The Journey Thread

[yorost]

Now the official Journey thread.  Thanks to the person that linked this one!

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OK, I love Journey.  Now, a better description of me might be that I'm one of those black sheep fans that prefers them while Gregg Rolie was still in the band but still enjoys most of their other music.  I'm not a Greatest Hits kind of guy, which isn't to say I dislike their Greatest Hits as some of them are definitely up as my favourites.  This band just shines a lot more when they're not be so straight up.

My history to becoming a fan actually starts with Steve Auger's first song, Remember Me, on the Armageddon soundtrack.  From there I started with Greatest Hits and slowly expanded on their discography, roughly starting with their more popular albums first.  That might contribute to why Journey without Perry absolutely does not bother me.  Lyrics don't bother me, so try not to go there on them, the lyrics were always odd from them.

With Eclipse coming next week I thought this might be a good time to do this thread.  To compile this list I've been listening to their entire discography over the last few weeks.  If they've released it, it's been considered for this list.  The first thing I did was try and pick out my top 30-40 songs and ended up with a list of 70 or so, none of which I wanted to leave off.  Paring it down was tough, but I did what I could, and while the list might be different if I did it again I do think the general feel for the rankings would be the same.  Oh, and I am ignoring live versions of songs because, while some songs are far better that way than their album counterparts, it just isn't a fair comparison without hearing them all that way.

50: Can't Tame the Lion (Trial By Fire)

My brother heard this song on the radio and got me to listen to it a couple years before I really connected the dots to who Journey was.  It's a great mid-tempo rocker with an over polished sound that works extremely well.  It features what marks many of the best Perry-era songs, a nice track underlaying a vocal featured paired with a matching extended guitar solo, i.e. Perry and Schon splitting the spotlight with a cohesive song.  Trial By Fire needed more tracks like this on the back half of the album(Japanese version did have this and was much better) to save it fom just having too much AOR.  Oh well, at least this was there to bolster the album's pace.

49: Line of Fire (Departure)

A fairly short little rocker from Rolie's final album with the band.  It's got great vocals over a strong riff, has their typical questionable lyrics, and has some really nice bridges to add very nice flavour to the song.  What's not to love?  There's a lot going on for a three minute song.  That gunshot was apaprently a pain for them to record and get it to sound right.

48: Stone In Love (Escape)

I know!  I thought it would be higher, too!  Great example of how their pop-rock era could be outstanding.  Interspersed soloing with the great riff to accompany solid vocals... it's what Journey does well.  That mid song pause buildup into the outro solo takes this from being a nice song to one I do really love.  All in all I think it works better live, though, especially with Augeri.  Song sounds like it was written for him, not Perry.  In all of my listening recently I've discovered that I like Escape a lot more than I remember.  It's definitely my favourite of the four Perry/Cain outings.

47: In My Lonely Feeling/Conversations (Journey)

This album is a downright monster, and this song might have of the most interesting opening 30 seconds of anything on the album.  Worth noting this is the only album they had two guitarists, with George Tickner on rhythm guitars.  I've always been a proponent of bringing him back!  The transitions from the softest stuff on the album and some more aggressive rhythm section stuff support and highlight what is basically a guitar solo showing why Schon was considered a child prodigy.  I'm not sure how old he was for this album, maybe 20.  I think the double title is from them pasting the section with vocals together with the section without... where oddly Conversations is the one without vocals.

46: Daydream (Evolution)

Here we have my least favourite album with Rolie.  Really, lots of good stuff on here, but the way the album was put together really hurt a lot of good songs.  Most everything on here is leagues better live, and Evolution's songs suffer for it in this ranking.  The album flows nicely, but almost feels like one song sometimes, in a not very good way that prevents anything from standing out.  The instruments are just turned down way too far on Evolution for one thing.  However, that allows some tracks to standout, like this one and others in the back reaches.  Here we have an odd piece that isn't terribly out there as far as complexity, but just offers a very cool sound with almost trippy instrumentation and vocals.  Great stuff and helps save an album from too much of the same syndrome.

[glaurung]

All I really know is the greatest hits, so I'll be reading to maybe hear some new songs.

[splent]

I won tickets to see Journey in Chicago yesterday morning. 

[bosk1]

"Won" just doesn't seem like the right word in this context.

[yorost]

Now, now, bosk, none of the nippiness.  I don't like Pineda as much, either, but it isn't that bad.

@Splent:  You win it off The Loop?

