New Single - You Got the Best of Me

[Mikele]

Dont usually post here...but was very surprised of the singles selection for Freedom: I mean, to me, both songs have quite boring titles, are both definitely not uplifting songs, do not seem to have a precise direction, and Arnel performance although good is pretty average like he does not really "feel it". Honestly don't care much about the mix, if it sounds different from what we are used to hear today, well, it can only be positive. Ill wait for the vinyl

[Journey/Survivor]

Journey/Survivor,
I wasn't trying to be rude, sorry to hear about your troubles. The song is very synth oriented, it is not a hard rocker, more of a pop rock, it's no "castles burning" or "one more". I enjoyed Neal's guitar playing a lot more on the first single, but that's just my opinion.

No problem!

I didn't take it that you were trying to be rude. And I hope that it didn't come off that I was upset with you!

I also realize that there was no way for most members on here to have known my circumstances.

Thanks for the description of the song.

[JourneyHard]

Any idea who the musicians actually performing on this record are? I'd thought this album was largely recorded/produced when the lineup was going to be Randy on bass and Narada on drums. Neal was promising a "funk" vibe when he was in the studio. But this doesn't really deliver on that. The drums have all the hallmarks of Deen.

The only thing that makes sense to me is Neal was trying to put together a band that Perry wanted to be in. So, Neal got Narada and Randy Jackson. This was Neal trying to get Perry to come back. Neal would repeat over and over again how he loved Raised on Radio and wanted the band to sound like that again. Neal was desperate to get Perry to come back. Neal even delayed the release of the new album Freedom which was ready last year. Neal was giving Perry time to come back and then they could have just recorded Perry's vocals for the tracks. Of course, Perry didn't come back. So, Narada and Randy Jackson didn't want to tour if Perry wasn't in the band, so they both left. This is the only thing that makes sense to me.

Neal stopped pining away for Perry years ago. If he called tomorrow asking to return would Neal be delighted? Of course. But he knows it's never happening. Neal admitted the last remote chance for Perry to perform in Journey again was HOF. And it didn't happen. Neither did that coffee.

Journey dodged a bullet. If Perry had come back, they would sound like Air Supply. Perry doesn't want to rock anymore. Perry would force them to perform concerts of all ballads and the new album would be only ballads. Neal's guitar solos would be cut to very short if any at all. Journey dodged a bullet and are much better off with Arnel.

[Monker]

Neal has known that Perry was not coming back since the Augeri days. Back then, he said that Perry had an open invitation to sing at any concert he wanted. I'm sure he learned his lesson from TBF where Herbie said that there was no way Perry was going to tour...and he didn't. Herbie's point was that he hasn't finished ANY tour since ROR, during the Bill Graham tribute Perry demanded certain songs - and told Herbie write the lyrics down because he wasn't sure he would remember them, and dropped the songs down two full steps. Then there is the "cracked the stone" comment from the BTM, and Perry saying there is no going back.

So, IMO, Neal KNOWS Perry is not going to rejoin Journey. All of these invitations for coffee and performing are just fan service so it doesn't look like the band is forcing him out....that STEVE PERRY is the one who is making the decision that he is no longer a member - NOT THE BAND.

[bluejeangirl76]

I'm also pissed they played this for Nashville... only to drop it immediately and not play it during the Charlotte show, which is where I was.

...and then add it back 3 days later in Chicago, where I was. I was all set for "Ask the Lonely", and they pulled out this crap. They also dropped "Suzanne" which seriously pissed me off. Toto was great, though!! We really enjoyed them!

[Gideon]

I'm also pissed they played this for Nashville... only to drop it immediately and not play it during the Charlotte show, which is where I was.

...and then add it back 3 days later in Chicago, where I was. I was all set for "Ask the Lonely", and they pulled out this crap. They also dropped "Suzanne" which seriously pissed me off. Toto was great, though!! We really enjoyed them!

ATL is my favorite of the hits, so that would piss me off too.

You didn’t like Journey?

[JourneyHard]

Neal has known that Perry was not coming back since the Augeri days. Back then, he said that Perry had an open invitation to sing at any concert he wanted. I'm sure he learned his lesson from TBF where Herbie said that there was no way Perry was going to tour...and he didn't. Herbie's point was that he hasn't finished ANY tour since ROR, during the Bill Graham tribute Perry demanded certain songs - and told Herbie write the lyrics down because he wasn't sure he would remember them, and dropped the songs down two full steps. Then there is the "cracked the stone" comment from the BTM, and Perry saying there is no going back.

