The WHEEL IN THE SKY Reviews Journey's Freedom Album.

The album was released on July 8, 2022. 

Watch my review of the album here;

FREEDOM REVIEW

Journey Album Retrospective: "NEXT", Released in February 1977

JOURNEY: Next

Album Cover - Front

Gregg Rolie..........Keyboards, Lead Vocals
Neal Schon...........Electric and Acoustic Guitars, Lead Vocals
Ross Valory...........Bass, Background Vocals
Aynsley Dunbar......Drums, Percussion

Album Cover - Back

Main Release Format..........Vinyl Album (LP)

Label............................Columbia Records

Management and Direction.....Walter “Herbie” Herbert

Produced by Journey for Nightmare Productions, Inc.

Recorded and Mixed at His Master’s Wheels, San Francisco, CA

Recording and Mixing Engineer..........Smiggy

Mastered at Capitol Recording Studios, Hollywood

Mastering Engineer.....Bruce Botnick  (Thank You, Mike Dilbeck)

Art Direction and Photography for Journey.......Bruce Steinberg

Album Design......Bruce Steinberg and Ellie Oberzil

Sleeve Art..........Mansfield

Album Liner - Side One

Release Date............February, 1977

Chart Rating............#100

Number Sold...........-500,000

Certification............None

Catalogue Number.....PC34311

Genre....................Progressive Rock, Jazz Fusion

Album Liner - Side Two

TRACKS:

Number of Tracks........8;

Side 1;

1. Spaceman..............4:00

2. People..................5:20

3. I Would Find You......5:53

4. Here We Are...........4:16

Side 2;

1. Hustler.................3:14

2. Next....................5:26

3. Nickel & Dime.........4:13

4. Karma..................5:08

LINER NOTES;
Special Thanks to everyone at CBS Records and to these special friends:
Gary Jackson (financial direction)
Brian Rohan (attorney-at-peace)
Bruce “One-Stop” Steinberg (overtime)
Ray Arbuckle
Ron Bennett
Carol Bork
Jonathan Coffino
Charley Coplen
Mike Dilbeck
Don Ellis
Sam Hood
Mark Hyman
Bruce Lundvall
Rob Oberman
Frank Shargo
Peter Starr
And to Bill Graham and the FM Productions staff

Extra special thanks to our loyal and dedicated staff:
Gloria “Glo” Calbreath, secretary
Juan “Zopilote” Vallanueva, office manager
Patrick “Bubba” Morrow, road manager
Ken “The Duke” Mednick, lighting designer
Greg “Michelin Man” Schafer, axes & lamps
Chris “Biff” Uryevick, drum roadie
Ed “The Hit Man “Simeone, house engineer

Thank you, Herbie for your oneness, dedication and concern

Journey Fan Club;
Send self-addressed envelope to
P.O. Box 404, San Francisco, California  94101

(John Vallanueva, road manager)

Album Label - Side One

Album Label - Side Two

SINGLES:

Number of Singles 1;

Spaceman / To Play Some Music

Spaceman Promo Single Mono Side

Spaceman Promo Single Stereo Side

Spaceman Single - Side One

Spaceman Single - Side Two

WHEEL IN THE SKY REVIEW:

Album Review
Journey's third album, Next, makes it perfectly clear that these guys would become hugely popular the moment they would streamline their sound. They really were excellent songwriters as well as players. There isn't a weak song on the album. Neal Schon really knew how to infuse everything with exciting guitar solos back when he was still learning how to be a great showman.


As Journey was shifting to a more of a pop sound while keeping the roots of Rock and Roll intact over the period of these first three albums, it presents itself pretty clearly here that they have what it takes to make it big. The sound on this album is still dense and earthy while making the shift to a more pop sound, although Rolie’s vocals tend to be a bit more rough and soulful than what Journey would become on their next album.

I do love “Spaceman.” It is the first of many Journey power ballads, even if it's obvious they took a lot of hints from “Rocket Man.” Also, the melody is gorgeous as the album opener. The follow-up songs start to actually seem like a classic Journey songs, as they sport a tighter, more streamlined sound. The only thing missing here are the flamboyant vocals. The album does create a quite compelling atmosphere.