I'm going to continue on, and I'll try to do an update  of 5 every day or two until near the end.

45: Midnight Dreamer (Look Into the Future)

Considering Journey's lineage, this song fits into what you might've initially expected from a more jazz rock oriented Santana.  This used to be my favourite song off this album, but not so much anymore for reasons unknown.  Typical early Journey with a short vocal section followed a long soloing section for Rolie and Schon.  Great feel to the song, they put together a nice intro with Rolie singing and transition into the aptly dreamy instrumental.  It's not a terribly ridiculous piece, but it sounds very nice.

44: Faithfully (Frontiers)

Cain writes too much, but sometimes he hits it spot on and you get songs like this.  Anyone reading this probably knows this song, so I'll just say it gets big points for good passion and a wonderful buildup throughout to accompany a tremendous solo.  Great concert closer, I've seen an entire audience singing the "woah" parts in unison all the way into the parking lots.  Nice topic, too, about being on the road with a band.

43: Nickel & Dime (Next)

Here's an odd album that I've really changed my mind on in the last few weeks.  Used to consider Next a bit of a dud for the Rolie era, but now I seem to love most of it.  The fadeouts and the way they split the songs due to being released on a record, creating a unbalanced cd tracklisting, irked me.  Side A was more proggy and Side B was more hard hitting.   Anyways, this is a great instrumental that takes a very literal title, as it starts in 5 and ends in 10.  The original version had a third section in 7, but it got dropped, oh well.  The drums are a lot of fun from former Zappa drummer Dunbar.

42: We Will Meet Again (Arrival)

Beautiful closing track to Arrival, providing a strong drum beat to a song that fits Augeri's voice very well.  The hints at darker tones atop a fairly light feeling song, along with a great finish, elevate it from being a good track to a great one.  Gives a ringing finality to Arrival, so makes it a big booster for album quality, too.  I admit, different album placement and maybe I might not have it as high.  It really might be their best song for specifically closing an album.

41: Karma (Next)

Another closing track, which is one of the more straight ahead songs that they did before they moved onto a dedicated lead singer.  One of the cool things about this song is that Rolie continues to sing during Schon's solo over the last couple of minutes.  It's a tactic that ended up producing many of their best songs later on.  Schon's guitar sound on this track is really nice, and it's a good song for either headphones or a better speaker system as his guitar is split in a peculiar way, giving a nice sonic twist to the song.

[D_Halco]

Its nice to see someone else besides myself who appreciates the whole of Journey's career, not just their popular peak with Steve Perry. I love every era of Journey, but really respect the Steve Augeri era and enjoy everything from those 8 years. Remember Me is one of their best arrangements, Arrival is a monster album, Red 13 is a nice divergence into longer songs and more adventurous arrangement, and I really enjoy Generations and think it is easily one of their better albums (Faith In The Heartland is their best opener and a tremendous song!). Steve Augeri is a talented vocalist and I never mistook him for Perry for a moment!

[yorost]

Ha, I think you might like my rankings as far as the Augeri era is concerned!

I picked up Eclipse today.  Heard it once on not so great speakers, so I'm not sure what to say so far.  Seems like it'll take some time to absorb the album, which isn't a bad thing.  Definitely the best full album since Arrival, though(but that isn't the strongest competition).  Arrangements are interesting, Schon doesn't get lost in his own guitar(like he sometimes can) so puts up some quality melodic solos, and Pineda sounds stronger this time around.

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40: She Makes Me(Feel Alright) (Look into the Future)

Fun track that really gets their second album going into its best material.  It's fairly short but packs a lot of energy, and really highlights how some of their older stuff fits into their future times with Perry.  If I rated this song off some boots I've heard it would be much higher, adding Perry vocals as highlights on the song added another dimension that worked extremely well.

39: Opened the Door (Infinity)

Closes off Infinity as a solid atmospheric piece.  Nice opening couple of minutes that highlights Perry and finishes with a big and airy guitar section.  As for writing songs that fittingly close albums, they only topped this with the Arrival album.

38: Lights (Infinity)

Huh, I didn't even realize I put the opener and closer to Infinity right next each other in this ranking.  I imagine anyone reading this knows the song, which I believe was the second song Perry and Schon wrote together.  Back half of the song is the highlight, mixing a nice backing vocal part into a guitar solo and Perry's lead.  Great way to introduce Perry to the fans, and more on that later...

