Starting
today, there will be a new feature posted every couple months or so. This will
be called the Journey Retrospectives and they will post only on Thursdays. I
will show all original vinyl album artwork and write a retrospective about the
album and each of the songs.
Today
I am starting with a full Journey Career-Spanning Retrospective. This is a full
9 page history...
JOURNEY: Retrospective
Gregg
Rolie................. Vocals,
Keyboards, Organ
Neal
Schon.................. Lead Guitar
George
Tickner........... Rhythm Guitar
Ross
Valory................. Bass Guitar
Prairie
Prince.............. Drums
Aynsley
Dunbar.......... Drums
Robert
Fleischman.... Lead Vocals
Steve
Perry................... Lead
Vocals
Steve
Smith................. Drums
Jonathan
Cain............ Keyboards, Piano,
Guitar
Bob
Glaub................... Bass
Guitar
Larrie
Londin.............. Drums
Randy
Jackson............ Bass Guitar
Mike
Baird.................. Drums
Steve
Augeri................ Lead Vocals
Deen
Castronovo....... Drums
Jeff
Scott Soto............. Lead Vocals
Arnel
Pineda............... Lead Vocals
Omar
Hakim................ Drums
Herbie
Herbert........... Manager
1973-1993
Irving
Azoff.................. Manager
1993-Present
Journey, my
favorite band since High School, but I didn’t really know them until 1980’s
Departure.
They are a band that started in 1973 by a group of friends who
wanted to jam. They became way too famous and started to implode just 10 years
later. Success didn’t come easy but did get thrown away once it was gained.
How
did what started as a mostly instrumental progressive rock band become
America’s #1 pop group in the 1980’s and then disappear altogether? “Oh,
Sherrie.“
But let’s first look back at the Journey through the years…
“Whose band is this”? That’s probably the
most important question there is. By looking at the number of members of the
band, it isn’t a simple question. It’s been many people’s band over the years,
but we’ve always been told they run it like a democracy. Today one would assume
it has always been Neal Schon’s band.
Walter James (Herbie) Herbert started the
band with Gregg Rolie and Neal Schon from “Santana”. Herbie was a roadie for
Santana and wanted to start his own band. In 1973 Herbie, Gregg, and Neal, along
with Ross Valory and George Tickner from “Frumious Bandersnatch” formed “The
Golden Gate Rhythm Section” with Prairie Prince as drummer. Prairie Prince,
left soon after and was replaced by Aynsley Dunbar. Roadie John Villaneuva
suggested the name “Journey” and that’s the name they went with.
On February 5, 1974 Herbie Herbert, Gregg
Rolie, Neal Schon, Ross Valory, George Tickner and Aynsley Dunbar had secured a
recording contract with Columbia Records. Over a year later, on April 1, 1975,
the self-titled album, “Journey” was released.
Before the band was able to record their
second album, 1976’s “Look Into The Future”, George Tickner left the band to attend
Stanford Medical School on a full scholarship, leaving Neal to execute all Guitar
playing for the band. They toned down the progressiveness of the first album in
favor of a more focused approached but the album still retains some of the
experimental jams of the first album.
“Next” was the title of the 3rd
album with Gregg Rolie, Neal Schon, Ross Valory and Aynsley Dunbar once again.
The pressure from Columbia about expanding the vocals was showing as Neal sings
lead vocals on two of the songs on the album. After the release of the album,
Robert Fleischman was brought in as lead vocalist to share lead vocal duties
with Gregg on the live tour. Things were about to change for the band.
At this point after releasing three albums
and Columbia Records losing faith in Gregg’s voice makes Herbie Herbert the
person whose band it is at this point. Herbie named the albums with positive
forward thinking titles, but he needed to expand on that plan to sell more
records. While coming up with a plan for the future of the band, a tape from
Columbia Records from a band called “Alien Project” was sent to Herbie.
Herbie
had a meeting with Gregg and Neal and told them that Steve Perry was going to
be the next lead singer of the band. They disagreed but finally had to give in,
showing that Herbie is the one in charge of the band, it is indeed Herbie
Herbert’s band.
