New Journey Book

[livin2do]

If anyone's interested... my review of Livin' Just to Find Emotion... I like it better than most do, but that is not saying much.

By trade, author David Golland is an academic - Dean of Liberal Arts at Monmouth University. Golland has written prior books focusing on the role of race in American society. He also happens to be - like me - a huge Journey fan. I read this book from the lens of someone who has followed a band for some 40-plus years, not someone who is educated in concerns related to race. It was difficult for me to separate these when, early on in this book, Golland introduced his intent to show how Journey became popular - at least in some part - on the backs of their soul and R&B influences. Many of these influences were black artists who did not get the massive success that white artists did.

At times, especially in the first half of the book, I did find Golland's writing illuminating, and occasionally challenging. I asked questions I couldn't answer - like "how much is too much" influence, and at what point is it really considered "cultural appropriation?" I applaud Golland for attempting to start a discussion of this nature. However, the more I read, the more I came down on the side of Journey incorporating music they loved in their songs. I didn't feel this was purposefully done in an effort to be more successful, as Golland seems to allege. I think artists naturally use things they like in their own works, and when Journey did it, it just became more like Journey to me.

One of the things I always liked about Journey is that they could play many different styles of music. And, as a kid, I wanted to learn more about the influences I heard them talk about. I remember doing a deep-dive of Sam Cooke's music and being amazed at how much of his style Steve Perry incorporated into his own. That's allowed - at least somewhat, right? If it's not, it's like we have to hold everyone accountable - because everyone did it. The Beatles did "Twist and Shout", the Stones did "Just My Imagination", and so on. It's no small list, and it happened from the start.

I had more appreciation for some of Golland's more tangible analysis. I hadn't ever really studied the growth and development in Jonathan Cain's writing, from his time with the Babys to the next-level songwriting talent he became for Journey. But, the book made me revisit some songs I hadn't heard in years and provided excellent evidence of that growth. The analysis of Journey's business structure was also very interesting, and I wonder to what extent their model has been used by other groups. And, Golland writes extensively on some of the legal back-and-forth between the band members over the years. It is a wonder Journey has not succumbed to all of its power struggles long before now.

There is not too much academic discussion here, and that may or may not be the issue I have with the book. It's an entertaining read, especially for a Journey fan. But, because the discussion keeps going back to race as Golland's central them, it really hinges on whether that point comes across effectively. For this reader, it did not.

[Monker]

I am slightly confused. Are you saying that Dave is trying to make a case that Journey intentionally used the music styles of black artists to become popular?

I really don't get that impression at all. For example, you can make a good argument that Led Zeppelin intentionally used old blues songs in their songs. You can make direct comparisons and hear it in the lyrics and melodies. I don't hear that in Journey. For example, LTS has a bluesy feel...but it is using a standard blues melody and not something copied from a specific song. DSB, has a R&B sorta melody but is it directly copied from certain songs? Much of Evolution is copied from Alien Project, not black artists. In addition, only Perry has huge R&B influences that directly relate to his style. Neal does somewhat, citing Jimi Hendrix as a big influence and probably has other Blues influences. But, he is NOT Stevie Ray Vaughan going out and recording and playing standard blues in Journey. He is known to be more melodic, more like David Gilmour than anything else. Journey's biggest hits like "Faithfully" and "Open Arms" stray far away from having any blues or R&B influence at all. I just don't see where this argument has any real merit.

As for Jonathan....Using the Babys as a starting is very sketchy for me. From what I understand, when he joined the band for "Union Jacks", the Babys were starting to fall apart. There is a reason why the next album was titled "On the Edge". Because of all the internal conflict going on I don't think Jonathan had his best effort on "Union Jack". "On the Edge", you can hear more of Jonathan's style, especially on songs written with John Waite. His best songs are when he is trying to tell a story or express a specific emotion or thought. Perry was always best at using melody and his voice as expression...which is at least one reason why Jon and Steve were great as a songwriting team...bring in Neal to tie everything together, and it was magical...I don't see how "let's copy this song/style so we can be popular" entered into it.

Going back to his solo album, "Windy City Breakdown", well I don't know. That album is supposed to be really bad and I've never listened to it.

For pure songwriting, IMO listening to "Back to the Innocence" shows what Jonathan is best at and what he likes to do. He tells stories through song. This may be why he felt "The Way We Used to Be" would catch on...because it tells a Covid story.

Nowadays, I think he is done with pop/rock and is off into Christian music...I just don't see him doing it any longer.

[brywool]

There was some stuff about the Valory/Smith lawsuit that I hadn't heard before (not that I remember what it was) but the author's constant need to link Journey with black music just seemed really 'out there' to me and he kept beating that drum. I thought it was funny that he said Perry showed up at the Hollywood walk of fame with a 'crew cut'. Not a lot that the diehards won't already know, and some errors there.

[Jeremey]

Dave's was the first Journey book I'd read aside from the Time3 liner notes and I really enjoyed it, especially a lot of the history pre-Journey and leading up through Perry's hiring, which I didn't know a lot about aside from who was playing with who. One thing I will say is this - Dave did his homework. I understand he had to set up an entire website devoted to nothing but footnotes and references. And it is probably the first time I have ever gotten a logical and detailed understanding of the business agreements of the band over the years, including all the contracts, agreements, who got what, all the way through the firing of Ross & Smitty.

[Monker]

Dave's was the first Journey book I'd read aside from the Time3 liner notes

What about the Robyn Flans book? It almost seems like that has been forgotten.

And it is probably the first time I have ever gotten a logical and detailed understanding of the business agreements of the band over the years, including all the contracts, agreements, who got what, all the way through the firing of Ross & Smitty.

The thing that it seems everybody forgets, or does not know, is that "Journey" is owned by Nightmare and Nightmare licenses the name to the band's LLC. That is, unless something has changed recently with the settlement, and Nightmare gave the trademark to Freedom LLC. I have not looked into it since shortly after the settlement. This was part of what was in contention during the lawsuits. Nightmare said they informed Elmo LLC that they were ending their license for the name...because, IMO, Herbie wanted to create the Chalfant fronted Journey. So, if that is true, did they relicense it to Elmo for TBF? This was all contested. NoMoTa was created due to negotiating Perry out of Elmo...they created a new LLC to move forward with. They could have created a new LLC when Augeri left...but it seems Augeri, JSS, and Arnel (and Deen, Ross, Todd, Randy, Narada and whoever else was a drummer, or bassist, or second keyboardist) are just "employees" of the LLC owned by Jonathan and Neal. I assume that is still true with Freedom LLC. There was no real reason to create a new LLC for the Freedom release and I never really looked at it. I'd be surprised if Dave, or anybody, knows the details of all the business stuff after ROR because the settlement would determine much of it....and the settlement details were not made public. I would think he would be making a lot of assumptions.

[Eric]

What about the Robyn Flans book? It almost seems like that has been forgotten.

Agreed - that was a great read.