37: Who's Crying Now (Escape)

Might be Schon's most well known solo, but the dynamic of having two parts make a whole works really well for Journey.  One lead for Perry and one lead for Schon, all making a couple of good pieces a great song.  I've been amused in the past by people refering to this song as how great a guitar player Perry was.  Best version I've ever heard was one a San Francisco station had with Augeri on lead, though.  A few of these big Escape songs really sounded more natural with Augeri.

36: People (Next)

The best off of the A side of Next, which had one attempt at a more straight up song with 3 sort of zaney other songs.  This one is a nice example of both Rolie and Schon having some restrained fun while also having some singing that's sort of catchy and adds to the song.  Things build to a peak maybe a little past halfway and everything slowly backs away until the end.  Nice touch for having an interesting way to come out of a song but still keep interesting.

[yorost]

35: All the Things (Arrival)

Somewhat harder hitting song for Journey, but it fits the general darker tones of Arrival very well.  I seem to recall hearing Sony was unhappy that they placed this song so high on the album, at track 4.  Me, I think the album is actually better by removing tracks 2&3 and letting this fall in second, not that track 3 is bad at all.  Cain is what send this song over the top for me, nice unobtrusive organ play in the first couple of minutes that really adds to the groove.  They pull it away for the second half of the song, which leaves you wanting to hear the song again.

34: Next (Next)

Best song off of Next.  Not quite as flamboyant as some of the other stuff from their early records, it mixes in half time sections with some nice drumming bridges by Dunbar.  Finishes off with an interesting layered solo section by Schon.  Rolie was no stellar vocalist, but he sounds great on songs like this.

33: Separate Ways(Worlds Apart) (Frontiers)

Terrible, terrible video.  Fine, they did it when it wasn't exactly an art form, but it's terrible.  ...better than Chain Reaction's video, at least. ...maybe, who can really tell.  Solid, powerful song, and Perry's more worn out voice is very appealing on this song.  Also a nice example of having a very straight forward drum beat that actually sounds interesting and add to a song rather than become tiresome, part of why Smith is a better drummer than Castronovo, in my opinion.

32: Loved by You (Arrival)

OK, I have another Cain song.  I suppose when he gets it right he does a fantastic job.  They should have left off All the Way and With Your Love, the two worst songs on the album as well as two of three singles, and made this the single.  Here's a nice ballad that sounds like they wrote it with Augeri in mind.  Dark, beautiful sounding song where Schon takes a definite back seat, mostly just adding occasional ornamentation outside of his solo. 

31: Kohoutek (Journey)

The comet song, yay.  How very odd that they ended up pairing this song with Too Late, from Evolution, in later tours.  Guess I would describe this song as: Atmosphere!  Atmosphere!  A little more atmosphere! OOH now we're rocking! ...cool drums!  Big Atmosphere!  Solo!  Back and forth solos!  More Solo!  Even More Solo!  Yay!  Back to atmosphere for the finish!  Oh wait, our drummer needed to play more!  Now bye.

[yorost]

Been away for awhile for anyone following this thread.  I didn't really expect a lot of activity, since most people here aren't that familiar with Journey, and it has been getting some views so I'm going to keep going with this.

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30: Anyway You Want It (Departure)

That song from Caddyshack.  Opens the final normal studio album they did with Rolie, which turned out to be their first top ten charting album, too.  Like a lot of Journey's best songs it is highlighted by a Schon solo over the last third of the song over some nice vocals, especially what Perry adds just before the fadeout begins.  Not sure if I like the fadeout, here.  I always want to here Perry continue to add over the solo, but it is a good thing whenver a song makes you want to hear it again by not overplaying various elements.

29: Little Girl (Dream After Dream)

OK, Dream After Dream was actually Rolie's last studio album with the band, it's just not normal.  They went and wrote a sound track for a Japanese movie of the same name, where they brought in Schon's father to help score various pieces.  All in all, they ended up with only three songs with vocals and, obviously, some pretty odd tracks.  I would have liked to have included a couple of the instrumental tracks on this list, but in the end they missed out.  Little Girl has a haunting quality to it and is simply beautiful and has a great outro.  It's nothing amazing, but I really like Valory's bass here.

28: I'm Cryin (Departure)

Hot track.  Powerful sounding, yet still is deceptively soft feeling.  I think it's in 12/8, which gives it that great Lovin' Touchin' Squeezin' feeling, only much better.  It never really has a defining riff, it's mostly soaring vocals mixed with a bunch of short, flaring guitar add ons.  One of my favourite Perry songs.

