Welcome back for Part II of the Journey Album by Album Challenge. How fucking mind-blowingly fun was that? In part I, I really did have quite a few revelations about just how fucking monumentally amazing this band is. Up to this point, the focus of Journey’s destination definitely changed the scope of their art quite a bit yet they still managed to stay true to themselves never sounding like a band that was selling out but sounding like a band that was growing and expanding into the world.
For part II, we will pick up with the legendary Escape album, we will hear the 1996 reunion album, we’ll hear the two albums that featured Perry’s replacement Steve Augeri, and we will hear Journey’s two most recent albums to feature current vocalist Arnel Pineda. How do these albums fair in the eyes and ears of the Brainfart? Well, my brothers and sisters. Read on and enjoy this 2nd and final part of the Journey Album by Album Challenge.
Escape
Release Date: July 31, 1981
The Good: Don’t Stop Belivin’, Stone In Love, Who’s Crying Now, Keep On Runnin’, Still They Ride, Escape, Lay It Down,
The Bad:
The Indifferent: Open Arms
This was my first time hearing Escape in it’s entirety and I have to say that this is honestly one of the greatest rock n’ roll albums I have ever heard in my entire life. Every song is as good if not better than the one before it. Opening with “Don’t Stop Believin’” really sets the pace for this album and then from there it’s just one after other of solid, timeless, classic rock goodness. “Who’s Crying Now” is such a great song and it’s greatness was totally missed on me but hey, better late than never right? “Keep on Runnin’” is so punchy and fun and I’ll be damned if “Still they Ride” isn’t one of the best songs ever written. It’s absolutely beautiful.
While this album totally boasts quite a few of Journey’s most popular songs, the more obscure tracks such as the title track, “Lay it Down”, “Dead or Alive”, and the live staple “Mother, Father” are just as strong, if not stronger, than the songs that were more popular from this release. My only real issue was closing the album with “Open Arms.” My mind really hasn’t been changed much on this song at all. I still find it to be pretty cringe worthy and I found that it was a total mood killer as a closer. If anything, they should’ve closed the album out with “Mother, Father” to keep things a bit more intense as I feel that this was a pretty big sequencing error. Other than that, I found Escape to be pretty much a perfect album and damn near masterpiece.
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Frontiers
Release Date: February 22, 1983
The Good: Separate Ways, Send Her My Love, After the Fall, Faithfully, Edge of the Blade, Troubled Child, Back Talk, Frontiers, Rubicon
The Bad:
The Indifferent: Chain Reaction,
So Frontiers is a kind of weird album for me and I’ll tell you why. Coming off the heels of Escape where nearly every song was a classic rock masterpiece, Frontiers definitely seems to have a more darker edge to it. The songs that are good on this album are fucking amazing songs but again, they just seem to be a bit on the dark side of things. Songs like “Send Her My Love”, “Edge of the Blade”, and “After the Fall” are definitely more on the moody side. Even hearing “Faithfully” in this context proved to be a pretty dark, moody song. The only song that left me scratching my head on this one was “Chain Reaction.” I mean, that song is pretty much “I Don’t Know” by Ozzy and it just did very little for me.
I love that “Back Talk” had such a fucking attitude to it bordering on almost a kind of punk vibe but they totally pulled that one off. That song in particular was a surprise. Ok, can we also just talk about what I feel are the highlights of this album? “Frontiers” and “Troubled Child” are two of the best fucking Journey songs out there and it was really cool still hearing them flex their prog rock muscles on these tunes. Both of these songs got repeated listens from me as I just couldn’t fucking get enough of them. All in all, Frontiers is a fucking splendid album that I feel deserves multiple listens. It’s such a different vibe from Escape which I appreciated as it was cool to feel like they shook things up a bit.
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Raised on Radio
Release Date: May 27, 1986
The Good: Girl Can’t Help It, Positive Touch, Suzanne, Be Good to Yourself, Once You Love Somebody, Happy to Give, Raised on Radio, I’ll Be Alright Without You, It Could’ve Been You, The Eyes of a Woman,
The Bad:
The Indifferent:
It’s crazy what three years can do to a band. Coming off the heels of such dark, moody, stellar album such as Frontiers, Raised on Radio doesn’t even sound like the same band. Matter of fact, it’s crazy to me that this can even be called a Journey album because it is so fucking different from anything they have done. This album just screams 80’s keyboards/production but here’s the deal. Matter of fact, I almost feel like it sounds more like a Steve Perry solo album but here’s the deal. I really like this album even though I feel like I should hate it with a passion.
