Journey

I've been a Journey fan for quite some time. Not since the ancient days, but I was a fan starting around around the time of Escape. I remember getting on a bus (I was 16 then, no car), and drove to Sears & Roebuck to buy Escape (and Hall & Oates' Private Eyes) on cassette tape. I've bought every Journey album since then. I'm rather familiar with their work. However, the last time an album really did anything for me as a "complete album" would have been Frontiers in 1983 (even though there's been a boatload of studio discs since then). I've liked several of these releases since then, but most have just a song or three that are good, and the rest is ballady filler.

Well, no more. In 2008, Journey released a new studio album with their new singer, Arnel Pineda. Arnel is a Filipino based singer, and I was amazed by this new material for two reasons. One the songs are solid. Journey albums haven't been that great over the years. This one is got a pile of good, solid songs. It was quite refreshing. I'd go so far as to say this is their best album since the glory days with Steve Perry. Second was the vocals of Arnel Pineda. His voice is quite amazing. The story goes Neil Schon found him on Youtube. Pineda is quite amazing, as I thought Steve Augieri had the sound of Steve Perry down. Pineda is at times an "eyes closed, it's the same guy" copy of Perry. Not completely, mind you, but it's darned close. At first I dismissed this as "Oh look, they just want another Steve Perry clone behind the mike", but it grew on me a lot. Yes, he sounds like Perry, but that's not all he sounds like. I cannot say how highly I recommend the album of new material.

But it doesn't stop there. There is a second disc of songs. It's basically "current Journey" re-recording about a dozen classic Journey hits. It's basically Journey covering itself. This is an eyebrow raiser. It's not like they're bad -they're not. They're quite good. Not entirely sure what the point of this disc is, even though I like listening to it. Journey fans buying Revelation will have these songs already.

But wait! If you order now (informercal mode engaged), you get a third disc. A live concert DVD with Pineda recoded late last year. What a bargain!

Seriously, this package is quite a deal. It's selling for $11.99 for a three disc package at a time when most bands have single discs and $14 price points. That also leads me to my final point. Revelation is an album that is only for sale in Wal-Mart (or Sam's Club). This seems to be a trend now where Walmart is the only place to buy specific CD's. That's not a problem for me, but if you're one of these Wal-Mart haters, it might stop you, as it's the only place you can buy it.

Revelation is what its title says. Quite refreshing, new vocalist, great new album. Can't wait for the next one! :)

Journey's latest album is another one I got comped from my record label connections. However, it was pretty decent, I probably would have outright bought it anyway.

After the last full record, I still had Journey labeled under the "I don't know" category. There were a few good songs on the album, but there was mostly filler stuff to me. Then they came out with Red 13, which was a 4 song mini EP, and it was awesome!

Generations is more like Red 13 than Arrival was. I haven't listened to it much as I just got it, I'll come back with a better update later. However, from what I've listened to so far, it seems pretty decent. If you liked older Journey (not the original stuff, the Steve Perry material), you'll probably like this, too.

Red 13 was a small 4 song EP that Journey released in 2002. This is like nothing they have recorded in awhile. It's not the usual sappy ballady stuff that Journey had evolved into. There's some good rock on here.

I admit to having filed Journey under "Oh, that's nice" (in a sarcastic way). Their last several full length studio albums have done little to excite me. They all have a few songs that are quite good, but as whole albums, they're not that good to me.

Red 13 fills me with hope for the future. It's good stuff, and I hope the next studio album after this follows the same formula that this does, and doesn't have 6 songs of ballady filler on it.

Steve Perry is gone for good, after several years of waiting for him, the band said the hell with it, got a new singer, and moved on. What's odd about that is that they replaced Steve Perry with a new singer that sounds like.. well. Steve Perry! It's amazing how similar a voice Steve Augeri has to Steve Perry. This album isn't much better than the last one, I think I'm burnt out on Journey. I was expecting Frontiers or Escape still, and I don't get it. That's probably not the album's fault, though - it's my perceptions of it. Perhaps someday I'll give it another shot, but for now, I will listen to the first couple of songs and stop.

In 1996, Journey was convinced ($) to get back together again to do a reunion album. As my wife and I got married four days after this was released, this was a natural pickup, since we'd both liked Journey in the past. "Escape" Journey was putting out a new album! Problem is that the album is a bore. The first three songs are good, but after that, it's mostly unlistenable. That was a shame, as we both loved Journey a lot. It also has a horrendously awful album cover.

OK, we have another Greatest Hits album. :) This one is good, because at the time I only had two Journey albums, so the inclusion of songs from the albums I don't have is very welcome. It ignores the pre Steve Perry era though.

While this album got a lot of radio airplay , I got the impression that a lot of folks didn't care for the album, especially old time Journey fans. There are some great tracks on here, but it's very uneven. Plus by this point, Journey seemed to have evolved into the "Steve Perry Band", which I'm sure didn't help things. The band broke up after this tour.

This is an album that I've liked for a long long time. I remember clearly getting on the bus to go to Sears (at the time there were no close by record stores) to buy this and Hall & Oates' Private Eye tapes. My wife also was big time into Journey when she was younger too, and this is an album that we both enjoyed as teenagers long before we knew each other.

For some reason I never bought any Journey albums previous to this. I knew songs from them, but this remains the first and earliest Journey album I own.

SACD Notes: This is essentially the same thing as the other version, except this is a Super Audio CD. Which means a regular CD player can't play it - it's been remixed for home theatre systems. It sounds much clearer, and the stereo effect has of course been enhanced since it can take advantage of 5.1 speaker setups. More info on SACD can be found here.

This is an album that I've liked for a long long time. I remember clearly getting on the bus to go to Sears (at the time there were no close by record stores) to buy this and Hall & Oates' Private Eye tapes. My wife also was big time into Journey when she was younger too, and this is an album that we both enjoyed as teenagers long before we knew each other.

For some reason I never bought any Journey albums previous to this. I knew songs from them, but this remains the first and earliest Journey album I own.