Bon Jovi - What About Now

Bon Jovi - What About Now - 2013

I know, I know...I never reviewed The Circle. I just couldn't bring myself to find it. To buy it. To borrow it...anything. And, yes, I've had a "Bon Jovi - The Circle" playlist on Spotify for over a year. Sue me.

I will, I promise. (I'm not promising you, whoever you are. It's a promise to myself.)

So, why give this a spin? I have no answer, truly. I'm kind of in the mood for big, dumb stadium rock. And BJ can usually satisfy that need for MOR toe tapping.

From the start, What About Now fulfills my craving. "Because We Can" is as a Jovi-esque opener as I've heard, although as I write this, the title track has come on, the third on the record, and I'm dumbstruck at what I'm hearing: Bon Jovi seems to have listened to Bruce Springsteen's Wrecking Ball a lot this year and decided to just ape it. ("Pictures of You" is a leading offender here) Why not? They're both from Jersey and BJ has never had an original thought. It's not that "What About Now" is bad, per se. It's just something that sounds like it was written by committee. Or a machine. The Bon Jovi-Stadium ready-Rock Song Conveyor belt.
Tracks like "What's Left of Me" has that midtempo Springsteen contrapuntal music to theme ratio. But it works.

 Once you settle into that aesthetic it's easy(er) to accept the record. It's Bon Jovi with a helping of Bon Jovi in a Bon Jovi simmer sauce.
You know what you're getting here. We've been getting it. for 30 years. That said, it's listenable. If you want this stuff. Fortunately, it hit the spot.

Grade: B
ASide: Because We Can, What's Left of Me
BlindSide: Pictures of You, That's What the Water Made Me
DownSide: Room at the End of the World