RJ45 Reviews: Journey Albums

In 1980, Journey did it again! They released their third album since Steve Perry had joined the band, Departure. Although the name was pretty much unintentional, one can read into the name of that album. This would mark the last studio album with highly influential keyboardist, Gregg Rolie, as one of the members, taking the Progressive-ish sound with him.
 
The band consists of Steve Perry (lead vocals), Neal Schon (guitar), Gregg Rolie (keyboard, vocals), Ross Vallory (bass), and Steve Smith (drums).
 
One can also note the other significant change is that is the album that propelled Journey to the Top of the Charts. The highest this album reached was number #8. That with the concert favorite, "Any Way You Want It." Of the three albums with both Steve Perry & Gregg Rolie, I would have to say that this has probably is the best. For a band that many critics dismiss as "Wuss Rock," they should give this album a shot. If you like old school progressive rock, this one is worth a shot.
 
Here are the ratings for the following songs:

For the songs, their is a scale of 1 to 10. 1 being downright awful and 10 being totally awsome. However, a song can "tip the scale," and get an 11 if it is Just That Damn Good.

1. "Any Way You Want It" - 11/10 - Concert staple. What else is there to say? It is a very high energetic tune.

2. "Walks Like A Lady" - 8/10 - This song has a great jazzy feel to it.

3. "Someday Soon" - 9/10 - Just because it gets a 9, doesn't qualify it as a bad song. The team of Rolie & Perry do great bouncing off of each other here on the vocals. 

4. "People And Places" - 10/10 - Very raw and passionate track.

5. "Precious Time" - 9/10

6. "Where Were You" - 11/10 - I totally love the opening riff here. This song definitely shows off, guitar god, Neal Schon's talents.

7. "I'm Cryin'" - 9/10

8. "Line Of Fire" - 11/10 - I am not sure why this isn't played at the newer concerts anymore. I know it was played years ago, but this song is just an overall great and catchy tune that gets overlooked.

9. "Departure" - N/A - 30 Second Interlude. Great interlude, though.

10. "Good Morning Girl" - 7/10 - This song is a bit too vanilla and doesn't really fit in with the rest of the album..

11. "Stay Awhile" - 10/10 

Final Tally - 95/100
Final Average - 10/10

In 1981, Journey was recording their next album. Unfortunately, founding member, Gregg Rollie, had left the band for personal reasons. In his place came Baby's keyboardist, Jonathan Cain. This is the album where Journey sort of creates its "Corporate Rock" sound so to speak, and abandons a lot of the progressive sounds of the earlier albums and moving to a more electronic sound.

This time around, the band consists of Steve Perry (vocals), Neal Schon (guitars), Jonathan Cain (keyboards, rhythm guitars), Ross Vallory (bass), and Steve Smith (drums).

Despite the fact that there are many negative connotations associated with "Corporate Rock," I think this is a fantastic album. It has two of Journey's biggest hits of all time. One being the very played to death power balld, "Open Arms." The other that has seemingly retroactively (through Family Guy, the Chicago White Sox, and Laguna Beach) became Journey's biggest hit ever, "Don't Stop Believin'."

Here are the ratings for the following songs:

For the songs, their is a scale of 1 to 10. 1 being downright awful and 10 being totally awsome. However, a song can "tip the scale," and get an 11 if it is Just That Damn Good. Some songs will have extensive comments, and some may only have a sentence or two.

1. Don't Stop Believin' (11/10) - In 2005, Don't Stop Believin' got some very unexpected airplay. First on an MTV episode of "Laguna Beach." Second, it was forever immortalized on an episode of "Family Guy." Third, it was the theme song for the Chicago White Sox's quest to win the World Series. At the ceremony for the White Sox, Steve Perry even led the crowd through an acapella version of this song. As a result, Journey was nominated for the VH1's Comeback of the Year award. Hey! That makes me happy because this is a great song. I have no problem admitting that this is a great song to sing when you are drunk in a Karoake bar.

2. Stone in Love (11/10) - Awesome song! The opening riff on this track is excellent. Jonathan Cain hops on the guitar for this track. The lyrics have a nice reminencing type theme going on with it as well. Another concert staple.

3. Who's Crying Now (9/10) - This is a solid power ballad that also made a popular single for its time. The chorus is also very memorable here.