27: Dixie Highway (Captured)

Not a studio album, but this is the final original song Rolie recorded with Journey.  I might be breaking my own rule including, this, since there never was a studio version and so I have to use the live version.  This whole album is fantastic, except that the boots of the concerts are better since they didn't take out a large variety of great songs.  It does go to show how much better the Evolution songs were than they as presented on Evolution.  Dixie Highway has a fun sort of kick to it and is a great send off for Rolie.  For the record, Captured's studio track Party's Over(Hopelessly in Love) was not recorded with Rolie or his replacement Cain, but rather with a friend of the band.

26: Troubled Child (Frontiers)

The hidden gem from Frontiers.  Balanced song, everyone seems to have their moments of shinging throughout.  Too bad I always hear Perry singing "danke schön" instead of "you can shine"... I just looked that up, I always wondered what the heck he was trying to say.

[Bolsters]

Another big Journey fan here, and also another who appreciates their entire career and not just the Perry years I actually thought Journey would be a more popular band on this forum for some reason but it seems I was wrong. There isn't even a Journey thread! Liking your top 50 so far, big surprise to see Troubled Child at #26, definitely a hugely under-appreciated track.

[kári]

1: Don't Stop Believing?

[PowerSlave]

1: Don't Stop Believing?

It better be the title track from Look into the Future or else the whole ranking fails. 

[yorost]

@Bolsters: Thanks!  I have one more track I think might raise some eyebrows to Journey fans much more than Troubled Child!   I'm curious what people will say to that one, it's hated by many typical Journey fans if I remember right.

1: Don't Stop Believing?

1. Pull Me Under?

It better be the title track from Look into the Future or else the whole ranking fails. 

I... i... how did you do this? 

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25: Change for the Better  (Revelation)

Well, sure sign I don't like an album is the tendency to just skip straight to some song and then quit listening a song or two later.  I almost exclusively listen to entire albums, but with Revelations I always just want to go and listen to a few songs, and this one most so.  Guitar intro is hard to palate on first listen since it is sort of unusual, but it is one of the things that takes this song over the top from just being a really good song.  That bridge following a solo near the end of the song is sick.

24: The Time (Red 13)

Red 13 was not a polished EP, get over it.  Long story short, Journey was for their first time not with Sony(Columbia) and decided to release some not radio friendly songs they wanted to play for fans.  It had next to no budget, and I was very happy they decided to go this way!  I'm not sure if it's a good thing or a bad thing, but I would have liked to hear Augeri let loose earlier in the song.  Thing is when he does it's just an awesome feeling, so maybe they did it right, I can't decide.  Cool bridge around the halfway mark on the song is a highlight.

23: One More (Trial by Fire)

Social conscious song is powerful.  What a song for Perry and Schon to go out on, with the matched vocal and guitar lines.  The worn out Perry sound is godly for this song, especially over the disjointed backing vocals.  The sound on the guitar solo is fantastic, the way they end it is catchy, and everything gets rolled up into a touchy topic, mass starvation.  It was the songs like this on Trial by Fire that make you lament what this album and reunion could have been.

22: Look Into the Future (Look Into the Future)

Tracks in around the eight minute mark on what I want to call a groovy feel(but would be dead wrong).  It's built on a rather slow paced beat with plenty of nice faux speed ups, including hints of aggression in a number of transitions that build up a great sort of tension which is well released in the closing solo by Schon.  Fantastic chill song that never quite drags itself down, giving it a honed edge.

21: Topaz (Journey)

George Tickner was awesome.  He has to be, he wrote this song.  Probably the best instrumental Journey put out happens to be the one song written solely by the only rhythm guitarist they ever had.  Exhilarating first half leads to one heck of a Schon solo laced over a very cool rhythm section.  It's all topped off with an eventual outro with some callbacks between Rolie and one of the guitarists.

[PowerSlave]

Only 22nd? Ouch!!!

I've always had a lot of love for that song. Infact, being very much into the flow of albums, I've always felt that LITF was the beggining of the best run of songs of any Journey album. LITF, Midnight Dreamer and I'm Gonna Leave You are simply an unstoppable combo of songs in my opinion. So much so that I can't listen to one without hearing them in order (so much for the shuffle mode on my ipod when one of the songs comes on lol...)

