Album Review: "Lost Highway" by Bon Jovi (2007)

After hitting paydirt with Sugarland's Jennifer Nettles on "Who Says You Can't Go Home" about a year and a half ago, Jon Bon Hair Salon and the boys have offered up a country-tinged disc that has become the first #1 album for the band since 1988's "New Jersey".

I've often maintained that country music is the natural successor to the pop-metal that I grew up with and still love dearly, and so I'm happy to say that especially as compared with the dismal "Have a Nice Day", the fellas have their hearts right into this one all the way through. The title track (which opens the album) features a fiddle on top of a big "hey hey" singalong. Second track "Summertime" is irresistible, especially at this time of year. Lead off single "You Wanna Make a Memory" is perhaps the worst track on the whole record, which is saying something. And Nashville personalities like LeAnn Rimes, who appears on the emotional "Till We Ain't Strangers Anymore", and Big and Rich, part of the dumb yet catchy "We Got It Going On", make appearances as does Katrina Elam, a collaborator of Keith Urban's with an absolutely gorgeous voice, on "Everybody's Broken". And I'll call it right now: if I was in charge of the Grammy Awards, I'd name "Any Other Day" as next year's Song of the Year winner right now.

Check it out.

Overall rating: 8.25/10