Crash of the Crown

[JourneyHard]

I listened to Styx's album Crash of the Crown which was released in 2021. It is an awesome album because of Will Evankovich who produced the album and helped write all the songs. It seems like Will put up guardrails and kept the band sounding like classic Styx. The album sounds fresh and new, but it also sounds like classic Styx. This is what Journey needs. They need somebody to come in and help them write songs and put up guardrails to keep Jon and Neal sounding like classic Journey. Journey at their best is just like Styx with strong harmonies and soulful guitar that can change into a chainsaw guitar at any moment. Most of the songs were three minutes long. That is what Journey needs. When you limit Neal, he will be forced to come up with the best guitar work of his life because he has such a brief time to work with. (Neal, don't worry. You can extend the jamming in concert.... you probably won't play any of these songs in concert, so what are you worried about?) I just want to hear a tight new Journey album that blows us fans away.

[Monker]

I'm not sure where you get the idea that Will came in and limited the band in some way. Will and Tommy sort of partnered up for both "Crash of the Crown" and "The Mission". So, it was essentially a collaboration of those two with some added contribution from Gowan on some songs. JY really did not contribute that much, at least it is not obvious. Tommy has mentioned in interviews that they had used some of the earlier Styx albums for inspiration, particularly Equinox and Grand Illusion. But, I don't think they copied the sound per se...just using that sound as a starting point. You can tell there are huge influences from the Beatles and Queen and even some of Tommy's solo work (ie: Bluegrass from "The Great Divide" on "Our Wonderful LIves").

But, I do wish that Neal would go back to using a cleaner sound and play for the song and not for showing off or pleasing himself. The simpler solos are what he is known for, not being super fast or having an edgy sound with distortion and other affects. A while back I mentioned what Nuno said that he tries to play for the song, to give to the song what it needs. Sometimes that may be an Eddie Van Halan inspired sound...sometimes it may only be acoustic chords. It depends on the song. Neal seems to think that every song needs him to be this super impressive guitar god...instead, it makes him look like a guitar diva and it does not impress at all.

Journey tried to go back to their classic sound on both Revelation and Freedom....It somewhat worked on Revelation, popularity wise, but I think that was more because Arnel was new and the CD package that was sold. In reality, I think those songs were pretty forgettable, and have mostly been forgotten. The production on Freedom was so bad that it made the songs hard to listen to. They need a true outside party who can listen to what Jon and Neal come up with and give them good feedback - and they need to do what they are told. In Journey's case, I think that person should not be part of the band but someone on the outside. And, Journey should not produce their own music...if they genuinely thought Freedom sounded good then they don't know what they are doing.

[jestor92]

I'm not sure where you get the idea that Will came in and limited the band in some way. Will and Tommy sort of partnered up for both "Crash of the Crown" and "The Mission". So, it was essentially a collaboration of those two with some added contribution from Gowan on some songs. JY really did not contribute that much, at least it is not obvious. Tommy has mentioned in interviews that they had used some of the earlier Styx albums for inspiration, particularly Equinox and Grand Illusion. But, I don't think they copied the sound per se...just using that sound as a starting point. You can tell there are huge influences from the Beatles and Queen and even some of Tommy's solo work (ie: Bluegrass from "The Great Divide" on "Our Wonderful LIves").

But, I do wish that Neal would go back to using a cleaner sound and play for the song and not for showing off or pleasing himself. The simpler solos are what he is known for, not being super fast or having an edgy sound with distortion and other affects. A while back I mentioned what Nuno said that he tries to play for the song, to give to the song what it needs. Sometimes that may be an Eddie Van Halan inspired sound...sometimes it may only be acoustic chords. It depends on the song. Neal seems to think that every song needs him to be this super impressive guitar god...instead, it makes him look like a guitar diva and it does not impress at all.

Journey tried to go back to their classic sound on both Revelation and Freedom....It somewhat worked on Revelation, popularity wise, but I think that was more because Arnel was new and the CD package that was sold. In reality, I think those songs were pretty forgettable, and have mostly been forgotten. The production on Freedom was so bad that it made the songs hard to listen to. They need a true outside party who can listen to what Jon and Neal come up with and give them good feedback - and they need to do what they are told. In Journey's case, I think that person should not be part of the band but someone on the outside. And, Journey should not produce their own music...if they genuinely thought Freedom sounded good then they don't know what they are doing.

The Extreme album Six is excellent and Nuno sounds great on the album. A lot of harmonies and he really did play the solo to go with the songs.

[ChicagoSTYX]

I expect the next Styx album that they are currently working on to be more of the same style. I agree, Journey needs to refocus on what made them great. I was really disappointed in their last album.

[Journey/Survivor]

I expect the next Styx album that they are currently working on to be more of the same style. I agree, Journey needs to refocus on what made them great. I was really disappointed in their last album.

The thing is that not everyone necessarily agrees on exactly what makes Journey great.

Some people will say that Open Arms and Faithfully are what makes Journey great. Some will say that they've done way too many ballads already and that they need to rock harder and get away from the ballads. I fall into the second category myself.

Some will say that Journey's first 3 albums are when they were truly great. To this day on YouTube there are many people who will insist that Journey during their original Progressive Rock days were the true Journey and that the post Progressive Rock era sucks or at least isn't nearly as great. I myself love both the Progressive Rock era and post PR eras about equally.