Since you've already ranked my favorite song from the first album (In my lonely feeling/conversations), I'm interested to see where and if my other favorites from that album will come in. Namely, Of a Lifetime and Mystery Mountain. I'm also interested in seeing if Winds of March makes the list.

[King Postwhore]

What a great pick with The Time.  I never expected to see that on the list.

[yorost]

@PowerSlave:  That second half of Look Into the Future probably is one of their best runs on any of their albums.  Have to think about that more to say if I think it's the very best, but it definitely must be right there.

I'll be answering the question about one of the three songs you mentioned right away.  You seem to be skilled at pointing out songs right before they get posted.

@kingshmegland : Glad to see someone that appreciates Red 13.  Is The Time your favourite off of it?

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20: Patiently (Infinity)

First song Schon and Perry wrote together.  Schon provides a cool, rolling acoustic underneath a beautiful work by Perry and Rolie.  Apparently the guitar part is harder than it sounds, although I don't really know.  That brackets one of the best moments on the Infinity album with an unexpected booming solo section, where we get Perry and Schon's guitar in unison as a way to pass the torch between each of their biggest features in the song.

19: Live and Breathe (Arrival)

Back before Arrival was released Journey made some hints at a Wheel in the Sky 2000.  You can imagine how fans interpreted that, but they were actually being literal.  I believe it was Augeri that took the intro they had been playing live for Wheel in the Sky and made it a full song!  Great, smooth song led by Valory and Augeri.  Generally a softer more melodic feel gets punctuated by Schon crashing in.  I don't know if they ever played this live since I believe they continued to use the intro version of it for Wheel in the Sky.

18: Where Were You (Departure)

Might be my first choice as a concert opener, very high energy.  A great guitar drives the song right from the get go.  Solo section has a great transition, with some pointed bass, back into a closing chorus section featuring some added guitar screeches by Schon.

17: Escape (Escape)

Just an all around song that is possibly the most intriguing piece on Escape.  I love how the song doesn't really have a lot of repetition, but just keeps growing and getting better.  Maybe Valory and Smith's shining song on Escape, everyone gets great parts on this song.  Cain gets a cool transition, Perry has a great part with everyone else on backing vocals, and Schon is just all over this one.

16: Winds of March (Infinity)

They wrote the song while with their first dedicated lead singer, Robert Fleischman.  It sounded great with Perry, and it sounded great with him.  Also cool is that this was a song Schon wrote with his father, a pairing that produced some great songs for Journey here and later.  Just beautiful intro brings us to a kick ass solo section featuring some of Rolie's best stuff on the album as well as some sick sounding guitars.

[Bolsters]

Live and Breathe it's refreshing to see Arrival songs appear in not only a top 50 but in the top 25. I too appreciate Red 13 but my favorite off of it is the Intro/State of Grace. I like The Time alot aswell though

[King Postwhore]

Yes it is.  I was very happy to hear a full on rock song from Journey.

Great pick with Patiently too!!

[hefdaddy42]

Where Were You is such an awesome song.  Great list thus far, yorost!

[bosk1]

Great list thus far, yorost!

Not to take anything away from Yorost, but...he is listing 50 Journey songs.  Unless you are trying to pick the worst or have really strange tastes, it's hard to list 50 Journey songs and not have a pretty cool list.

[yorost]

Thanks hef!  ...and bosk, I believe the typical Journey fan actually would consider my list indicative of strange taste.  

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15: You're on Your Own (Look Into the Future)

Cowrote by former acoustic guitarist Tickner, you can really hear Schon layering in the parts that would have been Tickner's.  I love the guitars playing in the beginning, split into the left and right tracks, and going from unison to separate parts.  This song kicks off the meat of the album, a set of four excellent, longer songs, and is led in by the best short song on the album.  Rolie puts on a show in here, and Schon follows suit with a memorable solo over Rolie's chorus.

14: Colors of the Spirit (Trial by Fire)

It took me years to really notice this song in the depths of a soft songs filling the back half of Trial by Fire.  Now, I find myself wanting to listen to this again every time I hear it.  Itt's a fairly straightforward song with a sort of tribal feel to it.  Perry nails this one, and Valory just makes this song, even getting some soloing in underneath what you might first mistake as a Schon outro solo.

13: Remember Me (Armageddon: The Album)

The song that kicked off life without Perry, and the song that really triggered me into checking out Journey. Although I did unwittingly know a number of their songs already.  Great sound on the song, but I do prefer the extended version that was included on the single.  Schon and Augeri really sound great together, too bad they never played it live much due to someone in the band really disliking playing it.  It was either Cain or Schon I imagine, but I have no idea which one or why.