4. Keep on Runnin' (10/10) - Great high-paced song.

5. Still They Ride (7/10) - This is a wonderful heartfelt track. However, it tends to be a victim of the skip button.

6. Escape (11/10) - This is, by far, one of the best songs Journey has ever made. This 5 1/2 minute tracck is about as epic as Journey can get. You have excellent guitar riffs from Neal Schon, great keyboards from Jonathan Cain, and some great drumming coming from Steve Smith. Steve Perry hits some fantastic high notes on this track. Great lyrics as well. This song sometimes bring me out of depression on days that I feel depressed.

7. Lay it Down (11/10) - Catchy song. Once again, Perry especially hits the high notes like no other on this track. This is especially on the line, "Higher, higher, higher, ringin' in my head." Let me tell you, when I sing a long, this song turns me in a 13 year old boy and my voice cracks for a few minutes. In other words, "Kids...don't try this at home."

8. Dead or Alive (9/10) - I love this song. It is the one song that retains much of the sound from the first three Perry albums.

9. Mother, Father (10/10) - Fantastic song that semi falls under the "power ballad" category, although it does rock a bit harder than your typical Journey power ballad. You can feel a lot of passion coming from the vocals in this song.

10. Open Arms (11/10) - This a wonderful song, but it is not like I need to tell you that. A tad on the overplayed side, but hey, that's what happens to a band's biggest hit...it gets played!

Total (With Bonus Points from "Scale Tippers"): 102/100

Averages to: 10.4/10

Rounds To: 10/10

This is Escape! When it comes to Journey, it just doesn't get any better than this!

In 1986, Journey released "Raised on Radio," arguably, the worst Journey album released during the Steve Perry era. From what I understand, the album kept on getting hit with delays everytime they would get a couple of tracks out. Hence, why this album comes off rather uneven.

Some of the little things that you love about Journey were missing from the album. The one word album was also stopped at this album. You had Infinity, Evolution, Departure, Escape, and Frontiers. (Although, it was originally titled Freedom and then renamed to Raised on Radio by Perry.)  Also, the classic Journey scarab is not on the cover...at least from what I can see. If you can find it, please let me know.

Not to mention the fact that long-timers Ross Vallory and Steve Smith were unexpectedly fired for no real good reason other than Perry didn't like how the sound was going. 

The other big problem I have with the material is that it way too heavy on the power ballads. I know that Journey was capable of producing fast paced tunes (as evident in "Be Good To Yourself"), and this was way too much like Perry's Street Talk, and nothing like Escape or Frontiers.

For the songs, thei eis a scale of 1 to 10. 1 being downright awful and 10 being totally awesome. However, a song can "tip the scale," and get an 11 if it is Just That Damn Good. Some songs will have extensive comments, and some may only have a sentence or two. Some may have none at all!

1. "Girl Can't Help It" - 10/10 - This is a great song. It was a hit single off of the album that has a very catchy chorus. The song itself is too short, which prevented this from "tipping the scale."

2. "Positive Touch" - 7/10

3. "Suzanne" - 9/10 - One of the stronger tracks on the album. In the end, it just doesn't measure up to be an unforgettable classic.

4. "Be Good to Yourself" - 11/10 - Here is the unforgettable classic! This is a very popular live song. Very fast paced song that just doesn't stop once it gets going.

5. "Once You Love Somebody"  - 6/10

6. "Happy To Give" - 5/10

7. "Raised On Radio"  - 10/10 - Now this is a classic dance track.

8. "I'll Be Alright Without You" - 7/10 - Released as a single, it is a solid track. However, I think they could have done more with this song.

9. "It Could Have Been You" - 6/10

10. "The Eyes Of A Woman" - 5/10 - This has an interesting beginning, but it just kind of drones on.

11. "Why Can't This Night Go On Forever" - 6/10 - Another single off of the album that I am not too crazy about.

inal Song Tally- 84/110 which divides out to 7/10

-1 point for no Journey Scarab on the cover.

Final Score - 6/10

This album was descent when Steve Perry released under the name "Street Talk." However, ligthining did not strike twice here. It is a good album, but as a follow-up to Frontiers? I don't think so. Guitarist, Neal Schon's classic riffs seems pretty much all but absent here  However, Jonathan Cain really does shine on the album, and I will give this album that. Unfortunately, this album also spelled the end for the glory days of Journey.