SO...the critics are wetting themselves over "Eclipse," the new Journey album.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Eclipse (sometimes stylized as ECL1P53) is the fourteenth studio album by American rock band Journey, and the second with Filipino lead singer Arnel Pineda.<1> Penned by Neal Schon, Arnel Pineda and Jonathan Cain. It was released in the United States and Canada on May 24, 2011 exclusively at Walmart, internationally on May 27, 2011, the United Kingdom on May 30, 2011 and Japan on June 1, 2011.

Reception

Early reviews are the strongest in years. Andrew McNeice from MelodicRock.com<2> states "Over the top…melodic....powerful…emotional…bold…brilliant…intelligent…crazy...self-indulgent…passionate. All of the above and more. This is a classic album. Journey or otherwise, this is a masterpiece of musical genius. It joins Escape and Frontiers as classic ground breaking albums in Journey history." <3>

Parade Magazine "Pick" in the May 22, 2011 issue, and Entertainment Weekly "Today's Pick" in the May 23, 2011 issue.

Burrn! Magazine Japan awarded Eclipse a score of 90.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eclipse_(Journey_album)

http://www.melodicrock.com/reviews/reviews.html

This is an utterly classic album. I could leave it at that…review over! I would however, be lynched by melodic rock fans for not explaining just why.

Journey is so many things to so many people, every note of every song of every album is scrutinized beyond reasonable sanity sometimes, so I expect this to be the most debated full score review of those that I have posted over the years.

The band achieved a perhaps surprising amount of success with their last album Revelation – the debut of Arnel and his story, plus the great value package at retail - made it a winner amongst both die-hards fans and those that appear to have been on the sidelines for other post-Perry releases.
Revelation was outstanding in all departments, so it would not have been any surprise to see the guys attempt to duplicate that success with a very similar album here.

But, this is quite often where things fall over for many artists. Acceptance that such success cannot just be manufactured or automatically duplicated the next time around is the first step to creating that great next record.

[HopeHoops]

1. Journey is still together? Wow. Actually, Journey's in the magazine that's about to play outside.

I've got speakers outside and in the garage. My basic rule is whichever house gets the music on first owns the day. There are six other houses that all have a collective "back yard" with mine, so music from any of them can be heard at all. There have been very few music battles and I've never been involved in one (here). I usually own Sunday.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

2. They've had a revolving door of singers since Steve Perry left.

Steve Augeri in 1988, who was on board for two albums...not bad, actuall, especially the second one, "Generations." He was a Steve Perry clone in the most extreme sense.

He left in 2006..."throat problems"...and Jeff Scott Soto joined. No albums were released with Soto as singer. They dumped him in June 2007.

Neal Schon saw Arnel Pineda...the current vocalist...on YouTube singing Journey songs and offered him a job in December 2007.

They are also a band who has signed an "exclusive" contract with WalMart...the first Pineda album "Revelation" and the new one are both "WalMart exclusives."

Pineda is a little too "squirrely" for my tastes...he is another Steve Perry clone (that's what attracted Schon when he saw those clips), but there is a "rasp" in his voice that Perry didn't have, and when Pineda goes for the high notes or attempts to sing with too much power, that rasp is there.

The songs, on the other hand, are the same kind of songs Schon and Cain would be writing with or without Perry. Out of the 12 tracks, Schon & Cain wrote 10, with Pineda collaborating on 2 (one of which also includes a credit to "Erik Pineda," who I assume is his brother).

Haven't listened to it yet...I plan to later today...but I am assuming it's going to sound pretty much like a new Journey album.

:toast:

[HopeHoops]

3. Some bands survive such transistions, others don't. There will never be another Freddie Mercury.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

4. I never got that whole "Paul Rodgers sings with Queen" thing.

I grew up listening to Rodgers in Free, Bad Company, and a number of other solo / group projects...his Muddy Waters tribute album with superstar guest guitarists on each track was pretty cool...but Queen?

I guess it's the same logic that made Pete Townshend invite Kenney Jones to join The Who when Keith Moon died. Rumor has it that they are all from the same "stomping grounds" in their youth. It was also a deliberate attempt to not go out and find a drummer who played like Moon.

The result? Two of the weakest albums in the band's history, and Daltrey supposedly hated his guts.

So they bring in Zak Starkey, who may not be "copying" Moon, but is a power drummer from the same school.

The result?

The Who sounded like The Who again.

Then Entwistle dies.

So they hire Pino Palladio, who sounds nothing like Entwistle (and while he may be a very famous session player, I've never liked his playing).

The result?

The Who sounds like The Who with something missing.

:-)

[ChoralScholar]

5. I have this recurring fantasy that Steve Perry decides he's ready to come back

they send Arnel on his way, and Journey undertakes a massive tour (stopping in Little Rock, AR, of course) with Steve Perry at the helm.

The thing is, Perry's still got it. I've heard some studio work that he's done in the last 5 years or so - backup vocals and whatnot... the dude's voice is timeless.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

6. VH-1's "Director's Cut" of "Journey: Behind The Music" was the series' best episode, period.

They really got into the dynamic of what went right and what went wrong.

Perry was essentially shoved down the throats of the band by their manager at the time, Herbie Herbert. They didn't make any kind of significant money with the first three albums. Herbert basically said "You're taking this guy on, and that's the end of the discussion." And despite any moaning and groaning, it's made clear that their desire for money soon overrode any resistance to Perry being in the band.

As time went on and the band grew bigger, Perry took an increasing amount of control. That didn't settle well with the rest, especially Schon, who comes across as a textbook alpha male (he was a full member of Santana at age 16, for God's sake). On "Raised On Radio," Perry successfully lobbied to have Steve Smith and Ross Valory ejected from the band because he claimed they weren't capable of following the "new direction" he envisioned.

One thing led to another...the death of his mom, his health problems, and meanwhile, Schon & Cain just wanted to make money, which they weren't making in their side projects (at least not "Journey money.")

So, while Perry was on self-imposed leave, taking time to decide if he wanted to undergo hip replacement surgery, he got a call from Cain and Schon saying "come back now or don't come back."

And he went through the usual plea bargaining about "do something else if you want, just don't call it Journey" and they said "Vaya con Dios, bro."

I do see this as a Diamond Dave / Van Halen thing, though...I think a Journey tour with Perry up front would be much bigger than the Van Halen reunion.

As much as the fans may enjoy singers who sound like Perry, they will always like Perry more.

I made it about 2/3 of the way through the new album before I had to click "stop." Pineda just grinds on my one good last never. I don't like the guy, he's raspy and whiny. The real turn-off, however, was when he crooned "Never stop believing" in the opening track. In all fairness, it was written by Schon and Cain, but hearing it sung made me cringe. And there is an international version of the new CD that includes a "bonus" live track of "Don;t Stop Believing."