In summary:
Bon Jovi had no right to make an album this great after losing talismanic guitarist Richie Sambora. What it lacks in hooks and heaviness, it makes up for with personal lyrics and singalong choruses. A triumph!
This House Is Not For Sale receives 8/11.
★★★★★★★★
This House Is Not For Sale is the 14th studio album from Bon Jovi.
Despite selling fewer copies than any of the ten previous Bon Jovi albums, it still produced a whopping seven singles and became a 2-time #1 Billboard album.
That being said, the U.S. rockers had endured a very difficult time in the build-up to this one.
Legendary guitarist Richie Sambora famously walked out in the midst of their 2013 world tour, dismissing their last LP What About Now as “bland as fuck” (and rightly so!), and his sour relationship with his once best friend seemed to cast a huge shadow of doubt over whether Bon Jovi would continue to release new music.
After considering his options for two years, Jon Bon Jovi decided he wanted to go on…
…and thank fuck, because This House Is Not For Sale is a thunderous return to form!
There are several gems scattered throughout the extensive 19-tracks in what remains a largely under-appreciated LP, the most notable of those being Living With The Ghost.
This up-tempo rocker acts as a vessel for the singer’s three years of anger, and it is devastatingly effective.
It features some of his best lyrics in years as he rages about his refusal to let Sambora’s disappearing act tear the band apart (“I wrote each word, you gave the toast / But we were fire and gasoline / I ain’t living with your ghost”), and touches upon the difficulty of steering the Bon Jovi machine without his long-time companion (“I saw a man wash his feet in the church holy water / He said I’m in over my head / I had this dream, that man was me”).
It really hits home, and the potent nature of his lyrics more than makes up for the fact that Sambora can’t drop a face-melting solo on top of it.
Mercury Records also cop it on the inflammatory Devil In The Temple (sadly the only straight-ahead rocker on this album).
One year earlier, the band’s 32-year relationship with their former label reached a bitter end when the executives offered the Sambora-less Bon Jovi a significantly lighter record deal, to which the singer is said to have demanded that his track record and loyalty be treated with more respect.
Not satisfied with flaming them on the vicious Burning Bridges (2015), he takes another shot here with stinging lines like, “This was a church, a house full of prayer / It ain’t that now, I could tear it down”.
The title track is another high point, framing Jon’s renewed sense of purpose within a catchy pop/rock template they’ve used to great effect several times before.
Jon Bon Jovi: “When I wrote that song, I feel like it captured how I feel about this band we have all been a part of for the last 30+ years. You can’t get me to throw in the towel. You can’t buy what we have. This house is not for sale, motherfucker.”
That being said, it’s not perfect.
While Jon Bon Jovi’s refusal to give in helps him to create results in some great songs, that same stubbornness also hold the album back.
You see, the glossy production of 2013’s dismal What About Now is said to have been one of the driving factors behind Sambora’s decision to leave the band. That was the work of producer John Shanks, who stays in the hot seat this time around. Almost as if to prove his former buddy wrong, he doubles down on his quest to show that crunching guitars are no longer crucial to their sound.
And you know what?
They fucking should be.
Don’t get me wrong, it works on several tracks (like the fantastic chorus of Scars On This Guitar, and the gorgeous piano-led Real Love, which is easily their best ballad since 1994’s Always), but you can’t tell me that thumping Bon Jovi numbers like Knockout and Born Again Tomorrow wouldn’t have sounded 10x better had they turned the guitar amps up to eleven instead of shooting for a more contemporary sound.
As a whole, Bon Jovi have exceeded expectations, battling through adversity to craft an album which is jam-packed with catchy tunes.
Some of these will be stuck in your head for days (This House Is Not For Sale, Rollercoaster, Walls, New Year’s Day), and although it lacks the heaviness of their old material, it’s certainly strong enough to hold it’s own.
It seems there’s life in the old dog yet!
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: This House Is Not For Sale (2016) for maximum effectiveness:
- Walls (3:37)
- This House Is Not For Sale (3:36) ★
- Living With The Ghost (4:44) ★
- Scars On This Guitar (5:05)
- Knockout (3:29)
- Born Again Tomorrow (3:31)
- Real Love (4:31) ★
- Roller Coaster (3:39)
- When We Were Us (3:34)
- New Year’s Day (4:25)
- The Devil’s In The Temple (3:17)
- God Bless This Mess (3:22)
- We Don’t Run (3:18)
- Goodnight New York (3:53)
In summary:
Bon Jovi had no right to make an album this great after losing talismanic guitarist Richie Sambora. What it lacks in hooks and heaviness, it makes up for with personal lyrics and singalong choruses. A triumph!
This House Is Not For Sale receives 8/11.
★★★★★★★★
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