The growling, choppy guitar sample that opens the first track here, "It's My Life", is a virtual declaration of intent for the first Bon Jovi album in five years, a statement that they're updating the sound without abandoning the traditional virtues that made them one of the biggest bands on the planet. So make way for a hi-tech parade of smooth-but-gutsy rock anthems, almost any one of which will gladden the heart of every AOR radio programmer in the land. Unless the world has changed irredeemably, cuts such as the mid-paced heartbreak chugger "Say It Isn't So" are destined to become Bon Jovi standards, while an outbreak of scarf-waving and lighter-flicking is certain to accompany any live performance of the big weepy, "Thank You For Loving Me". Arguably, everything on Crush is done by the numbers, but with consummate pros like Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora at the helm, these are the kind of numbers you have to take seriously, because by the second time they kick into the chorus of any song it's damn near impossible not to sing along. --Johnny Black

1 - It's My Life
2 - Say It Isn't So
3 - Thank You For Loving Me
4 - Two Story Town
5 - Next 100 Years
6 - Just Older
7 - Mystery Train
8 - Save the World
9 - Captain Crash and the Beauty Queen From Mars
10 - She's a Mystery
11 - I Got the Girl
12 - One Wild Night
13 - I Could Make A Living Loving You