Eclipse: present thoughts?

[portland]

Eclipse is a classic! It's just too young to be labeled as such yet. I hope I'm still around in 30 years. Some of you young uns will be.
I'm gonna have a phone installed in my casket and some of you guys will have my direct number so you can call and say I was right.

:lol: Watch one of the haters set you up for cremation~
That said, I completely agree with you: this album IS a classic.

I'm in.

[Gideon]

Can I regain it by saying the ending of She's a Mystery just absolutely blows your fucking head off?

Eh, perhaps.
We at the International Bureau of Manhood will allow you visitation with your junk, under supervision.

Didn't St. John already express that sentiment?

No, Dan said that it makes him want to blow his head off. There's a clear distinction.

Well, while it's been awhile since I've posted here, I can safely say I still agree to this sentence (I do believe I said it myself several times in the weeks before I left)~

A terrific album indeed~

What's with the absence?

[Don]

Didn't St. John already express that sentiment?

No, Dan said that it makes him want to blow his head off. There's a clear distinction.

You must have missed what I did there. Too clever for my own good.

[Gideon]

Didn't St. John already express that sentiment?

No, Dan said that it makes him want to blow his head off. There's a clear distinction.

You must have missed what I did there. Too clever for my own good.

Folly, for if my peerless intellect did not catch it, it surely must not exist!

[Don]

I think it's absolutely gorgeous, if I can say that and retain my man card.

You can't.

Can I regain it by saying the ending of She's a Mystery just absolutely makes you want to blow your fucking head off?

Didn't St. John already express that sentiment?

[VirgilTheart]

What's with the absence?

Uh, number of reasons, really. Busy summer and there's other forums I post at more often than here, for starters.

That said, seeing Journey this Saturday with VIP tickets and actually meeting the band! First time for me~

Anywho, after letting the album sink in, Edge of the Moment and Anything Is Possible both jumped to personal favorites off the album. Still love Resonate and Chain of Love, but EotM and AiS have joined the two as my top four songs off the album!

[Rick]

I think it's absolutely gorgeous, if I can say that and retain my man card.

You can't.

Can I regain it by saying the ending of She's a Mystery just absolutely makes you want to blow your fucking head off?

Didn't St. John already express that sentiment?

No, I did.

[Don]

I give up.

[Gideon]

I give up.

Two questions: WTF were you trying to get at and who is that hottie in your avatar?

[Rick]

I give up.

Sorry, I'm slow.

[Argus]

Add an undecided option

[Infinity Vocalist 2010]

I think Eclipse is one of the band's best efforts in a few years. It's the heaviest since Frontiers.

The song that has been my favourite has been Chain of Love, since the Vegas videos were put up in the beginning of the year. I like alot of metal along with the shitload of melodic rock I listen to, and I think it's along the line of Separate Ways, La Do Da, Edge of the Blade, Chain Reaction and Ask the Lonely in their harder edged tunes. I didn't think of the other songs that they previewed until I bought the album and after that, I can also put Edge of the Moment and Resonate in that category.

My other most favourite is Human Feel, it's just thumping with prog rock glory. I noticed Neal took a few Alex Lifeson-isms on this one. It really sounds like something Rush would do.

And of course, it's got something for the classic Journeymen, Anything is Possible, City of Hope, Ritual and Someone all took a while to grow on me (the last two especially) but I now replay them like the others

Tantra still loses me about halfway through, but I love To Whom it May Concern because the overdose of spirituality in it is just something that attracts me as I too consider myself spiritual (I'm a LaVeyan Satanist, but something about spirituality keeps attracting me).

Venus.... meh. I like the reprisal of To Whom it May Concern's theatrical riff, but the song itself is better than the gratuitous instrumental featuring classic Schon masturbation.

Despite my few gripes, I still think Eclipse is a damn good album and a solid piece of work, that I recommend to all my friends.... over and over. Much to the chagrin of some of them.

Had to look up "LaVeyan Satanist". Had me worried, as I've never heard of that. Nice review. I'm bigger on Tantra than you are. I think it's absolutely gorgeous, if I can say that and retain my man card. I got another boost from your review when you gave Human Feel props. I love that one as well.. Venus, I agree. The reprise is cool, but they could of left that off the album and it wouldn't have made a difference.

No worries, Rick! I get the same thing all the time about being a LaVeyan.

I agree that Tantra is a gorgeous tune, it could just lose at least a chorus and the outro and be perfect in my mind.

[Infinity Vocalist 2010]

I forgot to put my thoughts on She's a Mystery in my review.

I will just say that at first it sounded a little too modern and poppy with the vocal melody and Deen using a shaker. It gave me some Backstreet Boys douche chills.

But as a faithful fan, I gave it a chance and once the end portion kicked into high gear, I loved it. And I still love it because I go into it with the anticipation of the end. I realized that yes, it's a definite throwback to songs like Patiently.

[S2M]

I still find it boring as all get out....SAM, and that's about it. I'll save you from the colorful language, and the scathing journalistic sarcasm....

