Ah, another track that doesn’t really sound like Bon Jovi. This song had the promise of being one of the rock ballads that Bon Jovi has always delivered so well, but doesn’t quite make it. Every time it makes it to the end of a verse, it builds up gorgeously, but then it doesn’t deliver enough punch in the chorus. This song is begging for a big, fist-pumping chorus, and it just doesn’t deliver well. The chorus just isn’t really memorable enough to really stick. That’s really my only beef with the writing on this track, because the rest of the lyrics are the stuff that great Bon Jovi ballads are made of.
Also, I really don’t like the strange, sort of ghostly female backing vocals in the solo. They just sound totally out of place in a Bon Jovi song. The band is made up entirely of men, so the female vocals just don’t sound like they belong at all, especially, because the backing vocals elsewhere in the song are done by the other members of the band. Richie’s work in the solo fits in well with feel of the backing vocals and the keyboards though. It takes a real musician to take an instrument as strong as the electric guitar and make it sound that plaintive.
Jon’s did a pretty good job on the lead vocals on this one, but I just get the feeling that he could have put more into it. While the vocals are technically good–Jon sounds marvelous–it seems to be a bit lacking in passion somehow. The vocals just don’t seem as expressive as they could be, and the end result is that they don’t really resonate with my emotions.
Unfortunately, so far, I can’t warm up to this song at all. It’s not bad, but there’s nothing great about it.
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