There isn’t a song over 6 minutes on this album while they average about 4-5 minutes. This album is four minutes shorter than Look Into The Future. That was precious time that could have been used to extend the album's terrific closer, the dark and powerful “Karma.” ...Come on! Doesn't a song like that need an extended jam session? I'm not even a jam guy, but considering how entertaining it has been hearing Schon and Rolie go at it in the previous Journey albums, why not bring it here?

Gregg Rolie’s vocals, as great as they are, do call for something more. If only Journey was able to bring that perfect voice to offset Gregg’s powerful voice, the possibilities seem endless. Although this album might not thrill me like Journey's previous ones did, it's still nonetheless among the group's finer releases. 

The cover art front and back are full color pictures of the band, the inner sleeve does contain the first incarnation of some feathered wings artwork, but it’s bitmapped black and white.


Spaceman (A Song For Hang Gliders)
Lyrics by Aynsley Dunbar and Gregg Rolie
Music by Gregg Rolie
It's hard for me not to want to compare this directly with the song that opened Look Into the Future, which was a bouncy and fun Supertramp-ish pop tune. This is also a pop tune but a ballad and kind of a good first power ballad that Journey would become famous for.

Actually this song seems to take a lot of obvious hints from Elton John's “Rocket Man.” Somehow that's not at all because of the similar song titles. It's Rolie's vocal performance, which adopts Elton John's mannerisms. (Hear how Rolie songs “Ooh, I'm not a spaceman, no, no.” I mean, the instrumental textures are engaging and the melody is gorgeous. What more do you need?

People
Lyrics by Neal Schon and Gregg Rolie
Music by Aynsley Dunbar and Gregg Rolie
This is the closest thing we get to the classic Journey sound in this pre-Steve Perry trilogy. All that's missing is flamboyant lead vocals, as Rolie's vocals here are more or less flat and less involved. It's that smooth and tight atmosphere they create here, really providing a nice texture for the ears to sink into. Midway through the drama picks up where we get that zippy synthesizer solo and probably the most crowd-pleasingly flashy electric guitar solo Schon has ever done so far! I believe this song shows Journey gearing up for their commercially successful days yet to come!

I Would Find You
Lyrics by Neal Schon and Tena Austin
Music by Neal Schon
Lead Vocals by Neal Schon
Here’s a good six minute song. Whereas lengthy songs like that had me positively excited in the previous album, this song isn’t the one to extend that extra 50 seconds. Though I do like that mystical, Middle Eastern-like bendy synthesizer solo that starts this off. After that, all we get is a heavy and very slowly developing filler. Some buzzy and bendy electric guitar chords do lend it a foreboding flavor, and there's a little bit of soloing toward the end that's nice, but it's ultimately a bit boring. Overall a good effort but this would need that perfect voice to supplement what Gregg is trying to do here.

Here We Are
Music and Lyrics by Gregg Rolie
This song starts out with heavy, dreamy, and dreary, pure synthesizer chords. What happened to Gregg’s Hammond organ? The song develops very slowly and really needs a soaring voice to take this song to it’s fullest potential, apart from its very last minute when some momentum finally starts to pick up. Schon is also far too absent throughout this, his electric guitar is kept merely in the background.

Hustler
Lyrics by Aynsley Dunbar
Music by Gregg Rolie
Well this is definitely more like classic early! It starts out right away with some lightning-fast electric guitar licks, before delivering a heavy riff. There are lots of things to listen to here. Though it doesn't quite have that gradual, flawlessly developing momentum that some songs in their previous album had. The riff isn't really that catchy, but this thing is littered with Neal's show-offey electric guitar licks, which is pretty cool.

Next
Lyrics by Aynsley Dunbar, Gregg Rolie, and Heidi Cogdell
Music by Neal Schon and Gregg Rolie
There are power-chords. Is this album leading into Infinity or what? ...I mean, this song is muddy, gritty, and ugly--making it totally unlike the glistening studio magic of Infinity--but still…I have to say that Gregg spends so much time singing in this and Neal is more reduced to licking away faintly in the background, regrettably, until the final minute when the groove gets quicker and heavier, and Neal starts going to town. The vocal melody is pretty good, Gregg does a great job with the vocals. Quite good as a whole, but was elevated tremendously in the live shows when Steve Perry added his voice to the song. If the album had a second single, this might have been it!

