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The Circle - Bon Jovi
Metascore
52 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 10 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 10
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 10
  3. Negative: 1 out of 10
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  1. Billboard.com
    79
    The New Jersey group gets back to the business of rocking on its 11th studio album, The Circle.
  2. Q Magazine
    60
    More than a quarter century down the line, Bon Jovi are still living and selling the rock 'n' roll fantasy on The Circle. Why Not? They've done very nicely out of it. [Jan 2010, p. 126]
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  3. Rolling Stone
    60
    It does rock--if your idea of rock is Aerosmith doing Diane Warren songs.
  4. Spin
    60
    Predictable and immaculately produced, these arena-shakers offer a familiar brand of Jersey cheese, but where Jon Bon Jovi once was kind of quixotic ('Livin' on a Prayer'), he's more contemplative than ever, turning out meditations like 'Live Before You Die' ("There'll come a day when you have to say hello to goodbye").
  5. The New York Times
    60
    But even while Mr. Bon Jovi is sympathizing with the common man, the scrape in his voice is never wrenching. And while the arrangements are mildly darker than on the group's previous albums, this group is still drawn magnetically to swelling choruses, its ambition of scale still grander than its ambition of import.
  6. Entertainment Weekly
    50
    Between cliches and Jon's strained voice, The Circle just feels tired.
  7. All Music Guide
    40
    A knack for oversized choruses remains hardwired in Bon Jovi, but in this gloomy context, they act as reminders that they once sounded like they were a working band for working men instead of rich men fretting about a world they've long left behind.
  8. Hot Press
    40
    Predictable return to stadium soft-rock from former Poodle-permers.
  9. Boston Globe
    40
    Slick production and beer-ad bombast grease these 12 tracks. Singer Jon Bon Jovi has yet to meet a cliche he can't work into a song.
  10. Los Angeles Times
    37
    The Circle shows off Bon Jovi's still-sharp knack for wedding blandly optimistic sentiments to predictably soaring choruses. Unfortunately, it's getting pretty hard to tell one song from the next.
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User Reviews

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User Score
8.0 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 34 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 2
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 2
  3. Negative: 1 out of 2
  1. LuisG.
    0
    I used to like Bon Jovi, a lot but what they do nowadays is...so sadly BAD it is not rock, in any way.
  2. DaveyH.
    7
    While the songs are not bad, by the end they start to sound the same. What Bon Jovi did great in most of his other albums is the variety of different songs throughout the album. In The Circle every song sticks to a classic rocking rhythm, which on it's own is not bad, but the bar has been set and Bon Jovi didn't quite make it.… Full Review »
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