Customer Reviews

Lost Highway

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Lost Highway is considered by some to be Bon Jovi's country album. I'm a country fan, but not what they call country music today. My country background is Johnny, Willie, Waylon & Kris. I consider this a pop album. As such, it is very strong and diverse. It has twang to it, and guest appearances by celebrated new country artists such as Big & Rich and Leanne Rimes.

I shelled out for the Japanese import not so much because I love the album, but more that I'm a collector of all things Jovi.

I don't mind Lost Highway, it is a pleasant listen all the way through and I think three songs in particular are really strong in the Bon Jovi canon:

"Lost Highway"
"Summertime"
"(You Want To) Make a Memory"

You'll notice those three are the least new country on the album, but that's what my taste is.

The sound is good, the album is well produced by John Shanks and Dann Huff. (Anybody remember when Dan Huff was in Giant? Man I'd like to track down a copy of that album, but I digress.) There are plenty of additional musicians supplying fiddle and other assorted stringed instruments. It sounds good on the stereo, well mixed and mastered.

The two bonus tracks are "Lonely" (slow one) and "Put The Boy Back In Cowboy" (rocker). They are standard Bon Jovi fare, nothing overly exceptional, and they fit the style of the rest of the CD. The bonus DVD is for Japanese region only, and I have no checked it out on my multi-region player yet. There are lots of other bonus tracks and bonus DVDs available in different releases, too numerous to mention here.

4 stars, good album.

At the CMT Music Awards show last year Bon Jovi's "Who Says You Can't Go Home" won an award for the Best Collaborative Video and also went on to win a Grammy award for Best Country Vocal Collaboration. The single also hit number one on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. This all happened because it was a duet with Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland. It seems like only yesterday that Bon Jovi was considered a heavy metal band and for most of the last twenty-four years their albums and singles have reflected that. Granted, there have been a number of ballads over the years showing us all that the band wasn't just a bunch of one-dimensional headbangers.
Last year's successful foray into Country music wasn't just a fluke, as this CD proves. With artists like Keith Urban, Johnny Reid and others blurring the lines between Country and Rock everyday, the door is open for rock artists to experiment with a Nashville twist and in Bon Jovi's case it comes naturally, the new songs are still quintessential Bon Jovi.
The success of the first single, "Want To Make A Memory" was helped in a big way by a haunting music video and the song was familiar territory for the band. The second single release is "Lost Highway" and while it's burning up the hit singles and video charts, it shows there's a huge new market of fans that the band is reaching, as they did with last year's success. The album features a duet with LeAnn Rimes on "Till We Ain't Strangers Anymore" and with Big and Rich on "We Got It Going On". On this song you'll hear shades of Metallica in the guitar licks, as well as hints of "Living On A Prayer" in the melody. This song pretty much defines the phrase "crossover hit" yet "Whole Lot Of Leaving" and "One Step Closer" are pure CMT material.
There have been a few less than positive reviews for this CD that said the band was turning it's back on it's core rock fan base for new country fans. That's not entirely the case, and to prove it just listen to the super rocking beat of "Summertime". In describing this CD, Jon said; "It's a Bon Jovi album influenced by Nashville." and that artistic freedom made this disc possible. There are twelve really good songs on this disc, and true Bon Jovi fans will be happy to hear the blending of the old and the new.

Bon Jovi's latest album isn't the radical change of sound some have claimed; it's really more a small step in a different direction. The band have incorporated a country sound in some of their songs for years now, as songs like Someday I'll Be Saturday Night, Something For The Pain and even Blaze of Glory don't sound far removed from the music on country radio today, but after Who Says You Can't Go Home hit big on the country (and pop) charts last year, the band decided to base a whole album on that sound. However they don't go as far into that direction as you might think, as most of the album sounds like typical latter-day Bon Jovi; belonging more on rock radio (or at least soft-rock) than country. Even their collaboration with Big & Rich, We Got It Going On, sounds more like a remake of It's My Life, complete with Sambora's vocoder. In fact, with the exception of the occasional steel guitar, fiddle or accordion playing in the background, there isn't much difference between this album and any of their other albums from the last decade. That being said, there are some great songs on the album; Make a Memory is easily one of their best ballads; Lost Highway, Summertime and I Love This Town are the usual big car-driving, sing-alongs you'd expect from them, while the mid-tempo Whole Lot Of Leavin' demonstrates the best use of steel guitar in a Bon Jovi song. The album starts to run out of steam towards the end, as the songs become more forgettable; but overall if you've liked the music Bon Jovi's put out in the last decade or so, you should like this album as well.