Nickel and Dime
Music by George Tickner, Ross Valory, Neal Schon and Gregg Rolie
An excellent instrumental! It's a backdrop to so many Journey documentaries. The song gives Neal and Gregg the excuse to noodle around exclusively throughout this. Gregg is using a synthesizer here instead of the Hammond organ he would have used in the previous two albums. Unlike the previous albums they're playing a bit flashy here, as opposed to a bluesy sound. They had proven to be excellent blues soloists in the past. This is an excellent instrumental which would be the last for a few years coming.

Karma
Lyrics by Aynsley Dunbar
Music by Neal Schon and Gregg Rolie
Lead Vocals by Neal Schon
This is an appropriate send-off to pre-Perry Journey if there ever was one, and these kind of jams will be missed. Neal Schon takes lead vocals on this one and kills it! This is the roughest, muddiest, grittiest, and heaviest Journey song of all time. Just listen to this song and try to refrain from bobbing your head righteously to it. This riff is very catchy. Well, this is Journey, after all. This song really called for 9 minutes of blistering jamming! But all they give us is 5!

The Journey Force Fan Club Newsletter from November 1, 1986, part 2

The November 1986 Newsletter continues with some Bits and Pieces and color pictures.

Neal Schon joined Carlos Santana onstage during the August 17, 1986 20th anniversary reunion concert in the Bay Area. Gregg Rolie was also there giving his vocal and keyboard skills to the Santana classics he is known for.

There are a few more Bits and Pieces including the winners to the "Raised On Radio" Backstage Pass Contest. There is also another contest where you could spend a week in either Hawaii or Japan with Journey. There were tow prizes and I wonder how it worked out for the winner that went to Japan since the concert came to an end in Hawaii, before the Japan portion was to begin.

This week we have a few great pictures of the band in concert...

continued next week...

The Journey Force Fan Club Newsletter from November 1, 1986, part 1

Volume 1, Number 3 of The Journey Force Fan Club Newsletter for November 1, 1986 begins with a Tour itinerary for the first leg of "The Raised On Radio Tour" which was to be Journey's biggest tour to yet.

The new line-up first played on August 23, 1986 at Calaveras County Fairgrounds at Angels Camp. This is the Mountainaire Festival. Page one of the Newsletter contains many reviews of the show from the local newspapers. The Tour Itinerary is missing the August and September dates.

Page 2 of the Newsletter continues the reviews of the shows. The main article on page 2 is "Meet The New Rhythm Section". There is a Journey Force interview with both Randy Jackson and Mike Baird. There is also a picture of Mike Baird and Steve Perry relaxing backstage if that's what you call relaxing.

It all starts right here with a color picture of the band. Again, as usual, Randy is represented by his eyes and teeth and extremely loud shirt...

To be continued next week...

Journey's New album and singer stall the arrival of "Arrival"

In 1998 Journey hired a new singer to replace Steve Perry.

The new singer was found how many of Journey's singers are found by his wife at the time and the internet. The lead singer of Tall Stories and Tyketto caught her eye.

His name is Steve Augeri and he worked at "The Gap" when he got a call from Neal Schon.  At first he thought it was a joke but in 1998 he was the lead singer on Journey's new song "Remember Me" for the Armageddon soundtrack.

The album was first released in Japan in December 2000 but, due to its leakage onto the Internet, the band decided to delay its release in the United States. Based on feedback from fans who heard the leaked version of Arrival, the band decided to record two harder rocking songs, which were included on the American version of the album, which now did not retain "I'm Not That Way" from the Japanese release.

Released on April 3, 2001 in the U.S.A. it produced a minor adult contemporary hit with the ballad "All the Way", while rock fans were more satisfied with songs like "Higher Place" and the two new tracks on the American release, "World Gone Wild" and "Nothin' Comes Close".

Peaking at No. 56 on Billboard's album chart, Arrival was the band's first album that did not receive at least gold status, since 1977's Next. It was also their last studio album under Columbia Records, which had been the band's label since their self-titled 1975 debut.

