Journey - Eclipse

[bosk1]

Interestingly, I'm listening to that album right now, which I haven't done in awhile. 

Do you have a link to the video?  I can understand Augeri still being on good terms with the band and not having anything against Pineda.  Augeri wasn't fired or forced out.  He was in a position where he just wasn't able to perform vocally for medical reasons, and the band wanted (and needed) to continue.  Perfectly understandable to part ways, if you ask me. 

[yorost]

https://yfrog.com/5ed8hz

I think it was shot by someone in Pineda's family.  Augeri even says in the video he never learned to take care of himself.

[bosk1]

Thanks.  Seems like a simultaneously cool and awkward moment.  Augeri seemed a bit like the drunk uncle at the wedding reception who waits until the moment the groom is being rushed off to take pictures and decides that is the precise moment he wants to give major life lesson advice.   

[King Postwhore]

Thanks.  Seems like a simultaneously cool and awkward moment.  Augeri seemed a bit like the drunk uncle at the wedding reception who waits until the moment the groom is being rushed off to take pictures and decides that is the precise moment he wants to give major life lesson advice.   

Man it sure does seem like that.   It is true though.

[yorost]

  It does seem kind of like that, but Pineda doesn't actually have to leave there.  He's acting out what he's saying, that he's along for the ride with the other guys in Journey, deferring that his success is because of the band's prior success.

[BlobVanDam]

I think this is about the first time I've ever made it all the way through Mystery, and damn is that a frustrating song.
It's wimpy and bad in a dated mid-90s kind of way, but then they had to tack on such an amazing heavy Zeppelin-y outro that is one of the best bits of the entire album, with some typical Neal Schon tastiness. I just don't want to endure the 5 minutes of crap before it to get to it.
Why couldn't they just scrap the rest of the song and make the end into a whole song?

[yorost]

She's a Mystery is one of the best tracks on Eclipse, a nice throwback to more of what they did in the Rolie years.  I think the ending turns out a lot more powerful being matched to the beginning part than it could have managed being the base of it's own song.  Granted, I'm a sucker for that type of structure from Journey, two distinct parts to a whole.

[BlobVanDam]

I agree that structurally the contrast helps make the ending more powerful, it's just a shame I don't like the first half of the song at all to appreciate it.
My favourites of the album would be City of Hope, Human Feel and Ritual. I also love Edge of the Moment, Chain of Love and Someone, but unfortunately the rest of the album hasn't at all grabbed me. I still prefer Revelation overall for consistency.

[yorost]

Really?  I thought Revelations was a dud.  It took me quite awhile to get into Eclipse, but I think it's one of their best albums.  It's short of Journey and Infinity for sure, though.

You've possibly read the thread, but a small discussion on Ritual and Someone...

I really, really disliked the first couple of minutes of Tantra when I got the album.  It sounded way too generic.  Always liked the basic structure and idea of the song, though.  Still not big on it, but I do rather enjoy it now that I've heard it a few times.

It's the only song I've had any particular dislike for at any point so far.  Otherwise, Ritual and Someone are somewhat low points for the album, but they really aren't bad songs by any means.  Well placed deep on the album, so they don't hurt the overall quality.  Someone, especially, sort of placed inside a different song works really well.

Pretty much all of the second paragraph.  Those songs are filler but are placed well.  I can't help but feel that Tantra would have benefited from being deeper in the album.  After the 1-2-3 punch, Tantra just simply falls short.

...but I guess I would say that if you're bigger into Revelations they might be more fitting songs for you.

[bosk1]

I still prefer Revelation overall for consistency.

Yes, I definitely agree that it is perhaps their most consistent album ever.  Problem is, it is consistently bad.

IMO, while there are some songs on Eclipse that I dislike, it is the strongest overall album and has some of the strongest individual songs since Frontiers.

[BlobVanDam]

Really?  I thought Revelations was a dud.  It took me quite awhile to get into Eclipse, but I think it's one of their best albums.  It's short of Journey and Infinity for sure, though.