So, IMO, Neal KNOWS Perry is not going to rejoin Journey. All of these invitations for coffee and performing are just fan service so it doesn't look like the band is forcing him out....that STEVE PERRY is the one who is making the decision that he is no longer a member - NOT THE BAND.

You are probably right, but explain to me why Neal has been saying he wants the band to sound like Raised on Radio. That is their worst album. Why sound like that? Unless Neal wants Perry back. Or Neal is just flakey and says different crap without thinking. What do you think is the reason Neal would say such a stupid thing?

[Andrew]

It doesn't sound anything like Raised On Radio

[Journey/Survivor]

It doesn't sound anything like Raised On Radio

Have you heard the entire album?

If so, can I assume that it's more guitar driven than ROR was?

[Monker]

You are probably right, but explain to me why Neal has been saying he wants the band to sound like Raised on Radio. That is their worst album. Why sound like that? Unless Neal wants Perry back. Or Neal is just flakey and says different crap without thinking. What do you think is the reason Neal would say such a stupid thing?

Honestly, I don't recall Neal saying that. Not saying he didn't, I definitely do not read every article, tweet, and FB comment. But, I don't recall him saying it would sound like ROR so I don't know the context so I can't really comment on it.

I do know that he would say it would have a different funk and beat to it...because of Randy and Walden...and many fans assumed that meant it would sound like ROR...that is completely different, though. BTW, from the two singles, I don't even feel this is really true, I don't feel much change in the beat or rhythm of the songs. They are not funky. It's more like Revelation and the soundtrack songs, especially "Ask the Lonely".

[DK23]

It doesn't sound anything like Raised On Radio

Have you heard the entire album?

You should follow Andrew/MR on Twitter

[Journey/Survivor]

I'll post this here since they did in fact do You Got The Best Of Me.


I just got home from Journey's Cleveland show.

I can't remember the exact order of the songs that they played. But here are the songs that they did play.....

Lights
Wheel In The Sky
Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'
Any Way You Want It
Don't Stop Believin'
Stone In Love
Who's Crying Now
Dead Or Alive
Mother, Father
Open Arms
Separate Ways
Send Her My Love
Faithfully
Only The Young
Girl Can't Help It
Be Good To Yourself
You Got The Best Of Me

IMO the mix was better for Journey tonight than it was for Toto. Not that Toto's mix was that bad.

I think that You Got The Best Of Me went over well with the audience. This was my very first time ever hearing YGTBOM in any way.

[Journey/Survivor]

Here is my old man rant.

I did turn 50 back in March, but I know I'm going to sound older than that here.

As the Albert King song goes, "If It Weren't For Bad Luck I Wouldn't Have No Luck At All."

Why is it that every time that I go to a concert I am the one who is in the isle with a bunch of drunks who seem to go to concerts for no reason other than to drink beer all night?

I had a floor seat for Journey last night. I of course wasn't seeing what was going on in the rows behind me, but I could see the rows in front of me.

In the rows in front of me there would be one person who would occasionally get up and leave their seat to go get a beer or some food or maybe to go to the bathroom. But it was only occasionally not non-stop and not a bunch of people from the row at a time. It was usually just one or two people at a time.

Every time I go to a concert in recent years I get the people in my row like the ones that I had last night.

Keep in mind that in general Journey fans are going to classier than the fans of the bigger majority of bands out there. Despite that, a drunk woman once dumped her entire beer on my head by accident at a Journey concert in Columbus.

At last nights Journey concert I was seated at the end of my row of seating right off the isle in the middle right next to the soundboards. Most of the people in my row would leave every two minutes or even more often to go get beer. I would see them come back and they never had food, it was always beer.

Anywhere from 3 to 5 people at a time would get up, cut through the isle where I had to then stand up so they could get out of the isle, and they would go get beer. I would sit back down and a few minutes later they were back with their beers. So I'd have to stand back up and let them back in the isle.
Two minutes later someone else would get up and go through the same routine.

There were literally times when someone would get up from their seat to go get a beer, so I'd stand up and let them out of the isle, and I'd sit back down and ten seconds later someone else was coming back with beer and I'd have to stand back up again.

