Powerstars

Ah yes. In 2012, Richie Sambora, lead guitarist of Bon Jovi, deeply inspired by the amount of personal experiences he had in recent years, wrote and recorded an album about them. Noteworthy is that, for the first time, he has signed to an indie label. Can this man still rock out without Jon Bon Jovi and the band at his side? Let's find out!

1. Burn The Candle Down
Answer: Yes. We open with a very hard rocker. Richie's vocals are better then I initially thought. In fact, I had trouble believing it was Richie at first. He has a very diverse voice. This scape of sound is punctuated by funky organ that really brings the track together.

2. Every Road Leads Home To You
Very obviously inspired by his personal experiences, this emotional, almost power ballad is decently catchy and does it's job. My favorite part has to be the acoustic breakdown at the end.

3. Takin' A Chance On The Wind
Don't get the intro. It's this twangy country thing. The rest of the song is great though. It gets more and more electric as it goes on, and, as with "Burn The Candle Down," we have an organ that holds the song together. It's much more in the background though. Really rockin' and catchy one right here.

4. Nowadays
Dang, this one came and outta nowhere and was a pleasant surprise. We get this kick-ass drum intro and a surprisingly good metal scream from Richie. The whole track reminds me of the Foo Fighters, which can never be a bad thing. Very alternative inspired. Distorted solo really blows me outta my chair. On further listenings, I find the vocals are more than likely about the issues he'd been having. With his recent break from Bon Jovi, it kinda makes me wonder...Still, I love it when Bon Jovi made new songs with a more modern rock sound on What About Now, and I love it here.

5. Weathering The Storm
Softer sound, that is rather enjoyable. It also seems to be about Sambora's personal life. Has a pretty cool, grungy riff in the background of the chorus that I wish was more emphasized. It's probably the weakest song on the album, but it's okay.

6. Sugar Daddy
Upon hearing the title, I was scared Richie was going to make a rap song. Nope. Pop Rockish, actually. Don't run away, Hard Rock fanboys! It's actually pretty good! I like it. Synth during the verses surprised me, but I grew to really like it. It's probably the equivalent of Because We Can for this album, a poppier tune, though this is on the dirtier side of pop in terms of instrumentation. A song I thought I was going to hate. I ended up digging it. It's like Lady Gaga if Lady Gaga didn't suck and was moar RAWK.

7. I'll Always Walk Besides You
Opening with the good ol' acoustics, and Richie almost sounding like Jon. Then we get a synth sting. Very cool, mysterious sounding song, with seemingly experimental synth at times. The second half of the song was meant for head bopping and singing along badly. I really like this. Parts of it remind me of "The Circle" era Bon Jovi. Guitar solos sound really spacey and awesome. Distorted guitar at the end is weird but cool. Great ballad for the album.

8. Seven Years Gone
Acoustic-y ballad is what this track starts out as. Builds up into sort of a Mid-2000's style rock ballad. This is not a bad thing, it's not all that generic. Very obviously inspired by Sambora's personal issues, it's pretty good, and we get a pretty cool bridge at like 3 minutes in. Some parts, like that bridge, are almost Linkin Parkish to me. This is a diverse album.

9. Learning How To Fly With A Broken Wing
Ooh. Don't know how to describe it really, but I love these types of dark contemporary rock songs. Almost like "Complicated" on Bon Jovi's "Have A Nice Day," but heavier, which is totally a plus. The darkness of this song is really masterful. It gets surprisingly heavy. We know that one good thing came from all the crap that Richie had to go through: This album.

10. You Can Only Get So High
Beginning with a backmasked instrument, it is mildly psychedelic. It's a really emotional, deeply sad song. It makes me feel really sorry for this man. Deep, heartfelt, beautiful. There's only so much I can say about something this heartfelt. I love it so much.

11. World
Possibly my favorite song on the album, maybe excluding "Nowadays", this Beatlesque ballad lightens up the mood a little bit after this story of Richie's lowdown. It's short, sweet, and beautiful. It's lyrics are simple. It's orchestration is lush. It's execution is beautiful. It's perfect.

Trollheart also sent me the bonus tracks. Special thanks, I'll look at them, but won't factor them into the overall rating

Backseat Driver (Japan Bonus Track)
I rather like the song. It's heavy and tells it's story well. Most likely not included on most releases of the album, because it doesn't fit. It almost sounds like that song, "I Don't Wanna Be," at times. I really do love this song though. It just didn't fit, unfortunately.

Forgiveness Street
Chill, trippy opening. It's pretty okay I gu-HOLY CRAP DISSONANCE YES! If an emotional song has dissonance, it wins with me! This is actually pretty good, though it does have the feeling that it is simply a bonus track. It would have knocked the album down by like what, one point? It's still alright.

Conclusion: This is a man that knows what he's doing. This album is very comparable to What About Now, it's just a much darker take. Overall, I want to hear more solo Richie. I really hope for him to have more creative control in Bon Jovi, also. Maybe a song on a future album that features him on lead vocals. I think that's actually a good idea. I mean, The Jimi Hendrix Experience did it, why not Bon Jovi? Ahem, anyways...

FINAL SCORE: 88/100 (Rock on, Richie)

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