My Amazon Reviews: Journey "Departure"

The Last of Journey's Bug Albums
3 Out Of 5 Stars

Journey had become hungry for the success they'd tasted via "Infinity" and "Evolution," each exponentially growing in sales. Steve Perry had effectively cornered the band's microphone and Neal Schon beginning to trim his soloing down to bite-sized arena ready applause grabbers, "Departure" was their most attention ready albums to date. The band's appetite for commercial success came with a price as keyboardist Gregg Rollie called it quits soon after (to eventually be replaced by Jonathan Caine). That seemed to matter little to Journey's growing legion of fans as "Departure" soon found itself in the top ten and the initial single, the pulse pounding "Any Way You Want It" soon entered the top 20, another first for the band. Even "Walks Like a Lady," Perry's attempt at while blues and one of the more unusual singles from the band's hits period, sounded effective.

However, Journey still had lingering traces of wanted to have their pop success and prog-rocker status and eat it, too. That meant for vocal production trickery on "People and Places" and phase shifting guitars that dominate "Precious Time," along with Rollie's harmonica. And while it didn't become a breakout single, Journey's penchant for mammoth balladeering, "Stay Awhile" gives a preview of the huge hits that would start once "Escape" became an even more successful album than "Departure."

Granted, FM album rockers fell all over "Departure" when it came to picking out songs to play. But it's obvious now that Journey's albums were never better than the singles. There's a reason the original "Journey's Greatest Hits" competes with the likes of similar sets by Bob Marley, Eagles and CCR for the greatest selling albums of all-time, and that is because when the band went looking for a hit, they knew how to make them fire off. You can't get around that many of these songs are just pedestrian rockers, like "Someday Soon" (sung by Rollie) or "Line of Fire's" run of the mill guitar boogie. That doesn't discount the fact that each Journey album in this three album arc had extraordinary hits. So collect away, fanatics. The rest of us can get by on best of collections, of which there are now many.

      

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.

   

My Amazon Reviews: REO Speedwagon "The Essential 3.0 REO Speedwagon"

Oreo Speedcookies!
3 Out Of 5 Stars

REO Speedwagon was one of those American Bands that could have only happened in the 70's. A midwestern-boogie band with a hot live show, they built their rep in the heartland and got a record deal based on their rabid - if not widespread - following. Their first few albums were bland, unexceptional affairs, most notable for the mundanity of their songs and sound. Then, like so many acts from the "Frampton Comes Alive" era, their double live album expanded their audience outside their heartland base. Which also menat that the next album was make-it-or-break-it.

In 1978, that meant tightening up the sound, pushing (in and out and back in again) singer Kevin Cronin to the forefront, making guitarist Gary Richrath tighten up the solos, and writing a batch of songs that was more than bar-band-boogie jams. "You Can Tune a Piano But You Can't Tuna Fish" did all of that and gave the rock world one of the worst titular puns, plus REO's first major hit single with "Time for Me To Fly" and a rock radio staple with "Roll With The Changes." The album "Nine Lives" stayed the course with two songs on this set, and then came the blast.

"Hi Infidelity" became the group's high water mark in both sales and performance, putting REO into the leagues of Journey and Styx. Their first number one album, two top ten power ballads (including "Keep On Loving You" at number one) and platinum several times over, 6 of this album's 10 songs are on this set. One of them is the oddly girl-group sounding, "In Your Letter." "Good Trouble" slipped a bit; no singles, but three songs in this set, including concert fave "Keep The Fire Burning." However, one album later and "Wheels Are Turning" put the wheels back on the wagon. "Can't Fight This Feeling" went to number one and a million wedding receptions, while "I Do'Wanna Know" is probably my fave REO rocker (and makes an appearance on the bonus disc).

That was about it, as the ensuing albums began the diminishing returns, albeit with good songs and the power ballads like "In My Dreams." The good extras include a few odd-album cuts like "Just for You" and "Here With Me" from compilations and "Where You're Going" from the soundtrack to The Goonies movie. Now, as a three CD set, this is about all the REO you'll probably ever need. You get all the glory days singles and some of the better tunes from the waning days. But you're also hit with the realization that REO wasn't a very good band until "You Get What You Play For Live," which means you have to wallow through eleven 'meh' cuts on disc one before the good stuff kicks in.

