The Circle (Bon Jovi album)

The Circle
Studio album by Bon Jovi
Released	November 10, 2009
Recorded	2008–09
Genre	Rock[1][2]
Length	52:49
Label	Island Mercury
Producer	John Shanks Jon Bon Jovi (co-producer) Richie Sambora (co-producer)
Bon Jovi chronology
Lost Highway (2007) The Circle (2009) Greatest Hits (2010)
Singles from The Circle
"We Weren't Born to Follow" Released: August 31, 2009 "Superman Tonight" Released: January 25, 2010 "When We Were Beautiful" Released: May 20, 2010 "Work for the Working Man (Promo)" Released: 2010

The Circle is the eleventh studio album by American rock band Bon Jovi. Produced by John Shanks, the album was released November 10, 2009.^[3] The album debuted at #1 in several countries, including the U.S., where it sold 163,000 copies in its first week debuting at #1 on the Billboard 200.^[4]

The Circle takes the band back to the rock roots after their prior Nashville country music influenced album Lost Highway.

Recording and production

In an interview given to Rolling Stone Magazine, guitarist Richie Sambora says the album is a return to "rock and roll" and said "There’s going to be some big choruses on there. It sounds like Bon Jovi, but it sounds fresh. We experimented with a lot of new sounds and had a really good time working with John Shanks, who is also a really good guitar player, so he and I did a lot of ‘weaseling’ with the guitar sounds. There are a lot of really good guitar sounds and new kind atmospheres on the new Bon Jovi record, that I think makes it really modern. I think people are going to dig it, man. And it rocks hard."^[5]

In an interview on UK radio station Absolute Radio, Jon Bon Jovi stated the album title has multiple meanings. It stands for the fact that a circle is never ending, and that it also refers to Bon Jovi's inner circle – stating that "in this organization, the circle is very difficult to get into, and even more difficult to get out of."^[6]

The lead single, "We Weren't Born To Follow" is about the tough times we are experiencing in this economic crisis. "Superman Tonight" was released as the second single followed by "When We Were Beautiful" as the third single, all of which featuring music videos. Work For The Working Man which was released as a promo single was also written about the DHL plant that closed in Ohio. Before the official release of the album, U.S. President Barack Obama's chief adviser David Axelrod had the lyrics to "Work for the Working Man" framed and hung in his White House office.^[7]

The album is the first record since 1988's "New Jersey" not to feature bonus tracks (all the subsequent albums from 1992's Keep The Faith through to 2007's Lost Highway have included songs not available in the USA). Lead singer Jon Bon Jovi has stated that there were one or two songs that he left off the album that could have been bonus tracks which he wanted to keep for the Greatest Hits.

Release and reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[8]
BBC Music	(favorable)[1]
Boston.com	(unfavorable)[9]
Entertainment Weekly	(C)[10]
The Guardian	(favorable)[11]
The Independent	[12]
Los Angeles Times	[13]
The New York Times	(favorable)[14]
NU.nl	[15]
Rolling Stone	[2]

The Circle debuted at the number-one position with sales of 163,000 copies on the U.S. Billboard 200.^[4] The following week it fell to #19, tying with Sia's 2014 album 1000 Forms of Fear and Muse's 2015 album Drones for the 11th largest drop from #1 as of December 2016. Bon Jovi would achieve this again seven years later with This House Is Not for Sale, which claimed the largest drop. They are the only band to have multiple places on the list.

It debuted at the number-one position with the sales of around 67,000 copies on the Japanese Oricon weekly album charts, becoming their fifth number-one album on the Japanese chart. Because of the album's number-one debut, the band tied the Oricon charts' record of having five number-one albums as a Western artist, which was held by Mariah Carey and Simon & Garfunkel.^[16]

Initial critical response to The Circle was average. Nigel Britto of the Times of India observed that the album marked a 'return to tradition' and served as a 'breath of fresh air' to those that found the band's recent material corny.^[17] At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an average score of 52, based on ten reviews. The album received a 79/100 from billboard.com praising the group for returning to their rock roots.^[18]

Track listing

Personnel

• Jon Bon Jovi - lead vocals, guitar
• Richie Sambora - lead guitar, backing vocals
• Tico Torres - drums
• David Bryan - keyboards, backing vocals

Additional personnel

• Hugh McDonald – bass, backing vocals

Charts

Certifications

Release history

References