WHAT. It's a great album. I'd put it as my favourite along with Escape. I find Eclipse to be highly overrated compared to Revelation. Don't get me wrong, I think the better songs on Eclipse are equally great, but half of the album still feels like they're trying too hard to do something they're just not really suited to and it sounds lost musically at times. Some of the songs feel padded and not as melodically focused.
Revelation feels like they're playing to their strengths and doing it well, and that's why it succeeds, even if it's a bit safer. I really hoped Eclipse was going to be much better when I heard about it before it came out, but it didn't deliver for me. I can listen to Revelation mostly through, but with Eclipse I have to skip too much of it, so it's not a good album experience.

[bosk1]

I own Revelation, and it completely turned me off from the band to the point I was ready to write them (and Arnel) off completely, and just listen to the older stuff.

[BlobVanDam]

I really don't know what's not to like. It's melodic, and well written, and catchy. But I get the point already. You don't like it.

[yorost]

I'm with bosk1, after Revelations and Generations I felt Journey was done for me as a current band.  Glad, and shocked, I got one final hurrah of an album from them.

I would also not call Eclipse overrated.  It obviously appeals to a small section of Journey fans, but I've seen more hate towards it.  Your opinion regarding Revelations and Eclipse is at least more common at the Journey forums I browsed.

[bosk1]

I thought Generations was decent.  Not great, but decent.  But I can easily forgive anything I didn't like in the Augeri era because the Journey 2000 DVD and the 30th anniversary tour more than made up for it by leaps and bounds.

[BlobVanDam]

I much prefer the Generations version of Faith in the Heartland to the Revelation version, but aside from that I find the album impossible to get into due to the vocals. A lot of it is so pitch corrected it's like he can barely hold a tune together and I can hear the notes sliding and snapping all over the place.

[yorost]

That 30th tour was sad for me.  I wanted so badly to see the early years material, but the show I went to was one of the few with short sets where they didn't play any of it.

[bosk1]

I much prefer the Generations version of Faith in the Heartland to the Revelation version

It thoroughly pissed me off that they rerecorded it.  There was absolutely no reason to do that.

That 30th tour was sad for me.  I wanted so badly to see the early years material, but the show I went to was one of the few short sets and they didn't play any of it.

Oh, really?  That's a serious bummer.  The show we were at was incredible.  I know someone who was working security, and she "upgraded" our lawn seats to fifth row center, so that was nice in and of itself.  But the show itself was great too.  The first set with the older, more obscure material was very mellow in terms of crowd energy, so it had this interesting vibe of almost feeling like a set from a really good opening band for about the first half until they got into some of the better known earlier tunes.  But it was really cool hearing some of the REALLY old stuff.  Augeri even played rythm guitar on some.  Then for the second set, it pretty much the classic "hits" set with a few good deep cuts thrown in.  Terrific show.

[wolfking]

Revelations was a huge let down for me, terrible album.  Generations wipes the floor with it.  And agree with bosk, I have no idea why the hell they would re-record FITH and put it on their next album, that was absurd.

[theseoafs]

I caught the Journey/Foreigner/Night Ranger tour this year and I saw Journey on the Revelations tour as well, and here's what bugs me: though they throw in 2-3 songs from the record they're supporting every tour, these songs never seem to persist year to year. It's 3 new songs + 15 Perry-era classics. They're sort of the opposite of Iron Maiden in that respect. And it's a shame, because Revelations had a few great songs and Eclipse is a really great, really consistent album.

[bosk1]

Yes, but the VAST majority of Journey fans don't know or care about the new stuff and only want to hear the "hits."  They have to play something from the new album to justify touring on it, but there's almost zero incentive for them to play hardly anything from a post-Perry release that isn't their latest, and all but a handful of fans in the crowd want it that way--especially on a nostalgia package tour like that.

[King Postwhore]

We all know they'd love to tour behind the new album and play more of their new songs but like bosk said the average fan for these older bands want to hear the classics.

BTW Didn't Maiden do a tour a few years back where they did mostly newer songs from the reunion album to present and fans were upset there were no 80's tunes?

[bosk1]

It's cool that they try to stay active and current by putting out new stuff.  But I think everyone knows it is an excuse to tour, and this is a band that has about a dozen "must play" songs for every show.  That severely limits what else you can put into a set.  A dozen "must play" hits, factor in the obligatory Neal guitar solo and the fact that Lovin' Touchin' Squeezin' will be extended, a couple of other popular "classic era" songs, and three new songs, and you've just about filled your average set time.