Album Discussion---"Raised On Radio"

[Duncan]

It's different from earlier stuff for sure, but writing wise and harmonically, ROR is Journey's most sophisticated album.

Completely subjective, but in my opinion? Not even close. TBF wins by miles and miles...

My view is that it is actually dependent on what you are listening to the albums on. By coincidence, tonight, i listened to the major part of Escape, Frontiers and Raised on Radio in sequence. I have a $40,000 plus hi fi. I say that only to make the point that it makes shit recordings sound shit and great recordings sound great. There is no doubt Escape was a great recording, Frontiers was a dog sonically and Raised on Radio was stellar. TBF is great too, no other Journey album comes close. It is a fact that crap hifi reproduction levels the playing field. This is what the current music industry relies on.

Note - i am so wasted I'm can't focus on what I just typed don't worry about it too much

----------------
Now playing: Tommy Shaw - Down On The Ground

Makes sense to me. Get them in kidder, I'll have a Stella.

----------------
Now playing: Josh Rouse - 1972

[jrny84]

ROR is actually my favorite album. Yes, Journey seemed to get more pop oriented with their songwriting and sound, but the vocals from Perry were awesome. The tour itself was one of the best of that time period 86-87, having a new high tech stage design with their triangular lighted screens and computerized lighting. The songs from ROR especially "Girl Cant Help It", sound much better live than the studio version. Some of my favorites from ROR include: "Ill Be Alright without You", "Girl Cant Help It", "Be Good to Yourself", and "WCTNGOF".

[stevew2]

Nig would be running around the parking lot on this post

[Saint John]

ROR saw Perry completely wrestle away control from Herbie Herbert, fire 2 members, and take them in a different direction musically. This new direction would prove to be a flop and they would see a dramatic drop of about 60% in album sales from the previous record. This was at the same time that Bon Jovi and Def Leppard would capitalize on a market hungry for true AOR music and each would pump out albums that would sell over 10 million units. When Perry sang I'll Be Alright Without You he must have been referring to album sales.

[Vladan]

When Perry sang I'll Be Alright Without You he must have been referring to album sales.

And probably half their fan base haha.

[Red13JoePa]

Happy to Give is gayer than gay.

no guitar.

...and yet the credits say Neal played (and in the live DeTour version in 04 he added much guitar including a solo) but damn if I've ever picked up on it...must be VERY subtle and buried in the mix, possibly only an acoustic somewhere. I thought the 06 remaster would bring it out...will try in headphones.

[WykkedSensation]

Fave album by far.
Perry finest vocal performances.
Don't give a shit about Valory or Smith not being there, and don't give a shit that it's a tad poppy either. The quality of the songs, the vocals and the playing is what matters to me. It's a highly polished release, superbly produced, and Perry's finest vocals.

[jrny84]

For those who are ROR fans, if you go to aol music and watch the video "lights", they show a ton of ROR footage. Many of these clips I have never seen before. Apparently Journey had several ROR concerts taped.

[WykkedSensation]

For those who are ROR fans, if you go to aol music and watch the video "lights", they show a ton of ROR footage. Many of these clips I have never seen before. Apparently Journey had several ROR concerts taped.

Link plzzzz as there are 900+ pages.

[atanarjuat]

Good God, almighty. The worst Perry era album. ROR was made for the radio and it shows.

[Gideon]

TNC mentioned that there is this kickass version of "Suzanne" by Deen Castronovo out there, but if this it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjYCaDAgCi8

...I'm not impressed, at all.

[jrny84]

For those who are ROR fans, if you go to aol music and watch the video "lights", they show a ton of ROR footage. Many of these clips I have never seen before. Apparently Journey had several ROR concerts taped.

Link plzzzz as there are 900+ pages.

Sorry here is the link: http://music.aol.com/video/lights/journ ... :959746219

[Ehwmatt]

Good God, almighty. The worst Perry era album. ROR was made for the radio and it shows.

I mean, RoR ain't my favorite but I don't hate it. But at any rate, condemning one Journey album because it was "made for the radio?" Hmm...

[jrny84]

Good God, almighty. The worst Perry era album. ROR was made for the radio and it shows.

I mean, RoR ain't my favorite but I don't hate it. But at any rate, condemning one Journey album because it was "made for the radio?" Hmm...

Yeah, i dont agree with that statement at all. Even though ROR wasnt the big seller like Frontiers and Escape, it did have some good songs on it. It also managed to have 4 top 40 hits with: Suzzane, Be good to yourself, ill be alright without you, and girl cant help it.