Steve Perry joined the band and made his
first public debut on October 28, 1977 in San Francisco to a mixed reception.
Herbie hired artists Anton Kelley and Stanley Mouse to design the cover for the
next album titled “Infinity”. A whole new era for Journey is about to begin.
Steve Perry takes over lead vocals but the duets with Gregg are what shine. The
blending of those two voices are expanding the already great sound of Journey
to a new audience. “Infinity” reached number 21 on the album charts. The album
was certified platinum and had two hit singles, “Lights”, and “Wheel In The
Sky”.
In late 1978 Aynsley Dunbar is let go from
the group and jazz drummer Steve Smith joins the band.
Their momentum continued with 1979’s release
of “Evolution”. Steve Perry writes or co-writes every song on the album, it’s
obvious his influence on the band is starting to take over. Gregg only sings
co-lead vocals on one song, “Just The Same Way”. The album reaches number 20 on
the album charts while the single “Lovin’, Touchin’, Squeezin’” is the bands
first top 20 hit, written by Steve Perry.
To capitalize on the new success the band was
having, the first “Greatest Hits” compilation double album titled “In The
Beginning” is released in November 1979, just in time for Christmas. This album
compiles the best songs from the first three albums, Steve Perry does not
appear on any of these songs. Again Anton Mouse and Stanley Kelley created the
artwork for the album cover which is based on the “Evolution” album cover.
The next Studio album, “Departure” becomes
the bands highest charting album to date, peaking at number 8. Released on
March 23, 1980, the album has an edgier sound than “Evolution” did. The album spawned
three singles, “Any Way You Want It”, “Walks Like A Lady”, and “Good Morning
Girl/Stay Awhile”. Both Gregg Rolie and Neal Schon sing co-lead vocals on one
song each. Nineteen songs were recorded for the album, but the album was
released with only 12 of them. Anton Kelley designed the Album Cover artwork,
which features a scarab for the first time. Stanley Mouse created the lettering
and logo. The related “Departure tour” was the longest and biggest selling tour
Journey’s ever attempted ending in Japan.
After the tour, while the band was in Japan,
they recorded an album to serve as the soundtrack for a film titled “Yume, Yume
No Ato,” or “Dream, After Dream” in English. The album was very hard to find as
it was an import only at the time and wasn’t noticed by the general public.
This was the last Studio album to feature founding member Gregg Rolie. “Dream,
After Dream” was released on December 10, 1980 in Japan. “Little Girl”, the
ballad from the album was released as a single in Japan.
Journey’s first live album, “Captured”,
serves as the “Greatest Hits” of the second three albums released by Journey
featuring Steve Perry as lead vocalist. “Captured”, a double live album was
released in February 1981 and fast became the fourth “Journey” album to be
certified platinum. Due to the many years on the road with “Santana”, “Journey”
and probably the growing popularity of Steve Perry, Gregg Rolie retired from
the band and was replaced by Jonathan Cain, the keyboard player from the band
“The Baby’s”. Stanley Mouse designed the album cover art while the entire package
design was by Jim Welch who now takes over all art design for next few years.
It has been said that Herbie Herbert came up
with all of Journey’s album titles before Steve Perry was hired. Infinity,
Evolution, Departure, Captured, Escape, Frontiers, and Freedom. With Gregg
Rolie retired, the answer to “whose band is it?” is getting fuzzy, the public
would say it’s Steve Perry’s band.
Journey’s biggest selling album, “Escape” is
released on July 31, 1981. Jonathan Cain and Steve Perry write every song with
Neal collaborating on all but two. Stanley Mouse designs the album cover
artwork while Jim Welch again designs the whole package.
During the week of September 12 thru 18, 1981
the “Escape” album was number one in America. Four singles were released from
the album between 1981 and 1982.
1982 marked the year that “Journey” became
bigger than anyone could ever imagine. They embarked on another tour that year filling
huge stadiums and arenas.
