[外電] Lost Highway - NY Times
By now most interested parties have grown accustomed to the idea of a Bon
Jovi country album. Last year the band had a No. 1 country hit with “Who
Says You Can’t Go Home,” featuring guest vocals by Jennifer Nettles of the
Atlanta group Sugarland. The song’s success earned Jon Bon Jovi an
invitation to the Country Music Association Awards, where he voiced his
appreciation for Nashville’s songwriting tradition, looking only slightly
out of place.
“Lost Highway” takes this strategic partnership a step further, yielding
unsurprising but reasonably strong results. Mr. Bon Jovi and his wingman, the
guitarist Richie Sambora, sing as yearningly together as ever. And their new
songs — often written with the band’s regular producer, John Shanks —
deliver a familiar payoff of big choruses and earnest lyrics. Several
ballads, including the first single, “Make a Memory,” appeal directly to a
love interest; true to form, Mr. Bon Jovi employs the word “baby” every
time.
As a lyricist he ventures gingerly on his new turf, taking pains not to mug
or condescend. Maybe the “plastic dashboard Jesus” in the title track was a
bad idea, but elsewhere there’s at least a hint of better judgment. (One
chorus features “a beach blanket and a bottle of wine,” though “box of wine
” would have scanned better rhythmically.) The album’s only real pun is
buried: “Whole Lot of Leavin’ ” refers to late September foliage as well
as the call of the road, but you’d have to pay attention to notice.
“Lost Highway” feels most like a country album on the tracks produced by
the Nashville insider Dann Huff, which turns out to be for better and for
worse. Along with “Make a Memory,” Mr. Huff is responsible for
sweet-tempered, sure-footed guest appearances by LeAnn Rimes and the
singer-songwriter Hillary Lindsey. Unfortunately he also oversees a party
anthem with Big & Rich and a dud called “I Love This Town,” songs that only
the Nashville Convention and Visitors Bureau could love.
But Mr. Bon Jovi has interests beyond civic cheerleading. On “Everybody’s
Broken” he delivers a barbed sort of consolation, and on “One Step Closer”
he describes what sounds like a recovery from addiction. Perhaps it means
something that Mr. Sambora recently checked in and out of rehab; there’s a
place for reckless behavior in country music, just as there’s a place for
redemption. NATE CHINEN
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