Customer Reviews

New Jersey

5 star:		(43)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I was a BJ fan all the way back to their first album, though I must admit 'Runaway' was not the song that hooked me but rather 'She Don't Know Me'.

I followed them during the releases of their first two albums and when 'Slippery When Wet' came out and people thought they might be a one album wonder I knew better. 'New Jersey' is one of the best follow up records to a 'bust out' record ever (along with Def Leppard 'Hysteria' and pearl Jam 'Vs.'). this album showed the new Bon Jovi fans that this band had more hits in them, and cemented them into the music scene.

in addition this is the best BJ album off all. 'Slippery When Wet' has a few songs that are as good or better then songs on 'New Jersey' but as a whole 'New Jersey' never lets up and is one of the best rock albums you'll hear.

After the awesome success of Slippery When Wet, the band had to be intimidated by thought of following that album up. But if they were, they don't show it as this album blisters. These guys aren't your let your hair grow to your ass musicians who can't really play and just got where they were because of the way they looked. These guys can play. Bad Medicine, Lay Your Hands On Me, & Living In Sin are killer tunes and Richie Sambora is underated as a guitarists. They right terrific lyrics and add fantastic instrument playing to make truly awesome and unforgettable songs. No Bon JOvi collection should be without this one.

Bon Jovi is a great band and New Jersey is their all-time best album to me. It's solid on every track from the great rock song, "Bad Medicine" and "Stick to Your Guns" to the ballad, "I'll Be There for You." Bon Jovi continues to make great music, but it'll be hard to top this one. FUN music- now there's a new concept.

This was the first Bon Jovi I got to hear when I bought it in Feb. of 1989. It still is a solid rock album all throughout, rockers and their familiar power ballads. I didn't think that they would top Slippery When Wet, but this album is just as entertaining as well as rocking. Blood on Blood is very Springsteen-ish, kind of like Born To Run, but very well done. The opening song makes you feel like you're in a concert, in a stadium of over 50,000 people screaming, with Lay Your Hands on Me! I still love Bad Medicine and Tico Torres' incredible drum playing on it. Especially on the last two lines before the last chorus where he hits those drums hard 8 times, then the bottom part where he hits the snare 5 times!!!! I turn up the volume or bang on the table every time that part comes up in that song. On several cuts, Jon Bon Jovi in a rare move was hitting some very high notes, which come out so very impressive! I don't know of any other male singer who can hit those notes so high like that! And this was two years before Mariah Carey's first album came out that Jon Bon Jovi was doing this high note approach. It's the high point of this album every time I hear I'll Be There For You and Living in Sin. Other songs I like, Born to Be My Baby and its familiar sing along chorus, Stick To Your Guns, Wild Is The Wind, the rocking final song with 99 in the title and others. Jon as well as Richie Sambora wrote some very solid songs this time, perhaps the best in their band's music career. And David Bryan's keyboard playing still blends well with Sambora and Alec Jon Such's lead guitars and Tico's drumming! Jon sounds so versatile vocally in all the songs here. One of my favorite albums and it justifies in that album title that they're proud to be from New Jersey! They really prove why that state can produce such very multitalented music artists from Springsteen to Sinatra to Whitney to Dionne to even them too and many others!