Herbie Herbert branched out another company
from Journey’s Nightmare Productions. Nocturne was created to take care of
Journey’s Stage and Lighting needs. Journey was the first band to use giant
video projection. The first ever Rock and Roll video game was released by Atari
and was called “Journey Escape”. It featured all five members of the band and
an electronic version of the song “Don’t Stop Believing”.
Also in 1982 Journey contributed to another
movie soundtrack. They wrote and performed two songs titled “1990’s Theme’ and
“Only Solutions” for the soundtrack for the Walt Disney Productions movie, “Tron”.
Neal Schon released his second solo album with musician Jan Hammer as the duo “Schon
& Hammer”. Steve Perry and Jonathan Cain helped write a couple songs on Neal’s
album while the rest of Journey lend a hand including Steve Perry’s backing
vocals on the song “Self Defense”.
Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” album kept
1983’s “Frontiers” out of the number one spot. Frontiers was released on
February 22, 1983 and peaked at number 2. Jim Welch did the entire package
design again without a scarab. This album is the first to let show that Journey
didn’t have to try very hard anymore. It’s got some great some songs but two
shiners on the album were pulled at the last minute and replaced with
out-takes. “Ask The Lonely” and “Only The Young” were replaced with “Troubled
Child” and “Back Talk”. Who knows what heights this album could have achieved
if it wasn’t cut short.
During the “Frontiers Tour”, Steve Perry no
longer travelled with the rest of the band. He was a star and travelled alone
or with his girlfriend, Sherry Swafford, which started to tear a thread in the
band. The road was starting to get to Steve and he wanted a break. The break
came after the tour when the band took a vacation. The problem was, they didn’t
actually take a break, everyone was doing their own solo project. This is death
to any band. Neal was part of a band called “HSAS”. Steve Smith was off with
his “Vital Information” jazz band. Jonathan was producing his wife’s band Tane
Cain and “Tryanglz”. Ross Valory was doing his thing, as he was always involved
in other projects.
At the top of their game, bigger than any
other band at the time, they all decide to do solo projects and put “Journey”
on hold. All that could have worked out had the “Journey” kept going like it
always had. What happened was that it gave Steve Perry an opportunity to do a
solo album. “Street Talk” was released in April 1984 and was a huge success,
earning a platinum certification and gave the face of “Journey” a name, Steve
Perry. The album, especially the song, “Oh, Sherrie” sounded like a Journey
album and confused people into thinking “Journey” was breaking up. Steve was
even invited to sing along with the “USA for Africa” recording of “We Are The
World”.
Steve Perry was at the top and if he wanted
he could continue to make solo albums. Steve Perry’s mother was very sick and
such a huge part of his life that he asked her what he should do next and her
answer was a “Journey” album.
There were a lot of behind the scenes
struggles throughout 1985 with Journey. It had been two years since Journey
released an album but luckily they had the songs “Ask The Lonely” on the “Two
Of A Kind” soundtrack in late 1983 and “Ask The Lonely” on the “Vision Quest”
soundtrack in 1985 to keep the “Journey” name alive in the public.
Had the band been Neal Schon’s band, he could
have stopped what was to happen next. It wasn’t Neal’s band, it was Herbie
Herbert’s band, but Steve Perry was butting heads with him over control and won
out. Too much success led to Steve taking complete control over everything.
“Journey” was now Steve Perry’s band and there was no stopping him. Steve
claims to have needed a particular sound and he would stop at nothing to get
it. That completely contradicts what he does next when he fires Ross Valory and
Steve Smith in favor of a drum machine.
Finally on May 27, 1986 “Raised On Radio” was
released and was a cross between a Journey album and a Steve Perry solo album. “Journey”
was now a three-man band. Herbie Herbert’s idea for “Freedom” never came,
although an out-take from the album is called “Liberty”. “Raised On Radio” did
go platinum, but nowhere near the success of “Escape” or “Frontiers”. Prairie
Prince and Michael Cotton designed the album art. The album cover art was
modeled after the studios and antennas for KNGS in Hanford, California, which
was owned by Steve Perry’s parents, Ray and Mary Perry.
