Found this review today....

[ChicagoSTYX]

http://www.rocktopia.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1202:journey-eclipse&catid=910:cd-reviews&Itemid=121

[Jana]

Thanks. Enjoyable review.

[RocknRoll]

Thanks for posting!! Great review and sounds like he pretty much agrees with Andrew!

[Jana]

What is "I Close My Eyes"? He says it's a ballad on there. I don't see it on the tracklist for Eclipse.

[steveo777]

'I Close My Eyes' ?
What song is this. It's not one of the tracks on the new CD.

[S2M]

'I Close My Eyes' ?
What song is this. It's not one of the tracks on the new CD.

You missed the follow-up hidden track, 'And Shake My Head'....

[SilvioRodrigues]

What is "I Close My Eyes"? He says it's a ballad on there. I don't see it on the tracklist for Eclipse.

The review says: "Ending with an instrumental reprise of 'I Close My Eyes'..." I guess is the track 12: Venus (To Whom It May Concern Reprise/Inst.)

[Jana]

What is "I Close My Eyes"? He says it's a ballad on there. I don't see it on the tracklist for Eclipse.

The review says: "Ending with an instrumental reprise of 'I Close My Eyes'..." I guess the real name is Venus.

I saw that. But he mentioned it further up in the review as a ballad with Arnel singing, also. Maybe he mixed titles of songs up.

[NoMoreTails]

What is "I Close My Eyes"? He says it's a ballad on there. I don't see it on the tracklist for Eclipse.

The review says: "Ending with an instrumental reprise of 'I Close My Eyes'..." I guess the real name is Venus.

I saw that. But he mentioned it further up in the review as a ballad with Arnel singing, also. Maybe he mixed titles of songs up.

At some point there was mention of one of the songs being reprised at the end, I think leading into Venus. It was probably in Andrew's song listing on the front page a while back.

[SilvioRodrigues]

What is "I Close My Eyes"? He says it's a ballad on there. I don't see it on the tracklist for Eclipse.

The review says: "Ending with an instrumental reprise of 'I Close My Eyes'..." I guess the real name is Venus.

I saw that. But he mentioned it further up in the review as a ballad with Arnel singing, also. Maybe he mixed titles of songs up.

At some point there was mention of one of the songs being reprised at the end, I think leading into Venus. It was probably in Andrew's song listing on the front page a while back.

12: Venus (To Whom It May Concern Reprise/Inst.)

[NoMoreTails]

What is "I Close My Eyes"? He says it's a ballad on there. I don't see it on the tracklist for Eclipse.

The review says: "Ending with an instrumental reprise of 'I Close My Eyes'..." I guess the real name is Venus.

I saw that. But he mentioned it further up in the review as a ballad with Arnel singing, also. Maybe he mixed titles of songs up.

At some point there was mention of one of the songs being reprised at the end, I think leading into Venus. It was probably in Andrew's song listing on the front page a while back.

12: Venus (To Whom It May Concern Reprise/Inst.)

Thanks!

[kgdjpubs]

What is "I Close My Eyes"? He says it's a ballad on there. I don't see it on the tracklist for Eclipse.

The review says: "Ending with an instrumental reprise of 'I Close My Eyes'..." I guess the real name is Venus.

I saw that. But he mentioned it further up in the review as a ballad with Arnel singing, also. Maybe he mixed titles of songs up.

I think that's exactly what happened. You are getting the choruses on these samples, and it's starting to get to the point that general impressions are becoming viable now that you hear the hook. There are some songs that should go over really well live, and a couple of monsters. Still not sure where Tantra is going, but it's certainly epic in scope.

They are taking some big chances on this one after the fairly safe Revelation. My theory is that they will probably lose some people with this album with the heavier and slightly more modern sound (see Chain of Love for maybe the most extreme example), but it sounds great to these ears. My hopes are officially up for this one now.

[Don]

I'm pretty sure I close my Eyes was the place holder name on the initial demos of the album.

I agree with the reviewer, Chain Of Love is the 'Rocker' on this album.

[Don]

What is "I Close My Eyes"? He says it's a ballad on there. I don't see it on the tracklist for Eclipse.

The review says: "Ending with an instrumental reprise of 'I Close My Eyes'..." I guess the real name is Venus.

I saw that. But he mentioned it further up in the review as a ballad with Arnel singing, also. Maybe he mixed titles of songs up.

