{"id":40738,"date":"2008-02-09T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2008-02-09T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/keep-the-faith\/"},"modified":"2008-02-09T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2008-02-09T00:00:00","slug":"keep-the-faith","status":"publish","type":"review","link":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/keep-the-faith\/","title":{"rendered":"Keep The Faith"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"MsoNormal\">There are certain artists a music reviewer, even an amateur like me, is simply expected to like: the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, U2\u2026Bon Jovi?<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Yeah, I know, I know, there\u2019s a pretty serious stigma in the music world against arena rockers. All the songs sound the same, the lyrics are juvenile, every band is all glitz and no substance, etc. etc. But if the album\u2019s fun, does it matter? Easy answer: not this time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">With standard-fare arena rockers \u201cI Believe\u201d and \u201cKeep The Faith,\u201d fans of classic Bon Jovi will be happy to see that some things never change. Loud, rousing choruses that demand a crowd response are what you expect the boys from Jersey to deliver, and about half the album is full of solid, if unspectacular, numbers like \u201cFear,\u201d \u201cWoman In Love,\u201d and \u201cI Want You.\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">\u201cIf I Was Your Mother\u201d fits this mold, albeit with lyrics that just cause you to cringe a little when you hear them: \u201cIf I was your mother\/Could I teach you what\u2019s right\/Could I tell you stories\/Maybe tuck you in\/And kiss you sweet goodnight.\u201d You know what Jon means here, but still\u2026the lover = mother idea just makes me say eww.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">The other half of the album, where the arena rock roots are present but not overwhelming, is what separates Bon Jovi from so many of the other long-haired rockers of the 80s. \u201cI\u2019ll Sleep When I\u2019m Dead\u201d carries about it a conviction that life should be lived to the fullest, and has you banging your head at the same time. \u201cIn These Arms\u201d and \u201cBed Of Roses\u201d are both excellent power ballads that beg you to sing along for the whole ride, and both feature exquisite vocals from Jon.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">The <st1:city><st1:place>high point<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> of the album comes in the form of \u201c<st1:place><st1:placename>Dry<\/st1:placename>  <st1:placetype>County<\/st1:placetype><\/st1:place>,\u201d which finds the band in Springsteen-worship mode, framing the struggles of life around a family that moves to a county held hostage by drought. Clocking in at nearly 10 minutes, the most amazing thing about this song is that it never feels too long \u2013 self-indulgent perhaps, but never too long. The lyrics, especially to the chorus, are superb and the tone matches the musical style perfectly. Throw in a rocking guitar solo that gives Richie Sambora his moment to shine, and you\u2019ve got an underappreciated classic on your hands.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">The album closes out with another song that hasn\u2019t been given the publicity I think it deserves, a fun tune called \u201cBlame It on the Love of Rock And Roll.\u201d I have a weakness for songs praising the genre that is rock music, and this one is a perfect example of what those kinds of ditties should be. \u201cBlame It\u201d isn\u2019t meaningful, it isn\u2019t life-changing, but it is definitely fun, and that\u2019s what this album is all about.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><i>Keep The Faith<\/i> is not exactly the most complex album ever written, musically or lyrically. As a matter of fact, it\u2019s not going to crack the Top 500 of that particular list. But once it gets going, you just can\u2019t help but love it. And there\u2019s really only one logical explanation: blame it on the love of rock and roll.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":29200,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[8140],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-40738","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-bon-jovi","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40738","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/64"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40738"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40738\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=40738"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=40738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}