When it came time to tour in 1986, a couple
of studio musicians, Randy Jackson and Mike Baird, who also worked on the album,
were hired to tour with them. The tour itself wasn’t as successful as the
“Escape” or “Frontiers” tours. Then on February 1, 1987 in Anchorage, Alaska,
Steve Perry decided it was time to stop and the rest of the tour was cancelled.
This would be the last we would hear from Journey until 1991 when the three
members of “Journey” rejoined to play a couple songs at the “Bill Graham
Tribute” called “Laughter, Love and Music” in San Francisco on November 3, 1991
at the Civic Auditorium.
November 15, 1988 marks the day we knew the
Journey was over. “Greatest Hits” was released and if that wasn’t enough, a
three Disc box set full of hits and unreleased songs titled “Time3” was
released on December 1st, 1992. “Greatest Hits” has been the biggest selling
“Journey” album ever since spending 330 weeks on the Billboard top 200 album
chart. “Time3” is an excellent box set
with songs in more or less chronological order. There are so many unreleased
songs missing, but a great package with a great booklet. “Greatest Hits” peaked
at number ten, while “Time3” only made it to number 90 on the charts.
Both Neal Schon and Jonathan Cain got
involved with a band named “Bad English” from 1987 to 1991, then Neal Schon got
involved with a band called “Hardline” in 1991-1992. The other members of
“Journey”, Ross Valory, Steve Smith, and Gregg Rolie, formed a band called “The
Storm” from 1990 through 1996.
In 1993 Steve Perry wanted out of his contract
with manager Herbie Herbert and fired him. Steve’s next move was another solo
album titled “For The Love Of Strange Medicine” which was released on July 19,
1994. This time Steve toured in support of the album that lasted into 1995. The
album was not a huge success and it became the last solo album Steve Perry ever
did.
October 22, 1996 marks the return of
“Journey” and a Grammy nomination! The album, “Trial By Fire” was a change in
maturity for the band with many of the songs reflecting a more overt
spirituality in lyrical content. Steve Smith and Ross Valory came back for the
reunion. Steve Perry made sure that Herbie Herbert was not involved and a new
manager named Irving Azoff who also manages many other bands so his attention
isn’t all there, was brought in, leaving the band in Neal Schon’s hands.
The album reached number three and was
awarded platinum status, and the song “When You Love A Woman” was nominated for
a Grammy Award, so Steve Perry didn’t see a need to tour. Originally a tour was
scheduled for Summer and Fall of 1997, but Steve Perry injured his hip on hike
in Hawaii. It was something that needed surgery and Steve prolonged it so long
that the rest of the band let him go. Steve Smith didn’t see any point in
continuing “Journey” with Steve Perry so he decided to leave the band.
Due to poor sales on “Trial By Fire”,
Columbia Records released Journey’s “Greatest Hits Live”. This is just a
collection of Journey’s Greatest Hits from live recordings, but the audience
tracks has been lowered taking the “Live” out.
Now in 1998, we are left with a “Journey”
without its singer. Neal Schon, who would be better at selling Italian Ladies
Shoes than managing a band, starts looking for a replacement. Neal thought that
because there was a “Journey” before Steve Perry that there could be a
“Journey” after Steve Perry. The problem was that it really was Steve Perry’s
band and the only way to move on is to just move on. Neal didn’t move on and
found a sound-alike in the name of Steve Augeri found by Neal Schon’s wife at
the time.
The soundtrack for the movie “Armageddon” is
released and there’s a song titled “Remember Me” by Journey. The new line-up,
Neal Schon, Ross Valory, Jonathan Cain, Deen Castronovo and Steve Augeri as
Lead Singer. They embarked on the “Vacation’s Over” tour in 1998 and the “Under
The Radar” tour in 1999. Neither of these tours really promoted the album
“Trial By Fire”. After two years of touring, the band went into the Studio to
record their first album with singer Steve Augeri.
“Arrival” was the name of the next album.
