Band Not Motivated to Write New Material, Says Neal

[slucero]

JC embraced doing Eclipse, probably to appease Neal who was pretty adamant about the direction.

He also called it "Neals album"...


The simple truth is that Neal is not a songwriter.. he's a guitar player, a riff guy, a solo player. His best work has always occurred when he was part of a team of writers, who actually help him by limiting and streamlining his output. That is why Eclipse was all over the friggin' map and why why his best work was done with Perry & Rolie, and Perry and Cain. Even though Arnel is a member of Journey now, Journey's output clearly reflects that Cain and Schon do not think he has the writing chops.

Maybe someday Neal will realize this.. and get another writer paired up with Cain (maybe Blades) and somehow figure out how to re-create that dynamic, where Cain and Perry would get the best out of him and he would accept it as the best way to work.

[The_Noble_Cause]

In fairness to Arnel, Revelation was written before he joined. The only post-SP cd to have significant outside help was Arrival. That is because Sony wanted it that way. I have no idea if Arnel can write or not.

[ebake02]

Jon needs a side project of some sort, from a performing stand point he does absolutely nothing outside of Journey. Every time I see him play on stage he looks like he's bored to tears like he just doesn't give a shit anymore, a side project might solve that problem. It seems to work for Neal.

[slucero]

In fairness to Arnel, Revelation was written before he joined. The only post-SP cd to have significant outside help was Arrival. That is because Sony wanted it that way. I have no idea if Arnel can write or not.

Arnel received a songwriting credit on Revelation, musta been a a gift.


February 21, 2008 - May 6, 2014: That's 6 years, 2 months, 18 days that Arnel has been in Journey.... and he has a grand total of 2 songwriting credits:

Revelation - After All These Years - Schon, Cain, Arnel Pineda
Eclipse - She's a Mystery - Schon, Cain, Arnel Pineda


Based on Augeri's songwriting credits (11)... Cain and Schon value Arnel's songwriting substantially less than they did Augeri..

[The_Noble_Cause]

Early on in SA's tenure, he spoke of getting on a flight on a whim from NY to write w/ the guys out in California. They also wrote material during his audition. Is it conceivable that Arnel is regularly flying in from Manilla to hang at Neal's crib and write tunes? Not really. Cain and Schon don't even live in the same state anymore. Augeri's writing credits were also pretty sparse overall. The lack of Arnel credits speak more to the fact that the band isn't looking for that missing X factor that Perry brought to the songwriting dynamic. Cain thinks he's Bernie fucking Taupin, when he should actually be writing bday and anniversary cards for Hallmark.

[slucero]

Clearly Cain's best writing was with Perry..

[The_Noble_Cause]

For sure. And Perry was best w/ Cain too.

[slucero]

For sure. And Perry was best w/ Cain too.

Agreed.

[PianoMan1986]

Always interesting how plans change in a short amount of time...

http://www.classicrockmagazine.com/features/schon-on-journeys-next-album-were-going-back-into-the-rb-thing-with-power-guitar/

[slucero]

get a "Page Not found" error message...

[The_Noble_Cause]

Always interesting how plans change in a short amount of time...

http://www.classicrockmagazine.com/features/schon-on-journeys-next-album-were-going-back-into-the-rb-thing-with-power-guitar/

I don't think anything has really changed. If the band were to do a new cd, Neal would want to take it in that direction...

[Aaron]

No way brother. Perry's best writing came from he, Schon and Rolie IMHO. Here are the one's I'm refering to:

Infinity:
Lights
Feeling that Way
Patiently
Opened the Door

Evolution:
Majestic (best instrumental ever)
Too Late
City of the Angels
When You're Alone it ain't Easy
Sweet and Simple
Just the Same Way
Do You Recall

Departure:
ANY WAY YOU WANT IT (the best song ever)
Precious Time
Where Were You
Line of Fire
Stay Awhile
Natural Thing

Captured:
The Party's Over

IMHO those songs are as good as anything Cain was involved in writing with Journey. Cain clearly added his flair to the writing team but IMO, the songs above are the best Journey has delivered to date and include the top three best Journey songs ever.

Keep Rockin Journey!

Clearly Cain's best writing was with Perry..

[slucero]

haha... I love that stuff... my favorite lineup (Perry, Rolie, Schon, Smith, Valory)

that said.. Cain brought a great commercial ballad writing ability that bloomed with Perry's voice and writing skill...

While I'm partial to the Perry/Rolie stuff... I understand how Cain's style was more commercial.