[Eric]

Love:
Chain of Love
Anything is Possible
She's a Mystery
Tantra
Edge of the Moment
Resonate

Like:
City of Hope (Had to see it live to turn me around)
Someone
Ritual
Human Feel

Don't Like:
To Whom it may concern
Venus[/u]

[Greg]

My sentiments are still the same in that the music part is awesome, but I still can't wrap my head around the lyrical content, and Arnel sometimes sounds like he's reading the lyrics off of cue cards on some songs. And, I still despise Tantra.

Can't say it's a bad album though, but definitely not a future classic.

[NoMoreTails]

Currently my favorite Journey album ever, and I'm sure it will never fall below top three unless the next one pushes even further in the edgier less commercial direction. While I like Anything is Possible and Someone, both of which would have fit nicely on any Cain era album, I would have preferred a couple more along the lines of COL, EOTM, and Resonate on Eclipse. This would have made it by far my favorite.

[Red13JoePa]

I'm not as tough on AIP and Someone as NMT is and I love this album. Wouldn't mind a BIT if they stuck to this ground next release. Most of the songs have actually made me think about some things in my life. They really came up with one here. I say this realizing full well that it is the least successful and worst-selling album ever released in the recorded history of music because of the fact that the universe has rejected this lineup of Journey.

[annpea]

It's still good to me and I've listened to the whole album. With headphones it sounds even better.

[Michigan Girl]

My sentiments are still the same in that the music part is awesome, but I still can't wrap my head around the lyrical content, and Arnel sometimes sounds like he's reading the lyrics off of cue cards on some songs. And, I still despise Tantra.

Can't say it's a bad album though, but definitely not a future classic.

I'm here^^^^, as well!! It's a 50/50 w/me!! I don't hate it ...except the "T" song
and I love SAM!! I cannot click fairly!!

[NoMoreTails]

I'm here^^^^, as well!! It's a 50/50 w/me!! I don't hate it ...except the "T" song
and I love SAM!! I cannot click fairly!!

Love She's a Mystery too, I don't get the lack of appreciation for it.

[Eric]

but I still can't wrap my head around the lyrical content

Yeah..I don't "get" the whole concept at all - and I feel stupid because I've tried. That recent article saying that the character starts out in his "City of Hope" helps a little. I have to be honest, I think Arrival had more of a concept that was prevalent (rebirth) throughout...and they didn't call that a concept album.

[Gideon]

I really don't see an overarching theme in every song either, but lyrically I must say this is by far the band's most ambitious effort and is much more sophisticated than most of their catalog.

[Ehwmatt]

Resonate, AIP, and Tantra are the three I still think are quite strong. I don't get all the Tantra hate. It's a great epic rock ballad. But then, I know I'm one of those that's into progressive and more dramatic shit on here.

Mystery and City of Hope really suck.

Edge of the Moment has one cool guitar riff, the rest of the song blows. Terrible live song too.

Chain of Love has some cool moments but doesn't really slay me as a whole song.

Someone is decent

Not terrible but not bad. Their concert a few weeks ago, however, was awful.

[The_Noble_Cause]

I still say that Eclipse is akin to Red13. Like State of Grace and The Time, many of the tracks rock hard, but lack a strong keyboard-driven Journey hook. But that's ok, as many of the songs are much more musically interesting and diverse than the usual Journey fare. Throw one more Higher Place-style arena rocker on there and you're probably looking at one of the best Journey cds ever. As it currently stands, I give it a B+. Increasingly, I think "She's a Mystery" is the best track. Just a great nod to their "Sweet and Simple" 70's early years, with a Zeppelinish ending that stays in your head for days and one of the catchiest guitar solos Neal's ever delivered.

[Red13JoePa]

I LOVE how the ending of AIP goes into a darker tone. The Schon/Cain outro makes a left turn from the 100% upbeat musicianship and Arnel starts warning "It's the choice you make. It's the time you take."

Just fantastic fantastic stuff.

Right now that song is in my top 3 in the entire cannon.

[Jana]

Fantastic album. And Arnel's vocals on Tantra are amazing.

[Greg]

I really don't see an overarching theme in every song either, but lyrically I must say this is by far the band's most ambitious effort and is much more sophisticated than most of their catalog.

Certainly very ambitious to have the overall concept based on Buddhist beliefs, since that could be very polarizing.

[Jana]

I LOVE how the ending of AIP goes into a darker tone. The Schon/Cain outro makes a left turn from the 100% upbeat musicianship and Arnel starts warning "It's the choice you make. It's the time you take."

Just fantastic fantastic stuff.

Right now that song is in my top 3 in the entire cannon.

I agree. Anything is Possible has gone from being a great song on this album that wasn't even in the top three on it to being one of my favorite songs by Journey.

[Red13JoePa]

Fantastic album. And Arnel's vocals on Tantra are amazing.

Unbeleivable vocal on that.
"Like an orange hahhhvest moon!!!!"