Neal did get something right by going back to the one-word titles. The album
was released in Japan in December 2000, but Columbia Records wanted changes to
the album so the release was pushed to April 3, 2001 for the U.S. Two harder
rock songs were added and one softer song was dropped because Columbia was
looking for something more with an edge. The album cover was changed a bit to resemble
the earlier album covers. The album peaked at #56, barely selling at all.
Columbia Records quickly dropped “Journey” and for the first time since 1973
didn’t have a record label.
November 26, 2002 “Journey” released an EP
titled “Red 13”. It was an experiment produced by Neal Schon and Jonathan Cain
with money they’ve obviously made from all the “Journey” compilation albums
that have been released to date. “Red 13” was first offered through the Journey
website, but when it was released to the public, they changed the album cover
artwork to one resembling older Journey album covers. The EP only had four
songs and didn’t chart at all.
For the “Journey’s” 30th
Anniversary they decided to do more damage to the legacy of “Journey” than
thought possible. During the “Generations” tour of 2005, the band decided to
give away the new album “Generations” for free to anyone who attended the
concerts. The album was then officially released in a proper CD jewel case on
August 29, 2005. The album peaked at only 170 proving that no one needed to buy
the thing if given away for free. Every member of the band had a turn at
singing lead vocals. Why would a band that is trying to match its iconic voice
let every member take the lead vocals on at least one song? The answer is given
away during the next tour.
The “Journey Tour 2006” began on June 2, 2006
and ran until September 23, 2006. It was during this tour that Steve Augeri
lost his voice and was diagnosed with throat cancer. Other members of the band,
especially Deen were able to help get through the shows but the second half of
the 2006 Tour and the entire 2007 Tour the lead vocals were given to Jeff Scott
Soto. The 2007 Tour ended on May 12, 2007 and it seemed as if Journey had a new
singer, the problem was he didn’t sound like “Journey” and some fans were
complaining about that. So what does a band with an iconic voice do when they
lose that iconic voice twice? They search the Internet.
One night Neal Schon’s wife at the time was
searching the Internet and somehow came across a guy by the name of Arnel
Pineda. Not only did he sound like Steve Perry, but he ran and jumped around
the Stage giving an exciting performance like Steve Perry used to do. Arnel was
singing with a band called “The Zoo”, but the problem was he lived in the
Philippines. Neal immediately got a hold of Arnel and probably violated every
international customs law to get Arnel to San Francisco for an audition. To prove
to customs officials in Manila that Arnel Pineda really was going to America to
try out for the lead singer in “Journey” he had to sing “Wheel In The Sky”
right there in their office.
Neal couldn’t resist the publicity “Journey”
would get with hiring a man from the Philippines, including new fans in the
Asian Countries, so Arnel was announced as the next lead vocalist for
“Journey”. Arnel first appeared live in concert with the band on February 21,
2008 in Vina del Mar, Chile at the Vina del Mar International Song Festival
held at the Quinta Vergara Amphitheater. The band toured Europe and then
returned to The United States for a few concerts in Las Vegas before the next
album was released.
Finally “Freedom” has arrived. Wal*Mart
distributed Journey’s next album, “Revelation”. “Journey” is back with a great
album with some great songs. It’s the first “Journey” album to achieve Platinum
status since “Raised On Radio” in 1986. The second disc in the package was a
re-recording of 11 of “Journey’s” greatest Steve Perry era songs. This disc is
a better coaster than music CD. We have the excellent sounding originals with
Steve Perry’s voice so it doesn’t make any sense to listen to lesser recordings
with a different voice. The third disc in the package is a DVD of the
performance in Chile on February 21, 2008 that makes a nice addition to the CD.
Neal hit a home run with this release and the band was running with it!
The Revelation Tour started on February 23,
2008 and didn’t end until October 2009. The band was in top form and finally
having that new beginning they’ve always needed. The problem was that the only
songs radio was playing were the ones from the Steve Perry era. You didn’t hear
any of the new Journey songs even though they were good. The “Live In Manila”
DVD was released on October 2, 2009 recorder March 14, 2009 at The Mall Of
Asia. This was a much more exciting performance than the DVD that came with the
“Revelation” CD.
