.
It’s also worth mentioning hidden bonus track Save A Prayer (taken from the international version of the album), which contains a great vocal performance, and should have been included on the main album.
Not everything on Keep The Faith lands successfully, though.
Numbers like Woman In Love and the schlocky ballad I Want You struggle to breathe under the weight of Bob Rock’s crunching production and would’ve fared much better on one of their earlier albums, whereas the poor lyrics of If I Was Your Mother let down what is an otherwise good (and very heavy) song.
Overall, though, Keep The Faith is a very strong album, and does a good job of capturing Bon Jovi in their prime.
It never really got the praise it deserved when it first hit the shelves, but that’s more about bad timing and poor journalism than anything else (e.g. once-respected UK magazines RAW and Kerrang! each handed it scathing 1-star reviews for “not being Nirvana enough”), so allow me to do the honours. Listening back now, not only is it one of Bon Jovi’s best albums, but it stands tall as one of the best pure rock albums of the 1990s, period.
Russ’ re-worked playlist:
Maybe it’s the autism in me, but I’ve always been good at re-working album playlists to create a superior listening experience. What can I say, Superman got laser eyes and I got this! So here’s how you should listen to Bon Jovi: Keep The Faith (1992) for maximum effectiveness:
- Keep The Faith (5:46)
- I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead (4:43) ★
- In These Arms (5:19)
- Little Bit Of Soul (5:44)
- Bed Of Roses (6:34)
- I Believe (5:48)★
- Fear (3:06)
- Dry County (9:52)
- If I Was Your Mother (4:27)
- Save A Prayer (5:58) ^
- Woman In Love (3:48)
- I Want You (5:36)
- Blame It On The Love Of Rock & Roll (4:24)
^ This is a bonus track from the international version of Keep The Faith (1992).
In summary:
Bon Jovi switched to a harder, heavier sound on 1992’s Keep The Faith. It’s a titanic effort which features several career highlights, and the bulk of the material has stood the test of time.
Keep The Faith receives 10/11.
★★★★★★★★★★
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