Digitally re-mastered edition of the Melodic Hard Rock/AOR band's 1988 album, released to coincide with the band's 30th Anniversary. In 1988 NEW JERSEY spent four straight weeks at # 1 in the U.S. and spawned five Top 10 singles - 'Bad Medicine,' 'Born to Be My Baby;,' 'I'll Be There for You,' 'Living in Sin,' and 'Lay Your Hands on Me,' - the only rock album ever with that many Top 10 hits. The album is multi-platinum in the U.S. and has sold more than 10 million copies worldwide. Bon Jovi originally envisioned the NEW JERSEY project as a double-LP, using the working title Sons of Beaches. But in the end, Mercury Records released the album as a 12-track single LP and the band renamed it simply NEW JERSEY, in honor of their home state.
Bon Jovi had perfected a formula for hard pop/rock by the time of New Jersey, concentrating on singalong choruses sung over and over again, frequently by a rough, extensively overdubbed chorus, producing an effect not unlike what these songs sounded like in the arenas and stadiums where they were most often heard. The lyrics had that typical pop twist -- although they nominally expressed romantic commitment, sentiments such as "Lay Your Hands on Me" and "I'll Be There for You" worked equally well as a means for the band and its audience to reaffirm their affection for each other. The only thing that marred the perfection of this communion was Jon Bon Jovi's continuing obsession with a certain predecessor from his home state; at times, he seemed to be trying to re-create Born to Run using cheaper materials. [New Jersey was remastered in 2014.] ~ William Ruhlmann, Rovi