Then, “Journey” agreed to do a “concert”
during NBC’s “The Today Show” on July 29th, 2009. This did more
damage as Arnel’s voice was completely shot. It was seen by millions of people
all over the World and they couldn’t keep it in key. Arnel had a hard time
remembering the lyrics. The host of the show
didn’t even get Neal’s name right or care that he got it wrong. This was a
disaster.
“Journey” was back but they knew they were
pushing Arnel’s voice too hard so they took most of 2010 off to relax and let
Arnel’s voice strengthen. Since none of the new songs were on the radio, it
didn’t take long for the novelty of a singer from the Philippines to start to
wear off, people still yearned for their Steve Perry.
The anticipation for a new album was growing
and finally in 2011 “Journey” releases that new album. In an interview in 2011,
Neal Schon describes the album as “Journey on steroids”. I don’t know why he
thinks we want that. “Eclipse” is released on May 24th, 2011 to a
waiting audience who gobbled it up at first helping it reach it’s peak at
number 13 in the charts. There was a huge campaign for the release of the
album. It was even released on vinyl. It soon started falling fast because of
it’s departure from what people know as Journey. It was a hard rock, guitar
oriented experiment that didn’t go as planned.
Throughout the past couple years, Ramona S.
Diaz was shooting and collecting footage of Arnel and Journey for a documentary
she was making called “Don’t Stop Believin’: Everyman’s Journey. The film was
released on March 8, 2012. It’s a good docu-musical that is essentially a modern
day rags to riches story. I wish they had gotten into the struggles that Arnel
must have been feeling after the years of touring as the lead singer of
“Journey”. I’m sure the stress was intense and that would have been more
interesting to me.
During the next two years after the release
of “Eclipse”, Journey kept touring. The shows had completely become a “Greatest
Hits” show as they weren’t really playing anything off the later albums. The
live shows were even advertised on the radio using the recordings with Steve
Perry as vocalist.
On December 15, 2013 there was special pay
per view live showing of “Neal & Michaele Forever”. This was Neal Schon and
Michaele Salahi’s wedding with special guest drummer Steve Smith. It was a 3
hour event that I was unable to watch. I have never seen a video or DVD of
this. It would make a great home video release. Neal Schon billed this as “The
Celebrity Wedding Event of the Decade”. Really? Apparently Neal thinks very
highly of himself and as the leader of the band.
Journey 2014: Don’t Stop Believin’ was an
event on Public Television. This special included excerpts of the documentary
"Don't Stop Believin": Everyman's Journey", concert footage from
"Live in Manila", and more. Yes, even six years later Neal was still
pushing the whole “Journey’s new lead singer was found on the internet and came
from the Phillipines” thing. Give it up Neal, and give us some new music!
On May 25, 2014 Journey fans had their
prayers answered when for the first time in 20 years Steve Perry sang once
again. Steve Perry took the stage with a band called “Eels” and showed the
World that he still has it. Steve went on Stage again with “Eels” on May 31st
and June 12th. The internet lit up and YouTube had tons of postings for these
events. It also shows that even after all these years who is the leader of
“Journey”.
There have been many speculations and reports
of Steve Perry getting back with Journey. Even Arnel has been welcoming that
for many years as he’s been showing that he’s getting tired of it all. It isn’t
all that simple. Steve Perry is still with Columbia Records who have a bad
relationship with Neal and Jonathan. There are many legal and personal battles
which have to be dealt with before anything can happen.
Steve Smith has re-joined Journey and will
first play together in April 2016 when the Journey San Francisco Fest 2016
begins. Also Gregg Rolie will play with the band for three dates in April 2016.
A dream come true indeed!
I can guarantee a multiplatinum album and
sold out tour if ever Steve Perry ever returns as Lead Singer. Who knows what
the future holds, but one thing is for sure and that is it’s time for a change
of some kind in the band. The Stage is set and the World awaits to continue the
Journey…
