Richie Sambora
Stranger In This Town

One face, just one, of the polyhedron known as the United States of America. A decisive and determined face by those surfaces that intersected to give life to the rock of the '80s. This is an album that went a little unnoticed but in my opinion marks an important milestone in the history of the genre for several reasons.

Richie Sambora pulled the diamond out of his shoe. Here, he sheds the image of the Bon Jovi guitar hero  (after years and years of successes culminating from the New Jersey tour) to dress as himself. The album in question - his first solo - comes from within. "Stranger In This Town" is an intimate and introspective work, elegant and refined, so American, original and radical that at times it feels native and at times it tastes of Yankee.

Fundamentally, it is a step back, a spiritual that comes from a few decades earlier, from the nights when feathered Indians gathered around a great fire to smoke (lucky them!). But also from an alcohol-soaked house in Baton Rouge 1800, if you like.

It's for this reason, I believe, that Richie Sambora decided to sing—to prove he's summed up a genre of noble tradition. A bold assumption, I realize, because our man sings very well, because he sings like a shaman and his call, undeniably, reaches the soul of anyone listening to rock in all its forms, from A.O.R. to street.

The veins that run through all the album start in "Rest In Peace", where blues atmospheres swept by the wind and echoing chants meet as generative elements, creating sounds that pave the way for the inner carpets and the rampant impulses that are to come. A simple and spiritual, essential, seminal beginning that leaves room for the entry of bass, drums, and guitar in "Church Of Desire". What a voice! One might say at the first gushing breaths of consumed oxygen that vibrate Richie’s vocal cords. Meanwhile, he also vibrates the six strings of the instrument he wields with a class devoid of baroque elements, full only of itself. In fact, it’s an album start, far from mannerist, pompous, or bombastic as one would expect from a guitarist coming from the east coast FM rock world.

Even the songwriting is worthy of note. As a (fairly) mature artist / bluesman, Richie clearly doesn't want to talk to us about boobs, asses, sex, and drugs but about the search for himself and melancholic situations.

Already with the title track, which follows "Church Of Desire", you plunge into the deluge of the lyricist Sambora, who, with a somewhat bohemian air, finds the words that best accompany this delicate blues ballad. "Stranger In This Town" is truly an emotional track, probably the one that best connects to the album's artwork, too. The cover photo with Richie alone under a streetlamp on a desolate road—in a trite but well-made sepia effect—paired with the phrase opening the booklet seems specially made for the title track.

Another great track, revealing exactly what Sambora has contributed, musically, to Bon Jovi, is "Ballad Of Youth", a striking, pressing, and responsible adult-oriented hard rock (aor with an extra h), adhering to the refined stylistic rigor that can be found throughout the album.

Following my personal favorite piece: it starts with the magic of "One Light Burning". It’s a ballad that was truly needed, a reflection under the summer's day scorching and night’s humid stars—a piece where melancholy gives way to hope in a truly engaging and visceral atmosphere.

There's not a missed beat on this album. This is evident in yet another great track, of supreme class, titled "Mr. Bluesman". Guest star, notably Eric Clapton. The two intertwine perfectly, blend even better, and give each other quite a spirited performance.

We arrive at "Rosie" and "River Of Love", the most rock 'n' roll tracks of the album. Here, finally, you hear an angry and shouting Sambora, decidedly Bon Jovi-esque. It was needed to complete this dive back into the roots of '80s rock. To conclude this institution—just so—Richie chooses "The Answer", the sweet and delicate closing song of a work that, for me, is a landmark of the genre. A point of arrival and departure.

Heartfelt congratulations go to Sambora for crafting an album that will never have an equal because it is sincere, personal, and heartfelt. It's the album of an artist who has lived through countless experiences with the band and matured just as many on tours around the world, who likely always lived as a stranger in those towns.