Be that as it may, for your 80's nostalgia money, this is the REO set to get. If even this is too much, you can get "The Hits" or "The Ballads" collections (or even just "Hi Infidelity") for what you need.

   

My Amazon Reviews: Journey "Infinity"

Finding the secret ingredient
4 Out Of 5 Stars

Founded by a pair of Santana sidemen and recording three albums of heavy-duty fusion rock, Journey was a band with chops galore but little commercial success to show for it. Guitarist Neal Schon and their manager decided they needed something extra to push the band to a different level, so they decided to hire vocalist Steve Perry. In an effort to polish and refine their sound, they also pulled in producer Roy Thomas Baker, who was in his stride at the time with albums from The Cars and Queen. With all the elements in place, Journey set about recording their fourth album.

"Infinity" sounded like a whole new band. As a songwriter, Perry pulled Schon towards more traditional song structure. Baker brought the band focus; not only did he get the band to lose the fusion excess, he polished the already superior musicianship in Journey to a level of majestic the group had never before reached. His penchant for layered multi-tracked harmonies benefited Journey's sound on songs like "Feeling That Way." Perry's soaring tenor blended nicely with Greg Rollie's voice, and both "Lights" and "Wheel In The Sky" barely missed the top 40. There was also the Kelly/Mouse artwork that popped off the cover, again unlike anything the band had done before (and becoming a theme the band would come back to throughout the decades).

The sucess of "Infinity" also finds the band in a sudden state of flux. Drummer Ansley Dunbar would bow out after this, and Rollie would tire of being Perry's second banana after that. For the moment, however, Journey had found the magic formula for their climb to the top with "Infinity" and the soon to come "Evolution."

   

My Amazon Reviews: Glee: The Music, Volume 5

A Rebound from Volume 4  
4 Out of 5 Stars

My thoughts on the fourth volume of music from Glee was that it leaned too heavily on one style and not enough work in the variety that has made the soundtracks to the show enjoyable fluff. For the fifth volume, the producers correct that issue by mixing everything from the musical "Rent," The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, the Dixie Chicks via Fleetwood Mac and, for the first time, originals written specifically for the show. While some may gripe that there are no selections from The Warblers (and, for that matter Chris Colfer/Kurt), a solo Warblers album is to be released in the Spring.

There's another bonus in the return of Gwyneth Paltrow as Holly Holiday on three songs, proving her chops as a country singer on "Landslide" but otherwise being so-so on Prince's "Kiss" (with Will Shuster/Matthew Morrison) and getting her Joan Jett on for a cover of "Do You Wanna Touch Me." The duet with Morrison is better visually than musically, although Morrison reveals a wicked falsetto. In addition to Jett, the 80's come out through a fun duet by Rachel and Blaine (Darren Criss) on Human League's "Don't You Want Me" and two runs at Michael Jackson.

The originals are both run of the mill pop, with "Get It Right" a solo for Rachel and "Loser Like Me" a bubblegummy number for the entire ensemble. The gang style vocals are missing on this disc, which makes "Loser" and the cover of My Chemical Romance's "Sing" really stand out. "Sing" is easily the best song here, and makes me long for more of the powerful, uplifting numbers that Glee excels at. But another thing that they have frequently done is take a song from another artist outshine the original; on this volume it's Katy Perry's "Firework." takes this anthem of finding your identity and completely nails it, more so than Perry (who I do enjoy, but just is not the strongest singer). There are those who may feel that this goes against singer-songwriting as an ethic, given that Glee is a showcase for glossy-pop, I find it wonderful.

Two more things: Lay off the Queen numbers. Queen is now Glee's new Journey.

And why is Sam/Chord Overstreet not featured in the CD cast shots? He's now getting prominent solos on the songs and is a strong show character. Leaving him out of the picture seems like a slight.