Heres a great article form Ultimate Classic Rock about this album;

15 Years Ago: Journey’s ‘Arrival’ Unfairly Suffers from Steve Perry Comparisons

For some fans of this band at its radio-ready zenith, there simply can be no Journey without Steve Perry – and that sensibility did no favors for replacement singer Steve Augeri. Though he was similarly named, similarly voiced, even similarly maned, none of it could save his debut project with Journey.

Never mind that “We Will Meet Again,” released as part of Arrival on April 3, 2001, meets and maybe exceeds much of their classic-era output. Co-written by Journey stalwart Neal Schon, Augeri and Alabama-based songwriter Kim Tribble, the song builds toward a sweeping vista reminiscent of Journey’s Roy Thomas Baker-helmed sides like “Winds of March” and “Opened the Door,” a welcome development indeed.

An inventively layered rhythm by Deen Castronovo, Journey’s new replacement for Steve Smith at the drums, sets the stage for a moment of controlled fury from Augeri — who, as with every post-Perry Journey singer, is often asked to elevate more than enunciate. Along the way, he turns a lonesome lyric into one of impressive determination. And like those two earlier-mentioned 1978-era tracks, “We Will Meet Again” serves as an emotionally resonant side-closing moment.

Elsewhere, “Higher Place” finds Augeri offering a vocal that bridges the two eras. After an intriguingly episodic opening statement, Augeri sounds enough like Perry to carry Journey to the well-constructed verse — before this Schon/Jack Blades composition finds its own voice within a chorus that’s pleasantly free of imitative ticks. A finely attenuated return to the verse then gives “Higher Place” a taut sense of expectation, almost a proggy feel. In this way, Journey references previous successes, but ultimately uses them as a foundation for something new.

Still, bedrock Journey supporters clearly remained reticent – even though the band had actually started without Perry and he’d long since prematurely retired. In fact, Perry has now been gone far longer than he ever was actually in Journey. Of course, the two decades that followed Perry’s late-’70s arrival would see the group sell roughly one gazillion records, permanently lodging his presence in most music fans’ minds eye when they think of Journey.

This new-look edition of Journey copped to those expectations with “All the Way,” a ballad more in keeping with their earlier Perry-led platinum-era sound, but it only just scraped the Top 40 at No. 39. Arrival then failed to reach gold-selling status, the first time that had happened since the pre-Perry 1977 project Next.

Augeri simply couldn’t shake the ghost of his predecessor, and this was long before Perry began making stirrings about a return. Journey left Columbia, its label home since ’75, after the follow up to Arrival. By 2006, Steve Augeri was gone too, succeeded by Jeff Scott Soto and then current singer Arnel Pineda, a partnership that seems to have finally got the group back on track with fans — and, belatedly, with the Billboard charts.

Journey's Friday The 13th show from July 13, 1979 proves stardom ahead in their future

Mid-way through the eight month "Evolution" Tour, on July 13th 1979, Journey went on stage at Assembly Theater in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The band played for over an hour and 30 minutes playing hits from the "Evolution" and "Infinity" as well as a few songs from the albums before Steve Perry joined the band.

Steve's voice is a very nice addition to those which really make them come alive. I've always thought the balance between Steve Perry's and Gregg Rolie's voice is part of what made the band so special.

Here is a copy of the review that was in The Tulsa Tribune the next day, Saturday July 14, 1979.

It's a great review about the band, the show and the massive stardom they are about to embark upon.

Journey's Steady Road to Success

To kick off the 1980 "Departure Tour", Journey played March 26, 1980 at the Palace of Fine Arts Theater in San Francisco, California.

I've got a review of that show from a newspaper clipping from late March 1980.

Most reviews during the 1970's and 80's of Journey were very critical. Journey was always called "commercial" or "corporate rock". For some reason, they always had a hard time with the press.

This newspaper clipping of the review starts out very complimentary but has a bit of criticism...

Journey's Blaisdell Blowout concert review September 4, 1983!

Honolulu's "The Sunday Star-Bulletin & Advisor" newspaper reviews Journey's Blaisdell blowout!

Journey played at the Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu, Hawaii September 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 6th in 1983.

Here's some pictures and the review that appeared in September 4th edition of the newspaper...