12: Faith in the Heartland (Generations)

I love what they tried with Generations, I do.  It didn't work, though, maybe they were forcing the alternate singer too much instead of just letting it happen on a song or two.  Shame on Shirley for being so interested in rerecording this for disc one of Revelations, that just pisses me off with Revelations.  Not only is the Generations version better all around, it felt like a slap in the face of Augeri since they couldn't just put it in with Greatest Hits disc, which would have been very cool.  Generations was their first full album off of Columbia, so they chose to give it to concert goers on their tour that covered songs from all of their eras.  I was so pumped for that tour, I was finally going to see a bunch of songs from their first three albums played live. ...I ended up at one of the venues that neither allowed giveaways or multiple set performances so I saw zero songs from that era.  I'd had no idea there were a few dates like that on the tour, much less to bother checking that the only one I could go to would be one.  Disappointing doesn't begin to describe it.  Anyways, it's a fabulous song, and one of Castronovo's best outings with Journey, give the Generations version a listen.

11: Feeling That Way/Anytime (Infinity)

The world just doesn't seem right if these two aren't together.  I've seen them live together, they're played on radio together, they're just hardly ever separated, so I'm counting them as one song with two parts.  Both were largely written before Perry joined, part one was almost on Next in some form and Anytime was written with Fleischman.  Great way to introduce Perry to fans, though.  Start off with Lights, then revert back to a more familiar Journey sound with Perry as a secondary singer.  That thick sound Schon gets on his solo is because they through him out into the hallway to play it.

[King Postwhore]

I was so happy to here Remember Me.  The new singer sounded great, it had balls but was also melodic.  A few years later I was able to see them before Arrival came out and was blown away.

[yorost]

Did you see Remember Me live?

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10: Destiny (Dream After Dream)

I've never seen the movie this album was made for, which is apparently for the best, but I'm always curious how this song came about.  A nine minute opener is no laughing matter, it anchors the whole album and helps everything else sort of fit together as they move out of this into a mostly instrumental album.  Intro immediately tells you this is different, with a horn accompanying the song.  Heck, we even get a horn and guitar going back and forth at one point.  I love the guitar and drums playing an offbeat pattern in the softer sections, which might actually be on beats in that jazzy 12/8 pattern they favour. The highlight is definitely the fun instrumental section around the middle, and Rolie and Smith end up closing the song with an eerie keyboard/percussion section.

9: Mystery Mountain (Journey)

Yup, mountains, clouds, lava... great stuff to sing about!  I love it when Journey comes up with lyrics like this, which might have started as a poem from Valory's wife like some other more well known songs.  Valory, Schon, and Dunbar all drive this song, with Tickner and Rolie's vocals adding some cool stuff to accompany them along the way.  This as a closer is a big part of what makes Journey so memorable.

8: Walking Away From the Edge (Red 13)

I am pretty sure this song was written during Geoff Tate's audition for lead singer, before they ultimately chose Augeri.  It was deemed too dark, so did not go to Arrival despite Schon's stated love for this song.  Beautiful lyrics, but Augeri really put his best performance on Red 13 here.  The thing is, if I had to pick a Schon solo I considered his best in Journey, for both quality but also fitting a song, it would be this one.  Coming out of that first half of the song, it's just a gorgeous work.  Something Schon likes to do is record improv solos for songs in demo sessions and then have that tape pasted into the finished products, to keep a more raw feeling to his solos.  I'm not sure he did it here, but I'd guess he did on this one.

7: Higher Place (Arrival)

If I was going to pick one compilation song with Augeri on lead it would be this.  It's the most accessible live song from time in the band, and has been a staple ever since it was released.  One of the few songs they brought over with Pineda from Augeri's time.  I remember some of my friends getting this after it leaked and playing it for me, we were all very pumped at that point.  Two of us forked over for the Japanese Arrival, released far in advance of the US version, and another ended up at the Journey 2001 dvd concert and kept holding it over my head he saw this live already.  Seen it twice live, myself, just awesome.  It was the no brainer pick to open up Arrival.

[King Postwhore]

No.  I wish I did.

[D_Halco]

Faith In The Heartland is definitely my favorite Journey opener. Big, anthemic, emotional, and the playing is top notch. One of Augeri's finest vocal performances during his tenure with the band.