How do you follow up an album like Slippery When Wet? Well, frankly, just like this! While New Jersey didn't quite make the big splash that Slippery did it certainly still made a big "wave" in the hair-rock world! Slippery would have been the perfect cd if it would have replaced some of its songs with ones like "Bad Medicine", "Lay Your Hands on Me", or "Stick to Your Guns". All of these are great rock songs especially "Bad Medicine". This cd relies more on the voices of the group and less on the, not so inconsiderable, guitar playing of Richie Sambora, this is what makes this cd different than Slippery. "Bad Medicine" I guess is the "You Give Love a Bad Name" song for NJ, and "Lay Your Hands on Me" is the "Let it Rock" song of NJ. So I guess, in a way, it still highly resembles Slippery, but why shouldn't it? I mean, Slippery was one of the best rock albums of the '80's, so why not try to repeat the formula that made that album? You could argue all day about how different and alike the 2 albums are but still one thing is definately agreeable; both are awesome! "Bad Medicine" has great lyrics, guitars, drums, and vocals. "Lay Your Hands on Me", while not the best song in terms of lyrics is still a powerful rock song. "Blood on Blood" is a great song and a great anthem to any guy teen group. "Born to be my Baby", Living in Sin", "Wild is the Wind" are all wonderful rock songs too. "I'll be There for You" is not the best rock ballad out there, or even Jovi's greatest, but it's still good. "Love for Sale" is different and funny, that is what makes that song work. "99 in the Shade", although it has a strange tune is good too. I think this album represents the versatility of Bon Jovi, not only in the songs, but in the style of music. Several songs on this cd are nothing like any of their previous or later cds. You can really tell though that Jon and Richie both find their voices in this one too. Their vocals were mixed very well with the music. Although this isn't their best, with Slippery still being #1,in my opinion, NJ is a close second. In closing I'll say this; I can't find enough great things to say about Bon Jovi (the man and the group) their songs, lyrics, guitars, drums, voices, and talent are all top notch stuff, and New Jersey mixes all of their great talent together into one cd. So, if you're an '80's "hair-rock" music fan, buy it! if your a Bon Jovi fan you should already have it! If you're just a fan of great rock in general, you should buy it. Frankly, New Jersey and Slippery When Wet make a magnificent team! So put them in a cd player and play both of them back to back... the way it should be!

NEW JERSEY was Bon Jovi's last relatively light-hearted rock album for many years. His work between this album and CRUSH has come under fire for being excessively serious and dark, but that could never be said about this album, which is mostly about friendship and romance. Jon Bon Jovi's belief that the young Australian tourist jailed in Indonesia since 2005 for drug-smuggling was unjustly convicted makes NEW JERSEY an essential purchase for both your ears AND your conscience.

I only wish they could make another album this good. "New Jersey" is my favorite Bon Jovi album from start to finish. The album has more of a hard rock edge than any other album...yet it also has great ballads like I'll Be There for You, Livin in Sin, Born to Be My Baby, and Wild Is the Wind. The album doesn't have a weak song outside of Homebound Train...and the true undiscovered gems here are Wild Is the Wind, 99 In the Shade, and a favorite, Stick to Your Gun. Just a flat out great album...one of my Top 5 favorite albums of all-time. Looking forward to the new album in June, but I already know the band has "grown up"...too bad that means they'll never make another album this good.

Bon Jovi is a band that may not be the best one (the best one's were Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones or Pink Floyd), but their record-sales say otherwise. There is perhaps a grain of truth in the notion that half of their audience were teenagers and women and their sucess was soemwhat overrated, as well as that they went big on Jon Bon Jovi's coiffeur and outlook, though.
Nonetheless, I think they truly deserved their overwhealming breakthrough from the 80's offering people catchy, competent and well-ctrafted pop-rock-metal tunes played on and on by the MTV. All in all, that's how metal sounded in the mid-80's (just take Whitesnake or Def Leppard). Personally, I have always been an advocate of this band, turning a blind eye on what other narrow-minded people kept saying about it. Yes, Bon Jovi has made couple of cheesy songs ("Always") and some both cheesy and too commercial as well ("It's my life"). "It's my life" was a cheap trial to break to the pop-charts, but, if there are any open-minded music passionates there, you will notice that other bands had it as well (Van Halen had "Jump", KISS had "I was made for loving you").
One has to take the band as a whole, and simply can't deny the skillful and well-crafted musicanship of albums like "New Jersey" or "Keep the faith". So, if you are too narrow-minded to rate this, you simply have no right to proclaim yourself a music-passionate or music-knower.
"New Jersey" is undoubtedly Bon Jovi at their peak; simply, that's what BJ is all about. Although it didn't match the blockbuster of 18 million copies sold worldwide (up to this day, I mean), it was a great follow-up to "Slippery when wet" and nonetheless sold in spades (I guess 7 millions in the US alone in 1988, don't know how much up to this point). It was also the most popular one in Poland at that time, and everyone that year cuddled and danced to slow, wonderful love ballad "I'll be there for you". It was a time when Bon Jovi truly had the power to rule half of the world population. They were just everywhere; "straight-in-your face", like McDonald's or Coca-Cola.
"New Jersey" is much more mature an album, both lyrically and musically. In fact, to my opinion, THIS is the band's best one (better than "Slippery"). Songs are well-skilled, tuneful and catchy as always, but somehow the integrity of this one is probably the most appealing; in my view the most crafted and detailed in their career. There is absolutely no filler on this album. And, although I personally don't like "Bad medicine" considering it as one of the few truly cheesy BJ songs, the whole is undeniably amazing. "New Jersey" produced an amazing 5 Top-ten singles establsihing the band as international superstars and and almost matching the incredible status of its predecessor. Moreover, with the follow-up tour the band comfirmed how well they do on stage. Personally, I would recommend this one to any newcomer who would like to get into Bon Jovi for their music; and to any sceptic who is, pitifully, too narrow-minded to open for different musical genres.
It starts with a great kicking hard-rocker "Lay your hands", through cheesy "Bad medicine", just to launch the album's magic for good with "Born to be my baby" and "Living in sin" - all of these Billboard Top-ten singles. The second part is, in my view, arguably even better. Truly heavy, hard (almost heavy-metal) "Homebound train"; the ultimate number one ballad all across the world, "I'll be there for there for you" and "Stick to your guns" are beyond doubt everything what the Bon Jovi-phenomenon from the 80's was all about; while "Wild is the wind" is one of the best songs in the music history that have ever been recorded (it's a pity it wasn't a single). Simply, the entire album clearly depicts the band's success, containing widely-appealing, competent pop-rock-metal material that is so much fun and so much entertaining. Please, do not get me wrong: I am very open-minded and have no doubt this was a commercial band, and there is no use in comparing it to Pink Floyd or Led Zeppelin. But in what they did, they were the best.
This is a must-have.

