| Written by Alex Stojanovic TRACK LISTING Together We Run Don't Give Up On Us Still Believe In Love You Got The Best Of Me Live To Love Again The Way We Used To Be Come Away With Me After Glow Let It Rain Holdin' On All Day & All Night Don't Go United We Stand Life Rolls On Beautiful As You Are JOURNEY IS: Arnel Pineda - Vocals Neal Schon - Guitars, backing vocals, keyboards Jonathan Cain - Keyboards, backing vocals Deen Castronovo - Drums, backing vocals Jason Derlatka - Keyboards & backing vocals Todd Jensen - Bass & backing vocals |  |
I've touched on this topic before when reviewing Def Leppard's latest album Diamond Star Halos. We live in an age where new music from a lot of classic rock bands doesn't seem as important, and there's a bunch of reasons for that. For one, many of those bands have enough hits to fill up and entire setlist. They could easily go out and just tour on the greatest hits, and people will still show up. However, if you're an artist, you still have an itch to create, so you do it. However, you have to be well aware and accept the fact that it's not going to have the same impact as the classic stuff did. We live in a different era now. Now, that's not saying that there aren't any fans out there that want to hear new music from the classic bands, and if a band always manages to make GREAT new music, then of course you want to hear it.
When you talk about bands that made an enormous impact on music, one of those bands is Journey. To this day, "Don't Stop Believin'" is still the #1 karaoke song of all time, and other songs like "Separate Ways", "Who's Crying Now", "Stone In Love", "Send Her My Love" and "Faithfully" are still being played on the radio to this day. It just goes to show the magic that the lineup of Steve Perry, Neal Schon, Jonathan Cain, Steve Smith and Ross Valory had as a unit, with all due respect to Aynsley Dunbar, Greg Rollie and all the present members. At this point, it's obvious that Journey are never going to be able to recapture the magic they had on Escape and Frontiers, and some of the earlier records. Even with Arnel Pineda being able to hold his own, and aside from Neal Schon's impeccable guitar work and Jonathan Cain's keyboard wizardry, let's be honest here; the main ingredient for Journey's success in the old days was Steve Perry. The man's voice is iconic and untouchable.
Eleven years since the Eclipse album, Journey returned this year with their fifteenth studio offering Freedom. The first thing worth noting about the album is that the musicianship remains at a top notch level. Journey are no slouches when it comes to picking some of the best in the business. While definitely containing standout moments, it just doesn't contain the same appeal as Escape, Frontiers and some of their earlier albums. Some of the album's standout tracks include "Don't Give Up On Us", with its straightforward, hook-laden vibe and memorable chorus, and slight homage to "Separate Ways" with the keyboard intro, "Holdin On" with its prog sensibilities, particularly the verse riff, and "After Glow" with the hypnotic layered vocal harmonies. There's plenty of vocal harmonies throughout the entire album, but this track in particular stands out in that department, especially given that Deen Castronovo provides lead vocals on the track. The man's not only a phenomenal drummer, but an astounding singer too, although he doesn't play drums on the album.
While the band isn't trying to recapture past glories, they're sticking to what they know, which is commendable of course. However, with 15 songs, a total running time of 73 minutes, and a bit of a reliance on ballad-esque moments and tracks, it makes the listening experience start to dwindle around the mid-point. Some tracks could also have been trimmed down a bit in length. The second flaw is that the production as a whole is a bit on the clumsy side. To sum it all up, Freedom shows that Journey are still among the top in the musicianship department, but as a whole, if the album had about 10-11 songs, and a bit more sharper production, it would've been a smash.
When you talk about bands that made an enormous impact on music, one of those bands is Journey. To this day, "Don't Stop Believin'" is still the #1 karaoke song of all time, and other songs like "Separate Ways", "Who's Crying Now", "Stone In Love", "Send Her My Love" and "Faithfully" are still being played on the radio to this day. It just goes to show the magic that the lineup of Steve Perry, Neal Schon, Jonathan Cain, Steve Smith and Ross Valory had as a unit, with all due respect to Aynsley Dunbar, Greg Rollie and all the present members. At this point, it's obvious that Journey are never going to be able to recapture the magic they had on Escape and Frontiers, and some of the earlier records. Even with Arnel Pineda being able to hold his own, and aside from Neal Schon's impeccable guitar work and Jonathan Cain's keyboard wizardry, let's be honest here; the main ingredient for Journey's success in the old days was Steve Perry. The man's voice is iconic and untouchable.
Eleven years since the Eclipse album, Journey returned this year with their fifteenth studio offering Freedom. The first thing worth noting about the album is that the musicianship remains at a top notch level. Journey are no slouches when it comes to picking some of the best in the business. While definitely containing standout moments, it just doesn't contain the same appeal as Escape, Frontiers and some of their earlier albums. Some of the album's standout tracks include "Don't Give Up On Us", with its straightforward, hook-laden vibe and memorable chorus, and slight homage to "Separate Ways" with the keyboard intro, "Holdin On" with its prog sensibilities, particularly the verse riff, and "After Glow" with the hypnotic layered vocal harmonies. There's plenty of vocal harmonies throughout the entire album, but this track in particular stands out in that department, especially given that Deen Castronovo provides lead vocals on the track. The man's not only a phenomenal drummer, but an astounding singer too, although he doesn't play drums on the album.
While the band isn't trying to recapture past glories, they're sticking to what they know, which is commendable of course. However, with 15 songs, a total running time of 73 minutes, and a bit of a reliance on ballad-esque moments and tracks, it makes the listening experience start to dwindle around the mid-point. Some tracks could also have been trimmed down a bit in length. The second flaw is that the production as a whole is a bit on the clumsy side. To sum it all up, Freedom shows that Journey are still among the top in the musicianship department, but as a whole, if the album had about 10-11 songs, and a bit more sharper production, it would've been a smash.
FINAL RATING
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