My Amazon Reviews: Journey "Frontiers"

Looking for the Wild Frontiers
3 Out Of 5 Stars

When Journey released the original "Frontiers" in 1983, they were on a hot streak. Their live album had cemented their rep as one of the country's top arena acts, and "Escape" had been their biggest hit to date. With "Frontiers," they jettisoned all pretenses to being a prog-rock group and finally owned up to the fact that Steve Perry had effectively turned them into a mighty powerful singles unit, capable of delivering radio ready fodder with an ease that 80's radio lapped up like so much diet soda.

The album kicked off with the band's rocking-est top 40 entry yet, "Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)." With the energetic new wavish keyboards and Perry's propulsive wail, it was a straightforward pop song with a metallic hook. Then came the juggernaut; the ballad "Faithfully" built on the success of the previous album's "Open Arms," with ex-Baby Jonathan Cain dominating the song's love-lorn hook and tale of families on the rock and roll road. Add "After The Fall" and "Send Her My Love," and you get four top forty singles out of ten tracks. Not bad for a group that began as a sci-fi prog outfit.

However, when the band tries to steer clear of the formula, there's trouble on the Frontier. Neil Schon is given some 'rockers' to unleash his guitar on, but many of these qualify as pure filler. Perry is not a very convincing rock-roarer, so when he tries to sound surly on "Chain Reaction" or "Back Talk," he's totally out of his universe. His dominance of the band as a soul crooner and pure singer minus affectations are when Journey are at their best.

This is also why the bonus tracks hit home so well. "Only The Young" was a single from the movie "Vision Quest," "Only Solutions" from the original "Tron" and "Ask The Lonely" from the John Travolta/Olivia Newton John pairing, "Two of a Kind." Each of these sounded like an insta-hit and pulled down substantial airplay at the time. Added to "Frontiers" as extras. they highlight the band's strengths and again emphasize the point of how Journey had pushed themselves into a position of that of a well-honed producer of hits.