Bounce

1	Undivided
2	Everyday
3	The Distance
4	Joey
5	Misunderstood
6	All About Lovin’ You
7	Hook Me Up
8	Right Side Of Wrong
9	Love Me Back To Life
10	You Had Me From Hello
11	Bounce
12	Open All Night

Barnes & Noble

Much like New Jersey's other favorite son, Jon Bon Jovi obviously spent quite a bit of time thinking about the events of September 11th when writing songs for Bounce, his band's eighth album. That's clear from the opening notes of "Undivided," which kicks things off in an anthemic, and somewhat angry, tone: Lyrics that directly address "my brother lost in the rubble/my sister lost in the crush" are interwoven with surprisingly heavy riffs to good effect, a pairing repeated on the stirring "Everyday." That muscular melodicism -- harkening back as far Slippery When Wet -- jump-starts many of Bounce's tracks: "Hey Joey" spins a hardscrabble tale of Garden State growing-up over an appropriately rootsy backing track, while "Hook Me Up" moves with a slithering gait that lets Richie Sambora strut his stuff with glee. As he's grown more mature, Jon Bon Jovi's ballads have grown up as well. Here, he and his bandmates not only turn out a brace of romantic ballads -- the delicate "You Had Me from Hello," which Jon says was inspired by his stint on Ally McBeal, is the best of the bunch -- but also stretch things a bit, as on "Open All Night," which, with its pensive, piano-driven verses, ends the album on an introspective-yet-upbeat note. As has been their habit in the past, the band occasionally try too hard to come across as sincere and wind up sounding overwrought and lead-footed. That's the case on the overly orchestrated "Right Side of Wrong," which takes the "Living on a Prayer" melodic formula one step too far, and "The Distance," which could pass for a Creed outtake. But overall, Bounce makes a good case for Jon Bon Jovi -- and the rest of the band -- having grown up just right. Seth Kaufman

All Music Guide

Given that Bon Jovi successfully pulled off a comeback in 2000 with Crush, a shiny pop album pitched directly at the mainstream, it's kind of a surprise that they returned two years later with a record as turgid as Bounce. Instead of continuing the colorful blueprint of Crush, they fearlessly backpedal, turning out dull, heavy, serious rock -- the kind of music that sounds "serious" even when it's about trivial things. Of course, much of the record is given over to "serious" topics, as if the band felt that the events of 2001 necessitated a grave response for Bounce, regardless of what they were singing. Such sobriety would not have been a problem if the band had solid material, but they're not only lacking songs, they've inexplicably altered their musical approach. In particular, guitarist Richie Sambora sounds as if he's aping James Hetfield's lumbering downstrokes throughout the album, giving the record an oppressively heavy sound that never lets the music breathe. This casts a pall over the record, but this stumble is not the sole reason Bounce is such a misstep for the band. After all, this is a record where Bon Jovi seems to have consciously decided to avoid everything that gives their music character, melody, and muscle, a move that would have been odd at any point during their career, but is particularly puzzling after they delivered an album that found them growing old gracefully. It's as if they want to undo everything Crush did for them. Stephen Thomas Erlewine