Please read my other BJ reviews.

When I want to have my way with the sexy men in my office, this is THE album. By the time we get to "Living in Sin", things are REALLY gettin' steamy. 99 in the shade all the way, baby!

Subtlety has never been a strong point for Bon Jovi. Whether it be the car wash girls featured in SLIPPERY WHEN WET or the demand to be considered with Bruce Springsteen on the appropriately-titled NEW JERSEY, Bon Jovi's messages and album titles hit home as strongly as their lyrics. Whatever the case, this is one time where Bon Jovi unseats the Boss and claims the title for the band that best rocks the state.

Without a doubt one of the greatest CDs in my collection and certainly one of the best that Bon Jovi has put out in their many years together, NEW JERSEY is truly the album of undiscovered hits. The catchy lyrics by megastar frontman Jon Bon Jovi are cemented in place with the otherworldly guitar talents of Ritchie Sambora to create the music that defined the 80s.

NEW JERSEY gets things rolling with "Lay Your Hands on Me" before launching the contagious "Bad Medicine" that brought post-"Livin' on a Prayer" recognition to the group. These are followed with "Born to be my Baby," a tremendous, soul-shaking power ballad. The album dips slightly with "Living in Sin" and "Homebound Train," both weaker tracks that are seperated by "Blood on Blood," which flows well musically but comes off as somewhat repetitive.

This is, however, the setup for five of the greatest Bon Jovi songs ever, most of which have gone unheralded. Track 7, "Wild is the Wind," is a haunting power ballad that rates as one of the best on this CD. It is followed by "Ride, Cowboy, Ride," a short but touching prelude to "Stick to Your Guns." This is an intense ballad that draws heavily on "Wanted Dead or Alive" with its Westernized cowboy theme.

The most beautiful song on the album is undoubtedly the tenth track, "I'll be There for You." With the possible exception of "Thank You for Loving Me," this is the band's most soulful, moving ballad. Even if you can't stand the other tracks on this album (for whatever reason), it is well worth the money just to have this song on hand.

The album closes with "99 in the Shade," a fun song that will get your toe tapping, and "Love for Sale," inserted as more of an outro piece than anything else and is the album's weakest link. Still, that makes three weak tracks out of twelve, and trust me the highs on this CD are very, very high. Any fan should buy this if for no other reason that to own tracks seven through eleven. If you are a new Bon Jovi fan, START WITH THIS ALBUM. You will love it.