I think that's exactly what happened. You are getting the choruses on these samples, and it's starting to get to the point that general impressions are becoming viable now that you hear the hook. There are some songs that should go over really well live, and a couple of monsters. Still not sure where Tantra is going, but it's certainly epic in scope.

They are taking some big chances on this one after the fairly safe Revelation. My theory is that they will probably lose some people with this album with the heavier and slightly more modern sound (see Chain of Love for maybe the most extreme example), but it sounds great to these ears. My hopes are officially up for this one now.

If Escape was made up of seven songs like Mother, Father the specialness of that one particular tune would have waned quickly. There's the potential for that type of overload on this album so yes, some fans will say this isn't for them. Also, the music outshines the lyrics ten to one here. Journey went from simple meanderings to over thinking themselves this time around. Note to the band; don't try to take yourself seriously, leave that to the people who do it for a living (Bono, Roger Waters) Thankfully, the music itself doesn't suffer because of this 'need' to convey some type of message here..

[kgdjpubs]

What is "I Close My Eyes"? He says it's a ballad on there. I don't see it on the tracklist for Eclipse.

The review says: "Ending with an instrumental reprise of 'I Close My Eyes'..." I guess the real name is Venus.

I saw that. But he mentioned it further up in the review as a ballad with Arnel singing, also. Maybe he mixed titles of songs up.

I think that's exactly what happened. You are getting the choruses on these samples, and it's starting to get to the point that general impressions are becoming viable now that you hear the hook. There are some songs that should go over really well live, and a couple of monsters. Still not sure where Tantra is going, but it's certainly epic in scope.

They are taking some big chances on this one after the fairly safe Revelation. My theory is that they will probably lose some people with this album with the heavier and slightly more modern sound (see Chain of Love for maybe the most extreme example), but it sounds great to these ears. My hopes are officially up for this one now.

If Escape was made up of 7 songs like Mother, Father the specialness of it would have waned quickly. There's the potential for that type of overload on this album so yes, some fans will say this isn't for them.

I'm kinda getting that impression, but that's a good thing for me. The key is to put in enough pop songs to not go too far. That way, you get a few immediate hooks and have the interest to dig deeper to find the rest of the songs. Those are the kind of albums that have the repeat listening value (unlike something like Revelation which hits you pretty immediately, then fades fairly quickly).

I do get the impression that some people won't have any idea how to approach this, and therefore won't try. That's a shame, but probably to be expected when you do an update in sound after being stuck in a rut and coasting for a while.

[Don]

Eclipse will sell like gang busters the first few weeks but without a DSB tie-in or some extra incentive for those on the fence, it will probably hit the wall quickly once the regular fans have made their purchases.

These younger fans that people have been talking about showing up at Journey shows have never suggested that the band is anything to them beyond the guys that made Don't Stop Believin'. They are probably not the types who want to 'think' when they hear music, those types of listeners already had their moment (grunge).

[VirgilTheart]

Eclipse will sell like gang busters the first few weeks but without a DSB tie-in or some extra incentive for those on the fence, it will probably hit the wall quickly once the regular fans have made their purchases.

These younger fans that people have been talking about showing up at Journey shows have never suggested that the band is anything to them beyond the guys that made Don't Stop Believin'. They are probably not the types who want to 'think' when they hear music, those types of listeners already had their moment (grunge).

^ Oi, I'm one of those younger fans and I'm loving what I've heard of this album!

[S2M]

Eclipse will sell like gang busters the first few weeks but without a DSB tie-in or some extra incentive for those on the fence, it will probably hit the wall quickly once the regular fans have made their purchases.

These younger fans that people have been talking about showing up at Journey shows have never suggested that the band is anything to them beyond the guys that made Don't Stop Believin'. They are probably not the types who want to 'think' when they hear music, those types of listeners already had their moment (grunge).

^ Oi, I'm one of those younger fans and I'm loving what I've heard of this album!

Probably a Tarheel fan, too....

[Don]

Eclipse will sell like gang busters the first few weeks but without a DSB tie-in or some extra incentive for those on the fence, it will probably hit the wall quickly once the regular fans have made their purchases.

These younger fans that people have been talking about showing up at Journey shows have never suggested that the band is anything to them beyond the guys that made Don't Stop Believin'. They are probably not the types who want to 'think' when they hear music, those types of listeners already had their moment (grunge).

^ Oi, I'm one of those younger fans and I'm loving what I've heard of this album!