I have a severe arthritic condition due to an autoimmune disorder, and constantly standing up and sitting back down over and over and over again causes me pain. Now, I know that there's no way for strangers to know that about me, but nevertheless it still sucks.

That went on throughout the entire show while both Toto and Journey played.

Two of the people from my isle left for the night while Journey still had about 4 songs to go. I heard them say that they were leaving.
It was good for me that they left seeing as I was no longer going to have to keep getting up for them,but I want to know why people spend over a hundred bucks per ticket to constantly go get expensive beers missing the show while they do that and then leave the show with a number of songs to go in the concert?

Why does anyone need to get drunk or high at a concert?

If I'm spending big money to go to a concert, and if it's a great band like Journey or Toto, I want to be sober at the concert to enjoy the show. I don't get how being drunk or stoned makes the concert more enjoyable? If you want to get drunk or stoned, save yourself a lot of money and do it at home. You can even play a live concert CD of one of the bands shows while you get drunk or high.

Then there was the guy sitting in front of me. He was short which worked out good for me. But he would keep standing up and holding his phone up above his head to record the bands. I understand wanting to do that. But he wouldn't hold the phone still, he kept on bobbing his phone up and down nonstop to the music. If he was only recording audio and not video that might not matter? But he was recording video too. So all he's going to have is a bunch of blurry-ass video that you can't tell what the hell that you're looking at.

I know, I sound like the old man yelling at kids to get off his lawn. But I also think that I'm making good points too.

[Memorex]

I know, I sound like the old man yelling at kids to get off his lawn. But I also think that I'm making good points too.

I have all but stopped going to shows. Very few shows I have gone to in the last 5-10 years have been very enjoyable. The bands are great, but the amount of talking that goes on drives me nuts. I've tried VIP seating, seating in the back, balcony, it doesn't seem to matter. For me, I am there to hear the music. I don't need the crowd to be silent by any means, but it has gotten to where they are overpowering the music. Bryan Adams actually stopped his show for a minute when I saw him a few years ago and asked the people up front to stop talking so much. I wish they all would do that.

The last show I went to I was so defeated over it I haven't been back. That was pre-Covid. There are bands I want to see, but if it is open-air, some kind of festival or rib-fest, or anything like that, I don't even consider it. Problem is it happens indoors as well.

[JourneyHard]

Why does anyone need to get drunk or high at a concert?

The problem is you are a sane person. These people are crazy. Spending all the money on the tickets and then spending a fortune on beer to make you drunk so you won't even remember the concert is crazy. If that is not crazy, what is?

Back in March at the Journey show in Detroit, there was a drunk guy in the row in front of me who kept turning around and yelling stuff at me such as "Neal was in Santana at age 14!" Of course, I know all these things already and even if I didn't know any of it, I don't need a drunk yelling at me during a concert. Anyway, I feel your pain!

[Eric]

Great show Saturday. There was a hillbilly DJ to kick things off that was actually a lot of fun. Toto is reformed (from Price's band, Justin Timberlake's band and Huey Lewis and the News) and were fabulous. Only song I REALLY would have wanted to hear and didn't was "Pamela". I'd argue that they should have played it over covering "With a little help from my friends" BUT the crowd loved that.

Journey:
- Journey's stage show/presentation was maybe their best I've seen.
- Arnel did indeed sound more like his 2008 self.
- Sold out a barn that holds 19,400 for hockey
- Setlist: https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/journey/ ... 788a7.html
- The only time the majority of the crowd sat: introduction of "You got the best of me", Dead or Alive and Cain's piano solo. But there was an enthusiastic cheer for "You got the best of me".
Dead or Alive isn't my favorite so I'm biased, but I'd say play another new tune instead or something from the Rolie era that people know (Feeling that way/Anytime/Just the same way).
- It's great having Deen-O back.
- My wife actually likes "You got the best me". She's only said that about a few songs since TBF - When you a love a woman and After all the years being the other 2.
- "Place in your heart" played in the arena after the show ended.

[FamilyMan]

Great show Saturday. There was a hillbilly DJ to kick things off that was actually a lot of fun. Toto is reformed (from Price's band, Justin Timberlake's band and Huey Lewis and the News) and were fabulous. Only song I REALLY would have wanted to hear and didn't was "Pamela". I'd argue that they should have played it over covering "With a little help from my friends" BUT the crowd loved that.