I also really enjoy Generations as a whole, I dont think it deserves all the flak it gets, I find it tons better than Revelation but a few steps behind Arrival...in my opinion Generations was the last real Journey album before they turned into that Journey tribute band.

This is a great list though, I cannot say I disagree with any of the song placements on here at all, even including the Red13 material is pretty awesome!

[wolfking]

Yeah, I didn't mind Generations either, and I agree, I was also annoyed when they redid it on Revelations, it was just unneccesary.

[D_Halco]

It seemed like a deliberate slap in the face to Augeri to rerecord it and make it worse than how it sounded on Generations. But then again, from what I gathered over the years, the Journey guys arent exactly upstanding citizens...at least Augeri got some royalties out of it since he co-wrote it.

[yorost]

To be fair, as I recall interviews from the time the decision to rerecord it was largely Shirley fighting for the right to do it.  He thought the Generations version was detrimental to a great song and wanted to give it a proper treatment.   Journey eventually went with it since they figured they were already doing on the Greatest Hits and it would help expose the song.  The insult was which disc it appeared on. ...and that it got worse.

[D_Halco]

Yes if there is one thing Generations needs is a hardcore remastering, thats true. I suppose if FITH were on disc 2 of Revelations I would be able to stomach it more, as it stands it seems out of place on disc 1 and doesnt sound better sonically at all, at least to me. Oh and Arnel tries way too hard on that version, Augeri's delivery is much more natural.

Thats my big problem with Arnel. He is merely doing a passable imitation of Steve Perry's style, and it doesnt sound natural, he just sounds like a very good tribute singer. While Augeri has some similarity to Perry's style, he always seemed to be his own man with his vocal delivery, I cant think of one Augeri-era song where I mistake him for Perry at all.

[yorost]

Have you heard Eclipse?  Pineda sounds much better to me on this one.

[D_Halco]

I have. He does sound better but I dont see why he has to shout almost everything he sings. I think musically it's an interesting album, but lyrically it's very spotty, and the choruses aren't really interesting to me. I will say I think Ritual is killer, the music, lyrics, and instrumentation remind me of Escape, in a good way, if more songs had had that kind of mentality it would be a killer album.

[D_Halco]

I feel like I should clarify, I dont hate Arnel specifically, I think he is doing what he is told by the J-men and is doing a bang up job for the most part. I simply feel hiring him because he can do a great impersonation of Perry was a huge mistake and solidified Journey for me as a dinosaur rock act. Had they continued on the same course after Generations with Augeri, I feel they would still be relevant. As it stands though they seem comfortable with the legacy voice and sound with Arnel, although I admire Neal Schon for wanting to branch out with this new album.

Cannot wait to see the rest of this list!

[yorost]

6: I'm Gonna Leave You (Look Into the Future)

That song that sounds like part of Carry on my Wayward Son.  This came first, though.  It was also co written by Tickner while he was still with the band, who is apparently a beast of a writer that is too bad they lost.  Great guitar riffs, Rolie sounds great, sexy guitar and vocal interplay, Valory and Dunbar are kicking, and this thing is lined to the brim with solos.  I love this shit.

5: Mother, Father (Escape)

Seeing Schon's father listed in the credits of a Journey song is a surefire sign you have a fantastic song to listen to.  Give me one word to describe this song and I would have to say, euphoric.  Nice touches all around on this song, all starting with a beautiful opening.  Perry and Valory lead the lyrical sections, and if you were ever to call Perry otherworldly this is probably the song to point to.  Schon, though, comes closet to taking the show on this song, including two dramatically different primary solos.  I love that second solo when he puts in the hiccups.  I get chills every time I listen to this song.

4: People and Places (Departure)

Neal Schon, lead vocals.  What?  This song comes out of nowhere on Departure.  The coolest vocals Journey has ever done on a song, by the time they get to the half way point, i.e. intro done, I'm just trying to stop smiling because I know it's about to get a whole lot more awesome.  Smith's drumming under Schon's solo adds an extra bit of joy to an already top shelf song.

[D_Halco]

I was always excited to hear a Rolie-era Journey tune with the hammond b3 in it, always added a smokey touch of class to the tune.

[PowerSlave]

Damnit Yorost!!! You keep shortening the lists lol... I wanna see where this thing ends up and now you're teasing us. 

I think I know what the number one song is. I'm definately looking forward to the end to see if I'm correct.