An exception to the rule.
Where is City Of Hope and Human Feel on the download charts? M.I.A.
Where is Don't Stop believin' on the same charts? Flourishing like it's 1981 again.

Edit: I just checked Amazon UK. City Of Hope is ranked #17,425 on the current downloads chart. It's been out for five weeks, are any stations actually playing it over there?

[kgdjpubs]

Eclipse will sell like gang busters the first few weeks but without a DSB tie-in or some extra incentive for those on the fence, it will probably hit the wall quickly once the regular fans have made their purchases.

These younger fans that people have been talking about showing up at Journey shows have never suggested that the band is anything to them beyond the guys that made Don't Stop Believin'. They are probably not the types who want to 'think' when they hear music, those types of listeners already had their moment (grunge).

^ Oi, I'm one of those younger fans and I'm loving what I've heard of this album!

Probably a Tarheel fan, too....

probably, we have good taste!

[kgdjpubs]

Eclipse will sell like gang busters the first few weeks but without a DSB tie-in or some extra incentive for those on the fence, it will probably hit the wall quickly once the regular fans have made their purchases.

These younger fans that people have been talking about showing up at Journey shows have never suggested that the band is anything to them beyond the guys that made Don't Stop Believin'. They are probably not the types who want to 'think' when they hear music, those types of listeners already had their moment (grunge).

^ Oi, I'm one of those younger fans and I'm loving what I've heard of this album!

An exception to the rule.
Where is City Of Hope and Human Feel on the download charts? M.I.A.
Where is Don't Stop believin' on the same charts? Flourishing like it's 1981 again.

Edit: I just checked Amazon UK. City Of Hope is ranked #17,425 on the current downloads chart. It's been out for five weeks, are any stations actually playing it over there?

not sure either of those are what I'd call radio friendly...although I'm not sure anything new that has "Journey" stamped to it would be radio friendly these days anyway.

[VirgilTheart]

Eclipse will sell like gang busters the first few weeks but without a DSB tie-in or some extra incentive for those on the fence, it will probably hit the wall quickly once the regular fans have made their purchases.

These younger fans that people have been talking about showing up at Journey shows have never suggested that the band is anything to them beyond the guys that made Don't Stop Believin'. They are probably not the types who want to 'think' when they hear music, those types of listeners already had their moment (grunge).

^ Oi, I'm one of those younger fans and I'm loving what I've heard of this album!

Probably a Tarheel fan, too....

The ironic thing about this is that I actually am a Tar Heel fan.

An exception to the rule.
Where is City Of Hope and Human Feel on the download charts? M.I.A.
Where is Don't Stop believin' on the same charts? Flourishing like it's 1981 again.

I won't deny that I am an exception to the rule in this case. But I wasn't trying to claim that this album was be up there in sales like Escape or any of the other classic albums, even for the younger fans. Just wanted to point out that there are exceptions from the norm.

[JourneyHard]

ESCAPE Review

From the start, ESCAPE begins with a great song. Small Town Girl has catchy lyrics and a feel-good chorus. Next, Golden Girl is a rocker. It is my personal favorite song of all-time by Journey. Things roll right along with Bittersweet which contains a classic Neal Schon solo at the very end of the song. Blue Collar is an all-out rocker which is followed by the epic Jessie Rides.
Side two begins with They're Making Laws, But They Don't Understand. A Double Shot Tonight is the hardest rocking Journey song ever. A Double Secret Agent is the fastest rocking Journey song ever. Have Faith, Believe is a classic Journey song which takes their music to the next level. The album ends with Here In The Dark which is an excellent ballad. I give ESCAPE five stars!

[VirgilTheart]

ESCAPE Review

From the start, ESCAPE begins with a great song. Small Town Girl has catchy lyrics and a feel-good chorus. Next, Golden Girl is a rocker. It is my personal favorite song of all-time by Journey. Things roll right along with Bittersweet which contains a classic Neal Schon solo at the very end of the song. Blue Collar is an all-out rocker which is followed by the epic Jessie Rides.
Side two begins with They're Making Laws, But They Don't Understand. A Double Shot Tonight is the hardest rocking Journey song ever. A Double Secret Agent is the fastest rocking Journey song ever. Have Faith, Believe is a classic Journey song which takes their music to the next level. The album ends with Here In The Dark which is an excellent ballad. I give ESCAPE five stars!

Well done, good sir!