Journey:
- Journey's stage show/presentation was maybe their best I've seen.
- Arnel did indeed sound more like his 2008 self.
- Sold out a barn that holds 19,400 for hockey
- Setlist: https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/journey/ ... 788a7.html
- The only time the majority of the crowd sat: introduction of "You got the best of me", Dead or Alive and Cain's piano solo. But there was an enthusiastic cheer for "You got the best of me".
Dead or Alive isn't my favorite so I'm biased, but I'd say play another new tune instead or something from the Rolie era that people know (Feeling that way/Anytime/Just the same way).
- It's great having Deen-O back.
- My wife actually likes "You got the best me". She's only said that about a few songs since TBF - When you a love a woman and After all the years being the other 2.
- "Place in your heart" played in the arena after the show ended.

Why play an exit song over ten years old instead of something off the new album?

[Gideon]

Great show Saturday. There was a hillbilly DJ to kick things off that was actually a lot of fun. Toto is reformed (from Price's band, Justin Timberlake's band and Huey Lewis and the News) and were fabulous. Only song I REALLY would have wanted to hear and didn't was "Pamela". I'd argue that they should have played it over covering "With a little help from my friends" BUT the crowd loved that.

Journey:
- Journey's stage show/presentation was maybe their best I've seen.
- Arnel did indeed sound more like his 2008 self.
- Sold out a barn that holds 19,400 for hockey
- Setlist: https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/journey/ ... 788a7.html
- The only time the majority of the crowd sat: introduction of "You got the best of me", Dead or Alive and Cain's piano solo. But there was an enthusiastic cheer for "You got the best of me".
Dead or Alive isn't my favorite so I'm biased, but I'd say play another new tune instead or something from the Rolie era that people know (Feeling that way/Anytime/Just the same way).
- It's great having Deen-O back.
- My wife actually likes "You got the best me". She's only said that about a few songs since TBF - When you a love a woman and After all the years being the other 2.
- "Place in your heart" played in the arena after the show ended.

Good review, agreed with most of it from my Charlotte 4/28 show.

Journey sometimes makes bewildering decisions and the choice to play DOA is one of them. Now, I like DOA... but this was not, unlike Suzanne, a minor hit. It's a random B-side from Escape and not even the best one. Why not Escape? Or Lay It Down, which is better than DOA? Or why not something from Eclipse like Resonate or Revelation? Or why not TWWUTB?

I'd love to understand what the hell goes on between Neal's ears when it comes to certain decisions.

Also, I'm jealous you got to hear You Got the Best of Me... I got fucked out of it in Charlotte.

[Journey/Survivor]

I know, I sound like the old man yelling at kids to get off his lawn. But I also think that I'm making good points too.

I have all but stopped going to shows. Very few shows I have gone to in the last 5-10 years have been very enjoyable. The bands are great, but the amount of talking that goes on drives me nuts. I've tried VIP seating, seating in the back, balcony, it doesn't seem to matter. For me, I am there to hear the music. I don't need the crowd to be silent by any means, but it has gotten to where they are overpowering the music. Bryan Adams actually stopped his show for a minute when I saw him a few years ago and asked the people up front to stop talking so much. I wish they all would do that.

The last show I went to I was so defeated over it I haven't been back. That was pre-Covid. There are bands I want to see, but if it is open-air, some kind of festival or rib-fest, or anything like that, I don't even consider it. Problem is it happens indoors as well.

Yes. I am also annoyed by how many people insist on constantly talking (Shouting, really) throughout an entire show.
Even when you listen to YouTube (I can no longer listen to YT clips, but I could in the past) clips of bands like Journey you hear a bunch of people yapping away loudly.

[Journey/Survivor]

Back in March at the Journey show in Detroit, there was a drunk guy in the row in front of me who kept turning around and yelling stuff at me such as "Neal was in Santana at age 14!" Of course, I know all these things already and even if I didn't know any of it, I don't need a drunk yelling at me during a concert. Anyway, I feel your pain!

I used to run into a lot of that in bars. Not specifically about music, but just strangers going on and on about something while they were drunk.

[Journey/Survivor]

I am a big fan of Dead Or Alive, so I was glad to see/hear them play it at the Cleveland show. I'm glad that the deep-cut that they played was a Rocker!

