ADRIAN THRILLS: Bon Jovi’s again to his air-punching greatest
BON JOVI: Forever (EMI)
Verdict: Celebratory comeback
The last time we heard from Jon Bon Jovi on record was in the early days of the pandemic, when he was putting the world to rights on a date-stamped album titled 2020.
A snapshot of an America at odds with itself, it found the Bon Jovi frontman singing about gun crime, lockdown and the plight of military veterans suffering from PTSD.
It was a heartfelt response to challenging times that avoided nailing its colours to any particular political mast. What it lacked — the single Do What You Can aside — was the feel-good, radio-friendly exhilaration that characterised 1980s hits such as Bad Medicine.
That’s not an accusation that can be levelled at Forever. Produced by Jon and bandmate John Shanks, it cranks the volume back up to 11, harking back in places to the stadium-pleasing, air-punching dynamics of old.
The writing credits are shared among the band members, while the lyrics, which touch on family, mortality and the band’s New Jersey roots, rank with Jon Bon Jovi’s most reflective.
Jon Bon Jovi performs onstage during the 66th GRAMMY Awards in February
Bon Jovi band members (from left to right): David Bryan, Everett Bradley, Hugh McDonald, John Shanks, Phil X, Jon Bon Jovi and Tico Torres
It’s remarkable the album is even here. Two years ago, the 62-year-old singer finished a U.S. tour in Nashville with his voice completely shot.
Surgery for an atrophied vocal cord ensued, with an implant affixed to the affected area. After months of rehab, he returned to the studio last year, but he doesn’t yet know whether he’ll tour again.
He’s singing well enough here, though. His voice is lower and raspier these days, but he has no trouble summoning up the power these songs demand.
He delivers what he’d call ‘big, ol’ Bon Jovi choruses’ on Legendary and Walls Of Jericho — the former about his wife of 35 years, Dorothea, the latter an homage to the Jersey Shore covers bands of his youth.
F amily is again the key on Kiss The Bride, a piano ballad destined to become a wedding staple. Written about Jon’s daughter Stephanie’s forthcoming marriage, it’s a corny but touching song: ‘My beautiful baby, a beautiful bride… it’s time for me to step aside, lift your veil and let you fly.’
There’s sentimentality of a different hue on My First Guitar, which looks back to adolescent dreams using a cheap Univox guitar as its central image (‘The cardboard case and her starburst finish, one power chord and I’m right back in it’).
Bon Jovi are riding a renewed wave of popularity, a revival rubber-stamped by a four-part documentary now showing on Disney+. On Forever, they’ve rediscovered their sense of joy.
Guitarist Jon Bon Jovi pictured in 1986, three years after the band Bon Jovi was formed
CHARLI XCX: Brat (Atlantic)
Verdict: Dancefloor delights
Just as she divides her time between London and LA, Charli XCX (below) has always struck a balance between left-field adventure and mainstream pop.
Her 2020 album, How I’m Feeling Now, was bold — the first to be written and recorded entirely in lockdown. Its follow-up, Crash, topped charts in 2022.
Her latest release, Brat, has a foot in both camps. It’s predominantly a dance LP, with nods to 1980s electronic pop and the rave scene of the 2000s.
With songs built around wonky beats and quick-fire vocals, it often relies on rhythm rather than melody. But Charli is hard to pin down: Mean Girls features jazzy piano, and there’s a ballad, So I, about the death of a friend.
The Cambridge-born singer opens with a dance double-whammy. Stripped-back 360 feels like a mission statement while Club Classics, co-written with her fiancé George Daniel, drummer with The 1975, portrays her as a party girl.
Charli XCX performs during Live and Proud: Sydney WorldPride Opening Concert on February 24, 2023
Charli is disdainful of artists who treat songwriting as therapy, and many of her stream-of-consciousness lyrics have the flavour of text messages fired off on the spur of the moment.
She rails against social media gossips on Von Dutch, before longing for simpler, less judgemental times on Rewind.
As its title suggests, Brat is aggressive and noisy. But it also contains moments when Charli, 31, lets her wild-child mask slip.
She taps into her insecurities on Sympathy Is A Knife and, on I Think About It All The Time, meets an old friend who’s now a mum and wonders if she’ll ever have children. Pigeonhole her at your peril.
Both albums are out today. Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story is on Disney+. Charli XCX starts a UK tour on November 27 at Co-op Live, Manchester (livenation.co.uk).