[The_Noble_Cause]

"Beyond the Thunder", while a Neal solo album, is produced by Cain. It is probably Neal's most focused solo record. With Cain editing and shaping the songs, just using Neal's guitar in place of a vocalist. Not alot of endless noodling/stream-of-consciousness whaling like Neal's more recent releases. A song like "Edge of the Moment" on Eclipse actually reminds me somewhat of BTT. It sounds like a Neal solo whittled and finessed into a song by Cain.

[tater1977]

Jane Stevenson ‏@JaneCStevenson.JPG (29.77 KiB) Viewed 3244 times

[tater1977]

https://twitter.com/JaneCStevenson


Jane Stevenson @JaneCStevenson · 2h
.@Journey's Neal Schon says he has plans 2 make both new #Journey & #Santana albums aft summer tour w/ Steve Miller Band, @SMBofficial.

[tater1977]

https://twitter.com/JaneCStevenson


Jane Stevenson @JaneCStevenson · 1h
Steve Miller, @SMBOfficial says he's kicked those taking pix/vid w/phone in front of stage but behavior more dom in U.S. than anywhere else.


Jane Stevenson @JaneCStevenson · 1h
Steve Miller, @SMBofficial says he's reworked all songs from 1973 classic album The Joker, celeb 40th anni, & will sell it at his live shows

[PianoMan1986]

get a "Page Not found" error message...

Sorry the link didn't work. Either they took it down or it'll reappear as they finish revamping the site I got it from. Aside from that, the article posted in this thread, and another article on ultimateclassicrock today, who knows what to think.

[tater1977]

Neal Schon Hints At New Journey Album

by Corbin Reiff May 9, 2014 5:06 PM


http://ultimateclassicrock.com/new-jour ... eal-schon/

Could there be a new Journey album on the horizon? The group’s guitarist certainly seems to think it’s a strong possibility.

In a conference call promoting their upcoming tour with the Steve Miller Band, Neal Schon was asked about new Journey material. “I don’t know exactly what it will be at this time,” Schon said. “I know we’ve been talking of re-doing some songs, not stuff we did with Steve Perry but other stuff we’ve done before in the past that just never saw the light. Re-doing it, rearranging it, maybe adding some new sections to it and writing some new stuff too. We’ve got a lot of stuff sitting there.”

That’s not to say they don’t plan on working out new material as well. “We started playing some stuff in rehearsal that really sounded great and we’re like, ‘That’s a really great song, we should just re-do that,’” Schon said. “And when you start doing that and you get the juices flowing there’s always gonna be new songs that come out of nowhere. Usually those are the best ones, the ones where you don’t try to sit down and go ‘I’m gonna write a really great song.’ That usually never happens. It just kind of falls out of the sky when it’s supposed to happen.”

Schon has been keeping quite busy these days. In just a little over a week, on May 20, his new solo record ‘So U’ is due to hit the shelves. He’s also continuing to work with Carlos Santana on the still-in-the-works record ‘Santana IV’ with the band’s original lineup. And to top it all off, Schon already has plans for another solo record tentatively titled ‘Vortex’.

In a recent interview the guitar player revealed to us the interesting genesis of the name. “Carlos Santana gave me a new name after we were in rehearsal and he’s calling me ‘Vortex.’ I looked it up afterwards and I was like, “Wow, what a cool name!” So I decided that one of the new tunes off this new record that will be next coming after the ‘So U’ record with Smith, Jan Hammer and Igor Len, I’m calling it ‘Vortex’ and I’ll probably call the record ‘Vortex.’ Because this record leaves chips on the ceiling.”

The Journey and Steve Miller tour is set to kick off on May 15 in Chula Vista, Calif. and will wind its way across the country across through August.

[The_Noble_Cause]

Anyone else have a problem understanding what Neal is saying here?

“I know we’ve been talking of re-doing some songs, not stuff we did with Steve Perry but other stuff we’ve done before in the past that just never saw the light. Re-doing it,..."

So wait. It WAS done in the past, but yet it just never saw the light? What does that even mean? Sounds to me like they are still kicking around the idea of re-doing 'Arrival' tunes. How is it that Jack Blades and Neal can team up on a whim and create something magical, yet Journey keeps scavenging on remnants on the past? Maybe it's time to change the band logo from a winged scarab beetle to a winged vulture. Here's a fairly lame idea - add some vocals to unused Perry-era demos like 'With a Tear" and "Into Your Arms." Then re-record the Augeri demo, "Have a Good Time" which they played live but never recorded. Boom. Now you've got three tracks already and you're halfway there.

[G.I.Jim]

Anyone else have a problem understanding what Neal is saying here?