[kgdjpubs]

Good God, almighty. The worst Perry era album. ROR was made for the radio and it shows.

I mean, RoR ain't my favorite but I don't hate it. But at any rate, condemning one Journey album because it was "made for the radio?" Hmm...

Yeah, i dont agree with that statement at all. Even though ROR wasnt the big seller like Frontiers and Escape, it did have some good songs on it. It also managed to have 4 top 40 hits with: Suzzane, Be good to yourself, ill be alright without you, and girl cant help it.

My feeling on ROR is that Perry was basically wanting to make a Motown album. Same with Street Talk and the Against the Wall songs. At that time, Perry was really pushing himself to be a soul singer and taking Journey along with him. You can hear a distinct change in his vocals from Escape to Frontiers to Street Talk--and I'm not talking about range. He totally overhauled his stylistic approach to singing.

Taken for what it is, ROR is a very good album with quite possibly some of the best vocals Perry ever recorded. As a Journey album though, the majority of it doesn't sound like "Journey"--thus where the debate is. If you can accept it as a "Journey does Motown", it comes across pretty good. If you are trying to find the successor to Escape and Frontiers, it. It all depends on your point of view, but there really are some good songs in there.

[Gideon]

Good God, almighty. The worst Perry era album. ROR was made for the radio and it shows.

I mean, RoR ain't my favorite but I don't hate it. But at any rate, condemning one Journey album because it was "made for the radio?" Hmm...

Yeah, i dont agree with that statement at all. Even though ROR wasnt the big seller like Frontiers and Escape, it did have some good songs on it. It also managed to have 4 top 40 hits with: Suzzane, Be good to yourself, ill be alright without you, and girl cant help it.

My feeling on ROR is that Perry was basically wanting to make a Motown album. Same with Street Talk and the Against the Wall songs. At that time, Perry was really pushing himself to be a soul singer and taking Journey along with him. You can hear a distinct change in his vocals from Escape to Frontiers to Street Talk--and I'm not talking about range. He totally overhauled his stylistic approach to singing.

Taken for what it is, ROR is a very good album with quite possibly some of the best vocals Perry ever recorded. As a Journey album though, the majority of it doesn't sound like "Journey"--thus where the debate is. If you can accept it as a "Journey does Motown", it comes across pretty good. If you are trying to find the successor to Escape and Frontiers, it. It all depends on your point of view, but there really are some good songs in there.

No one can deny that the man delivered on this album. Favorite Journey album, vocally.

[atanarjuat]

Perry sang very well and while in the moment I loved the album. Years later, though, I just can't stand the sappiness. A few of the songs are still okay but overall I wish it had more Neal and less pop. Those that did tend to stick with me longer.

[Gideon]

Perry sang very well and while in the moment I loved the album. Years later, though, I just can't stand the sappiness. A few of the songs are still okay but overall I wish it had more Neal and less pop. Those that did tend to stick with me longer.

It needed more everyone. The concerted effort is what made TBF so great.

[Jana]

Good God, almighty. The worst Perry era album. ROR was made for the radio and it shows.

I mean, RoR ain't my favorite but I don't hate it. But at any rate, condemning one Journey album because it was "made for the radio?" Hmm...

Yeah, i dont agree with that statement at all. Even though ROR wasnt the big seller like Frontiers and Escape, it did have some good songs on it. It also managed to have 4 top 40 hits with: Suzzane, Be good to yourself, ill be alright without you, and girl cant help it.

My feeling on ROR is that Perry was basically wanting to make a Motown album. Same with Street Talk and the Against the Wall songs. At that time, Perry was really pushing himself to be a soul singer and taking Journey along with him. You can hear a distinct change in his vocals from Escape to Frontiers to Street Talk--and I'm not talking about range. He totally overhauled his stylistic approach to singing.

Taken for what it is, ROR is a very good album with quite possibly some of the best vocals Perry ever recorded. As a Journey album though, the majority of it doesn't sound like "Journey"--thus where the debate is. If you can accept it as a "Journey does Motown", it comes across pretty good. If you are trying to find the successor to Escape and Frontiers, it. It all depends on your point of view, but there really are some good songs in there.

No one can deny that the man delivered on this album. Favorite Journey album, vocally.

