Album reviews: Bon Jovi | Cheap Trick | Dion | William Prince
Jon Bon Jovi may have enlisted an impressive cast of guest singers to revisit last year’s Forever album with him, but none of them can do much to elevate the sub-par material, writes Fiona Shepherd
Bon Jovi: Forever (Legendary Edition) (Island Records) ★★
Cheap Trick: All Washed Up (BMG) ★★★
Dion: The Rock ’N’ Roll Philosopher (KTBA Records) ★★★
William Prince: Further From the Country (Six Shooter Records) ★★★
Following vocal surgery in 2022, Jon Bon Jovi made it through the recording of last year’s disappointing offering, Forever, but was still unable to tour. Which, one imagines, for an old gig hound is a bit like being told he should lay off breathing for a while. Still, we’ve recently learned that Bon Jovi will be touring the UK in 2026, including a Murrayfield show at the end of August, and in the meantime he can be forgiven for keeping his hand in by revisiting Forever with a spectrum of guest singers. On this so-called Legendary Edition, he humbly defers to the powerful pipes of some of his duet partners but not even big guns like fellow New Jersey titan Bruce Springsteen can do much with the material.
Becoming blander as the years truck on, Bon Jovi now finds suitable matches with the pop likes of James Bay, Robbie Williams and OneRepublic’s Ryan Tedder. At least nouveau blues shouter Jelly Roll leaves some grit under the manicured Living Proof, while fellow roots rocker Jason Isbell is guaranteed to mine as much storytelling currency as he can from the shallow Waves and The War and Treaty bring a modicum of soulful elevation to The People’s House.
Veteran songwriter Billy Falcon has worked with Bon Jovi since the early Nineties and is a sweet choice for the schmaltzy Kiss the Bride which he co-authored. That same mawkish, nostalgic sentiment also fuels My First Guitar, on which Bon Jovi is joined by next generation guitar hero Marcus King to dice with the Spinal Tap-like lyrics (“she’s the only one that knows the way I feel”). With no standout couplings, Forever (Legendary Edition) is a pretty feeble place marker on Bon Jovi’s road to full recovery.
At the age of 86, doo-wop veteran Dion can do whatever he wants, and is minded to delve further back into his catalogue for The Rock ’N’ Roll Philosopher, with a more select coterie of guest guitarists, including his new label boss Joe Bonamassa. Mark Knopfler channels Carlos Santana on Dancing Girl and Eric Clapton riffs away familiarly at the crossroads on If You Wanna Rock and Roll, though Ride With You packs more Hells Angels danger.
Style-wise, the album ranges from the standard blues braggadocio of I’m Your Gangster of Love via grizzled Tom Waits-referencing lament Serenade/Come to the Cross to the chiming doo-woptimism of New York Minute, one of several tributes to his east coast roots. He also revisits a handful of his signature tunes, including The Wanderer, Runaround Sue and a new heartfelt recording of the classic Abraham, Martin and John.
It’s the same old all new from Rock & Roll Hall of Famers Cheap Trick on their playfully titled latest, All Washed Up, which should at least be music to their long-term fans’ ears. Still best known for their late Seventies hits I Want You to Want Me and Surrender, the US veterans refuse to be boxed in by expectations, sitting slick power pop (Twelve Gates) alongside hoary metal (Bet It All), all in service to celebrating their favourite topic - the power of rock’n’roll and their role in perpetuating its appeal.
First Nations troubadour William Prince is a John Prine Songwriter Fellowship winner for his thoughtful acoustic roots tunes. As its title might suggest, his latest album Further From the Country boasts a bigger, slicker sound with even a touch of Sturgill Simpson excess on the proggy country rock title track. His soothing baritone lulls the listener on the made-it-through-the-rain sentiments of For the First Time, despite the slightly overproduced sound, and he convinces as the injured party on Flowers on the Dash (“cos you don’t want ’em”) but rockabilly croon Thousand Miles of Chain is the best showcase here of this alluring performer.
READ MORE: Harben Kay, Edinburgh review: 'full on'
CLASSICAL
Dudok Quartet: Saarahio & Shostakovich (Rubicon) ★★★★★
Thoughtfulness plays a key part in defining the persona of the excellent Dudok Quartet Amsterdam, and the composition of their programming is always artfully considered. In this latest album Shostakovich’s String Quartet No 3, a profound yet unpretentious exploration of the ambiguity of human thoughts and recollections, sits powerfully with Finnish-born composer Kaija Saariaho’s second quartet Terra Memoria, its tantalising sound world consumed by “dreams and memories” of the departed. The quartet’s appreciation of Saarahio’s spectral texturing, her melancholic allure, and the ultimate transfixing power of her music’s gestural structuring materialises in a thoroughly absorbing performance. All the more so in the wake of the Shostakovich, where directional clarity and the sardonic juxtaposition of wit, woefulness and desolation freely interact. The subtleties uncovered in this account are as potent as its steely directness. A selection of the Quartet’s own arrangements of Shostakovich’s 24 Preludes offer a lighter finale. Ken Walton
FOLK
Ninebarrow: The Hour of the Blackbird (Winding Track) ★★★★
The lyrical Dorset singer-songwriting duo of Jon Whitley and Jay LaBouchardiere reprise their back catalogue in a beguiling and at times ethereal collaboration with two choirs from the English south-east, Hart Voices and the Chantry Singers. The pair handle an assortment of instruments from tenor guitar to piano, alongside John Parker on bass and percussionists Evan Carson and Mark Tucker. The pastoral evocation of the title track (originally recorded remotely during Covid lockdown, raising £8,000 for a mental health charity) sees the duo’s finely balanced harmonies gradually cusped in an increasingly triumphant swell of choral voices that distinctively colours these arrangements, intensifying the optimism of the opening Names in the Sky, for instance, or the pagan celebration of Summer Fires. Similarly, Nestledown builds to an even more life-affirming triumph than the original, while their final Farewell Shanty casts off to brief but sublime a cappella effect. Jim Gilchrist
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