[Andrew]

It doesn't sound anything like Raised On Radio

Have you heard the entire album?

If so, can I assume that it's more guitar driven than ROR was?

Yes and yes. But I love ROR.

[JourneyHard]

It doesn't sound anything like Raised On Radio

Have you heard the entire album?

If so, can I assume that it's more guitar driven than ROR was?

Yes and yes. But I love ROR.

Then there is hope for the new album!

[JourneyHard]

Journey sometimes makes bewildering decisions and the choice to play DOA is one of them. Now, I like DOA... but this was not, unlike Suzanne, a minor hit. It's a random B-side from Escape and not even the best one. Why not Escape? Or Lay It Down, which is better than DOA? Or why not something from Eclipse like Resonate or Revelation? Or why not TWWUTB?

They should be playing Edge of the Moment at every show since Eclipse came out. However, I would have loved to hear DOA in Detroit. The only songs out of the ordinary we got were When You Love A Woman, Suzanne, TWWUTB, and Mother, Father.

[danielb]

ROR is Journey’s best album

[Monker]

Wow, pretty sad....this only has 40k views since release. Not good at all.

And, then Def Leppard's "Kick", released two weeks earlier, has over 1,000,000. Wow.

[Gideon]

Wow, pretty sad....this only has 40k views since release. Not good at all.

And, then Def Leppard's "Kick", released two weeks earlier, has over 1,000,000. Wow.

Yep, I bitched about this a month or so ago.

Leppard has a noticeably smaller online following than Journey on every social media platform... and yet they simply outclass Journey by leagues with respect to engagement.

Leppard has taken shit seriously for years that Journey's been late to the game to or still avoid altogether. In 2006, Leppard invested massively in spectacle that increased excitement whereas Journey was bare bones. It took Journey until 2012 to really get their shit together on that front. Everyone's bitched for 10 years about the sound mix and only last month did Neal take it seriously enough to change it.

Journey's social media presence is a fucking joke in comparison. It's just Neal logging into Journey's accounts and retweeting 85 pictures of himself and occasionally a picture of AP, Deen, or Jon; videos of him noodling around on a guitar; or worst of all shit about him and "lAdY m."

Whereas Leppard will post animated videos, fan videos and artwork, competitions and drawings, behind the scenes footage with all the members, interviews, snippets, teasers, calls to arms, etc.

I love that Journey gets out there and grinds away on tour, but their engagement outside of a live show is an absolute trainwreck. Amateur hour.

I wish Andrew would find a politically-correct way to get that through to Neal.

[musicfan17]

What in Hades is going on with the mix! Wow... that sounds terrible! I hope this is not indicative of the actual album mix.

Overall, I like the song, sounds like Journey, But.... where are the real melodic hooks that Neal made himself a legend for in this song...? I don't hear it much lately. The solo, while clearly Neal...sounds generic. Honestly...his son (Myles) is a better melodic player these days than his Dad.

I love ya Neal, but please go back and listen to Infinity, Evolution. Departure and Escape. Those solos are all melodic and memorable. You don't play like that anymore. at least very rarely.

[JourneyHard]

ROR is Journey’s best album

Yes. ROR is the best Steve Perry album.

[Monker]

What in Hades is going on with the mix! Wow... that sounds terrible! I hope this is not indicative of the actual album mix.

Overall, I like the song, sounds like Journey, But.... where are the real melodic hooks that Neal made himself a legend for in this song...? I don't hear it much lately. The solo, while clearly Neal...sounds generic. Honestly...his son (Myles) is a better melodic player these days than his Dad.

I love ya Neal, but please go back and listen to Infinity, Evolution. Departure and Escape. Those solos are all melodic and memorable. You don't play like that anymore. at least very rarely.

Exactly, he puts "too much" into it. Most of these songs can do with less of EVERYTHING, actually. We don't need three Arnel's singing, two Neal's playing, synth accents, and drums and bass trying to be heard through it all. Journey has forgotten the "less is more" aesthetic that is on Escape. Today's Journey could never write "Open Arms" or "Who's Cryin' Now?", "Still The Ride". Even a song like "Stone In Love" is in your face guitar at the start, Perry bulldoggin his way into it, and then the rest of the band coming in to rock it up...but nothing was showy or over complicated. They are not complex songs, but they are written and performed so well that those songs do not need that complexity, and they would be worse if they had it.