He delivered and then some, but this album with that funky intros or peppered throughout some songs like Suzanne and others dates the album and ruins some songs for me. No wonder Ross wasn't going for that. Neal and Ross should have gone in their and kicked some ass and this album could have been one of their best, b/c so much of it was great or promising. So many songs I love on here, like WCTNGOF

[Deb]

Fun! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Sedt9PyRSg

[Glenn]

ROR on a whole sucks infected cock.


One or 2 moments that are decent, but I'm on board with Deano and .... gulp...Monker.


The album turned them into a gay pop band.... Even did a tour with GLASS TIGER ... Gay....

Nice perm Jon

Nice whatever Neal

Nice bass and outfit Randy

Nice hack drummer

They looked gay too....

This is a Steve Perry solo album....

[Jana]

Neal Schon's take on Raised on Radio:

Jeb: No (laughing)! Actually, I feel the same way that you do and I grew up with your music and to be honest with you, by the time you got to Raised On Radio I was like, “This is way to pop for me.”

Neal: I wasn’t even there for that record. Steve and Jonathan had written that whole record with a drum machine. I wasn’t interested in sitting in a room with a drum machine when we had a great band. It was the first record that was ever made like that where they sat in a room with a drum machine instead of going to rehearsal and test driving the while we were writing it. That is why it sounds that way. Some people like it and some people don’t. It is not my favorite record. There is some good stuff on there but there is also stuff that I just don’t care for.

[Abitaman]

RAISED ON RADIO is either an ok soft Journey cd, or Steve Perry's greatest solo cd. Either way it is a good cd. ROR has a lot of hits on the cd. And the hits are the strong points of this cd. Be Good To Yourself is a nice little rock song that is in the classic Journey vein. WithI'll Be Alright out You is my favorite song off the cd, and has a more rhythm and blues fell to it, with nice guitar work in it from Neal. Girl Can't Help It has some of Perry's best vocals on the cd, and the song has nice pacing through it. Suzanne is the least liked of the hits for me. Why Can't This Night Go On Forever is my second favorite song off the cd, and has Perry's best vocals on the cd. But it is once you get past the hits that the cd starts to fail. The hits sound more like Journey music, the album cuts sound more like Perry's solo work.
Positive Touch has a nice bouncy beat to it that is helped along Jon's piano, but other than that the song is flat. The title track is gibberish. It Could Have Been You has Neal doing some catchy guitar work, but the song goes nowhere. Rest of the songs are good, but good for Journey is what other groups wish for, but for Journey, it is just not good enough.

Posted in right thread this time

[Glenn]

I remember when they were like "No videos" for this cd...Radio only...to go along with the title....gay...

Then when the album started to tank (by Journey's standards), poof! 2 "live" videos came out along with WCTNGOF.


Steve Perry should have done this one on his own so he could make it sound like Motown, Chi-town, downtown, whatever...



Maybe I would like this if I liked Steve Perry's solo stuff....

It's the armpit of the Perry era.

[Red13JoePa]

Neal Schon's take on Raised on Radio:


Neal: I wasn’t even there for that record. Steve and Jonathan had written that whole record with a drum machine. I wasn’t interested in sitting in a room with a drum machine when we had a great band. It was the first record that was ever made like that where they sat in a room with a drum machine instead of going to rehearsal and test driving the while we were writing it. That is why it sounds that way. Some people like it and some people don’t. It is not my favorite record. There is some good stuff on there but there is also stuff that I just don’t care for.

LMAO I love Neal...classic Schon unvarnished speech.
Disagree w/ him b/c I LOVE that album,particularly his guitars, but it was obviously not the way he cares to create... Look at the promo pix and vids and you'd never know, either, dude's the consumate pro, but again I cite the ORIGINAL now expundged Time3 liner notes: "A frustrated Schon almost completely absented himself from the creative process content to rip off his guitar heroics and leave it at that."

[mikemarrs]

the last album i actually bought in the collection was raised on radio.in the mid to late 80's i had all the albums and then bought greatest hits right when it came out around christmas in '88 and once i heard the two or three ROR tracks on it i didn't really like 'em that much at first but i knew that would be pretty much the way the whole album was and it was just too pop for me.once i heard a few more tunes on the time3 boxset like happy to give and why can't this night from the album i started to think maybe it wasn't too shabby an album and i went and bought it because i really liked those tunes especially.as far as rating all the albums i'd probably put ROR somewhere near the bottom.there really isn't a bad album the band made but as the years went by things got more pop and the sizzle was lost which was neal.