The songs on ROR are pretty fucking fantastic. “Girl Can’t Help It” is such an infectious song that I just love. “Positive Touch” is pretty cool too even though I kept expecting him to sing, “I’m so excited, and I just can’t hide it!” “Be Good To Yourself” is pretty much a Journey staple which I can’t help but love. To me, the real stand out track on this album is “Happy to Give” which has to be one of Perry’s finest vocal deliveries. I also have to say that I love Perry’s nod to Motown via “I’ll Be Alright Without You.” That song is so fucking good it’s insane. All in all, while this might not be a really “rocking” album and it doesn’t have any real proggy moments, this is a great, essential pop record. This was Journey keeping up with the winds of change and showing that they could do it way better than many of their peers at the time.
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Trial by Fire
Release Date: October 22, 1996
The Good: Message of Love, One More, When You Love a Woman, If He Should Break Your Heart, Forever in Blue, Castles Burning, Don’t Be Down on Me Baby, She Still Cries, Colors of the Spirit, Can’t Tame the Lion, Trial by Fire
The Bad:
The Indifferent: When I Think of You, Easy to Fall, It’s Just the Rain
Ten years after the 80’s keyboard peppiness of Raised on Radio, Journey returned with original members Ross Vallory (bass) and Steve Smith (drums) to release an album that fucking absolutely blew my mind. Neil Scheon is back in the front of the mix where he belongs and the results of this reunion are absolutely astounding. The opening song “Message of Love” kicks things off perfectly while “One More” just takes things up a notch with its heavy groove that has Vallory really showcasing what a great bassist he is. The album is a bit ballad heavy and not all of them are great. “When You Love a Woman” and “She Still Cries” are really dynamic and great listens but songs like “When I think of You”, “Easy to Fall”, and “It’s Just the Rain” feel like filler. Losing these songs would’ve made the album pretty much perfect.
The good songs on this album are just way more than good. They are fucking stellar. “Castles Burning” is one of the most facemelting tunes I’ve heard Journey do to date and “Can’t Tame the Lion” is fantastic but it’s the somber, moody title track closing the album out that I feel is the highlight of this release. That song is so fucking stellar. It gave me chills just listening to it and it is hands down one of the most perfect songs I have ever heard. It’s so perfectly thought out and orchestrated and delivered flawlessly. Trial by Fire as a whole is a great fucking record that, in my opinion, was just a tad bit too long. Take out those three ballads and you have one of the most perfect Journey albums and rock albums in general.
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Arrival
Release Date: April 3, 2001
The Good: Higher Place,
The Bad: All the Way, Signs of Life, Signs of Life, All the Things, Loved by You, Livin’ to Do, World Gone Wild, I Got A Reason, With Your Love, Lifetime of Dreams, Live and Breathe, Nothin’ Comes Close, To Be Alive Again, Kiss Me Softly, Will We Meet Again
The Indifferent:
So from what I understand, after the Trial by Fire album, Steve Perry needed to have surgery and in a nutshell, the band didn’t want to wait for him to have it so they moved on without him so they got this joker named Steve Augeri to sing and record with them. Oh…my… God. Where do I even begin? I mean, it’s absolutely sickening to hear this album. It starts off pretty good with “Higher Place” but man, after that song something just happened. Those lyrics are just horrendous. If anyone ever wanted to know just how important Steve Perry was to Journey, just listen to this album, the first without him, and you’ll hear it. Song after song it’s just so unlistenable. Steve Augeri’s voice sounds like that of an American Idol contestant and it is just so sappy and cheesy. It’s like, he ALMOST sounds like Steve Perry but not quite.
“I’ve been around the world ain’t much that I’ve missed
It don’t get much better than this…oh baby
Nothing comes close to your kiss
I thought I’ve felt it all before, one taste and I want more…oh baby
Nothin comes close to your kiss”
Need I say more? Steve Perry would NEVER write shit like this. Hell, this song alone made “Open Arms” all of the sudden sound like a song that I should go back and like. Musically this album is really fucking great as all their stuff is but this is a prime example of just how horrible lyrics can kill a potentially great song. Honestly, I can’t believe that anyone in Journey thought that it was a good idea to more forward without Steve Perry. This album has me horrified for what lies ahead.