His new cd Lost Highway, is one you need to have. He has a variety of music on it, and just a great cd to listen too. There is some rock, a little country twist, and ballad. Love this cd.

The cd I've chosen to review is Bon Jovi's Lost Highway cd. In a nutshell, this is a great cd. And if you haven't heard, it's a cd with a country flair to it. Now I'm no 'country' man, but I love this country cd.

Bon Jovi know how to rock, but now they rock with a pleasant country flavour. This cd has everything from fast moving tracks to the slow ballads that Bon Jovi is known for.

Here are my personal favorites from the disc:

* Lost Highway
* Summertime
* We got It Going On
* Any Other Day

In my opinion, this is a cd to have in your collection, it's well put together and I think you'll enjoy it just as much as I did.

Bon Jovi's Lost Highway is one of the best albums of 2007. The leadoff single, (You Want To) Make A Memory) is a beautiful ballad. It has be considered one of the best singles from Bon Jovi in a long time. After achieving a #1 country single last year with WHO SAYS YOU CAN'T GO HOME, it's easy to understand why Bon Jovi would test the waters on this album. Summertime is close to previous Bon Jovi albums and the current singles, Lost Highway, is one of the best rocker songs on the album. Till We Ain't Strangers Anymore is a classic country ballad. Seat Next To You is an amazing song and one of the best songs on the album. Bon Jovi delivers a masterpiece- an album that deserves five stars.

Bon Jovi rocks!!

Wasn't sure if this was going to be an album in my collection until I heard a few songs from it played on one of my local radio stations where one of the dj's is a huge Bon Jovi fan like me. I must admit I love every song for it's style. It may be very country but so what. Artists have the right to expand their horizons and good on them for doing it right. The duets are cool and Make a Memory is truly haunting but beautiful. Sounds like Jon and the boys are on a new venture down an interesting if not "lost" highway to a new horizon in music for them and for us too.

As a long time Bon Jovi fan, I am abit disappointed about this album but not because the songs are bad. The songs are great but the problem is that this album doesn't has 1 single traditional Bon Jovi style rock song such as " It's my life" , " Living like a prayer" or "Have a nice day". A traditional Bon Jovi album is supposed to have rock songs and ballard songs equally divided into half half. Instead of doing that, this time they turned all the rock songs into country songs. Bon Jovi had made it into the country music market with the song "who said you can't go home" and so this album basically is a follow up of the success they had with that song. Adding new elements and trying new types of music is a good thing but I don't think they should completely change their style because they are losing some of the rock fans. On the other hand, the good thing about this album is that they still have a few ballard songs. The first single of this album "You want to make a memory" is a romantic soft ballard song just like "Thank You for loving me", "always" or "All about loving you" from the past. If you are looking for a classic Bon Jovi rock album like "slippy when wet" or "Crash" I guess this album is just not your cup of tea. Hopefully their next album will rock again and I hope they still remember that they were one of the most successful metal bands of the 80s.

Bon Jovi and country music fit together so smoothly on this album, that you'll have difficulty figuring out which part is country and which part is rock. This Nashville influenced album is one you can listen to over and over again, especially the first single "(You Want To) Make a Memory", which starts quietly, and gradually works its way to a soaring crescendo.

"If you don't know if you should stay
If you don't say what's on your mind
Baby just breathe
There's nowhere else tonight we should be
You wanna make a memory?"

There are no wrong turns, debris or traffic jams on Lost Highway, which is loaded with songs that rock, songs that smolder and songs that just explode. First track "Lost Highway" is a perfect driving song about freedom, and is followed by the more traditional rock track "Summertime". Great tracks where the rock comes blasting through are "Everybody's Broken", and "The Last Night".

The ones that sound most like country tracks (or at least country crossover) are "Whole Lot of Leaving", "We Got It Going On" featuring Big & Rich, "Any Other Day", "One Step Closer", "I Love This Town", the slow ballad "Seat Next To You" and the second best track on the album "Stranger" featuring LeAnn Rimes.

Bon Jovi may have changed direction on this album, but it's certainly no dead end.

Amanda Richards

I have just finished listening to the album online and have decided to buy it. This album has a lot of songs with great beats. I really like the way the acoustic guitar is played off the electric slide in "Whole Lot of Leaving Going On". This may be Bon Jovi's way of paying homage to Nashville, but it is definitely not country. I have followed these guys ever since their self titled debut, and this album, like the rest, really delivers. Bon Jovi fans new and old are going to like it.