“I know we’ve been talking of re-doing some songs, not stuff we did with Steve Perry but other stuff we’ve done before in the past that just never saw the light. Re-doing it,..."

So wait. It WAS done in the past, but yet it just never saw the light? What does that even mean? Sounds to me like they are still kicking around the idea of re-doing 'Arrival' tunes. How is it that Jack Blades and Neal can team up on a whim and create something magical, yet Journey keeps scavenging on remnants on the past? Maybe it's time to change the band logo from a winged scarab beetle to a winged vulture. Here's a fairly lame idea - add some vocals to unused Perry-era demos like 'With a Tear" and "Into Your Arms." Then re-record the Augeri demo, "Have a Good Time" which they played live but never recorded. Boom. Now you've got three tracks already and you're halfway there.

It could just be that they're tweaking demos that they wrote in the past that nobody has heard and will finally release them?

[verslibre]

Maybe it's time to change the band logo from a winged scarab beetle to a winged vulture.

No, it should be a shambling, worm-covered, gore-encrusted zombie, because the vultures happen to be on this forum.

[ebake02]

Anyone else have a problem understanding what Neal is saying here?

“I know we’ve been talking of re-doing some songs, not stuff we did with Steve Perry but other stuff we’ve done before in the past that just never saw the light. Re-doing it,..."

So wait. It WAS done in the past, but yet it just never saw the light? What does that even mean? Sounds to me like they are still kicking around the idea of re-doing 'Arrival' tunes. How is it that Jack Blades and Neal can team up on a whim and create something magical, yet Journey keeps scavenging on remnants on the past? Maybe it's time to change the band logo from a winged scarab beetle to a winged vulture. Here's a fairly lame idea - add some vocals to unused Perry-era demos like 'With a Tear" and "Into Your Arms." Then re-record the Augeri demo, "Have a Good Time" which they played live but never recorded. Boom. Now you've got three tracks already and you're halfway there.

It could just be that they're tweaking demos that they wrote in the past that nobody has heard and will finally release them?

I wouldn't be opposed to that myself but I don't really see that selling any better than Eclipse. If they record new music then I would like to see a Rolie era kind of album. Journey's best work, in my opinion, was Infinity through Departure.

[slucero]

Good lord they're lost...

Neal and Jon need to buy Night Rangers new album.

[The_Noble_Cause]

I'm not really convinced that they have all of these demos floating around. After "Arrival" came out, they pretty much liquidated alot of their unused material. Schon/Cain tracks ended up on Mickey Thomas's solo album, Cain used some on his solo release, and there were other instances as well. Then Generations came out, and they barely had enough A-list material to fill a cd. "Eclipse" seemed to be mostly written from the ground up with Cain and Schon together.

[Eric]

I'm not really convinced that they have all of these demos floating around. After "Arrival" came out, they pretty much liquidated alot of their unused material. Schon/Cain tracks ended up on Mickey Thomas's solo album, Cain used some on his solo release, and there were other instances as well. Then Generations came out, and they barely had enough A-list material to fill a cd. "Eclipse" seemed to be mostly written from the ground up with Cain and Schon together.

Two Arrival cuts ended up on Jack Blades first solo album, too. They probably liquidated a good 6 songs - maybe that was a mistake?

[Eric]

Anyone else have a problem understanding what Neal is saying here?

“I know we’ve been talking of re-doing some songs, not stuff we did with Steve Perry but other stuff we’ve done before in the past that just never saw the light. Re-doing it,..."

So wait. It WAS done in the past, but yet it just never saw the light? What does that even mean? Sounds to me like they are still kicking around the idea of re-doing 'Arrival' tunes. How is it that Jack Blades and Neal can team up on a whim and create something magical, yet Journey keeps scavenging on remnants on the past? Maybe it's time to change the band logo from a winged scarab beetle to a winged vulture. Here's a fairly lame idea - add some vocals to unused Perry-era demos like 'With a Tear" and "Into Your Arms." Then re-record the Augeri demo, "Have a Good Time" which they played live but never recorded. Boom. Now you've got three tracks already and you're halfway there.

I guess tunes like "Kiss me Softly" who many of us feel were under-promoted by Sony could be on a new release...but what's the point?

Unless it were a live album with Deen-O doing Higher Place!

[The_Noble_Cause]

Two Arrival cuts ended up on Jack Blades first solo album, too. They probably liquidated a good 6 songs - maybe that was a mistake?

"Never Too Late" was also a Blades co-write. "Gone Crazy", while not a Blades tunes, was also written during the "Arrival" sessions. I'd say it was a mistake. Should've ditched filler like "Butterfly" and "In Self Defense" and used more Blades material.