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Generations
Release Date: August 29, 2005
The Good:
The Bad: The Place in Your Heart, A Better Life, Every Generation, Butterfly, Believe, Knowing That You Love Me, Out of Harms Way, In Self-Defense, Better Together, Gone Crazy, Beyond the Clouds, It’s Never Too Late,
The Indifferent: Faith in the Heartland,
“Kids hanging out on a Saturday night
Waitin’ on wheels, wanna go for a ride
Cruisin’ ’round town, just feels right
Got to get away”
You have to be fucking kidding me. Are you serious? I couldn’t stop laughing and matter of fact, after a minute the laughter turned into anger over the sheer fact that Neil Schon actually allowed this hogwash to be captured and released to the public. If I had to even be a part of something this shitty I would hide under a fucking rock and NEVER come out. Maybe change my name and/or identity. Seriously, how can anyone write such shit lyrics? Hell, Poison wrote better shit than this and the other thing is that this album isn’t even really good musically. It just sounds like they checked out completely knowing that what they were making was pure horseshit.
“In this confusion from day to day
Sometimes fear just makes no sense
In this crossfire I see one way
In self defense.”
Need I say more? Luckily, this is the LAST album with this doofus as we head into the two most recent releases featuring latest singer Arnel Pineda. Will they be any better? I can only hope as I don’t feel like anything can get any worse that these horrid pieces of shit.
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Revelation
Release Date: June 3, 2008
The Good: Never Walk Away, Like a Sunshower, Wildest Dream, Faith in the Heartland, Where Did I Lose Your Love, What I Needed, What it Takes to Win, The Journey (Revelation)
The Bad:
The Indifferent: Change for the Better, After All These Years, Turn Down the World Tonight
I had VERY low expectations going into this album after the two Augeri atrocities. I really didn’t expect much but I have to say that this album really surprised in a great way. From the first notes of “Never Walk Away” I could tell right off the bat that things were going to be different. This is the first album to feature singer Arnel Pineda and I have to say that I love this fucking guy. His voice is sonically amazing and surprisingly doesn’t sound like a Steve Perry clone like he does live. I was a bit shocked to see that they re-recorded the only “meh” track from the last Augeri album (Faith in the Heartland) but man, I couldn’t believe how much I loved this song. This is a great example of how a different singer and a different energy can make the same, lifeless song just feel so full of fire.
I think it’s important, at this point, to note that while the songs are nowhere nearly as great as the ones that featured Perry, this album is a really good album all in its own and even the “indifferent” songs didn’t suck. They just didn’t move me or do much for me. The band sounds re-energized, full of fire, and they sound like they are having a fucking blast. Pineda’s vocal delivery on these songs is amazing and he’s got so much soul and feel to his voice as opposed to the oversinging American Idolesque schtick of Augeri. All in all, this was a really solid album that I was shocked to hear at this point. This is definitely another chapter for Journey and I love that they are embracing change and really putting forth the effort in both the songwriting and performances.
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Eclipse
Release Date: May 24, 2011
The Good: City of Hope, Edge of a Moment, She’s A Mystery, Ritual,
The Bad: Anything is Possible, Human Feel,
The Indifferent: Chain of Love, Tantra, Resonate, To Whom it May Concern, Someone,
So here we are at the end of the road. 2011’s Eclipse is the 2nd album to feature vocalist Arnel Pineda and after being so pleasantly surprised by Revelation I was curious what this one would have for me. In all honesty, this album just didn’t grab me like Revelation did. The performances on this album are once again really fun sounding. The band sounds fantastic and Pineda once again sounds remarkable but the actual songwriting on this album just seems to be lacking. The album opens up really strong with “City of Hope” and “She’s A Mystery” was a really nice surprise as that song really took me for a nice unexpected ride. “Ritual” was another really cool song and I have to say that I love that they closed the album out with a stellar instrumental track, “Venus.” They did this on the previous album and loved that they took things out on a high note.
All in all, Eclipse isn’t a bad record by far. It’s just not a really good record. It does have some notable moments that I think are playlist worth but I really don’t see a point in owning this album. I have to give it to Journey for still finding the need and the desire to make new music and they have managed to pull out enough solid material with Pineda to be proud of as the truly good songs do stand on their own very well. This was such a monumental challenge for me and at the end of it all, I’m now a Journey fan of the highest degree.
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