Lowering Our Standards

[Memorex]

This will be controversial to some, but it’s just my opinion. So take it for what it’s worth.

Unfortunately Journey has spent the last 8 years lowering the level of what we should expect from this band. I don’t blame Augeri – he’d have been a complete idiot not to take the job. Maybe he thought they would be more aggressive at finding a new identity.

But in listening to his voice now, it made me think about his voice when he first joined. And quite simply, he never was even close to being in the same league as Steve Perry. Maybe he could get up there and handle the songs and have a good time, but he was never going to bring what Perry brought.

I went back recently and listened to some old live Journey stuff – bootlegs from the past and it is not even funny how much better that stuff was. It makes Augeri look like he is just trying to mimic (not related to current scandal) the past rather than bring something equal.

One example I can clearly point to is the recent bootleg of Deen singing Mother Father. Everyone talked about how great it was and how amazing he is. I thought it was ok, certainly better than Augeri could do. But then if you go back and listen to any live performance of Perry doing it, Deen isn’t even close.

We have lessened our expectations of this band. Hell, some of you are cool with tapes. On that note, after hearing the recent boots, I want to amend my position. Augeri – go back to tapes! For all our sake. Please!

This is all kind of like the mp3 world. Most of us listen to mp3’s now and we accept the fact that the music doesn’t sound as good. Our expectations are less in exchange for convenience. With Journey, our expectations are less just to have them around.

To be fair – if Perry was there, it would likely not be nearly as good as 86 and before. And many bands these days are way past their prime. In Journey’s case, I think it’s time to hang it up.

I am not a Journey hater. So try to read this post with an open mind.

[Distant Voice]

I agree with most of this post, but I still think "Past Their Prime" is something you say to a band that have members in their 70's...being in your 50's is not much different than your 30's, the only difference is your mindset.

[*Laura]

Personally,I am saddened by the fact that Journey’s reputation is harmed by their own irresponsible actions and more, all this is coming after 30 years of hard work and unparalleled creativity.And when I say "irresponsible" I am reffering to many things they have done along the years without thinking about the consequences.
Starting with the fact that they moved on without Perry and ending with this appalling scam they resorted to recently.

As I said some time ago ,IMO,they should’ve left the legacy untouched (and Journey has one of the most powerful ones in rock’s history!)
by disbanding in 1998 and taking another direction under a new name.

There are certain things that were achieved during the Perry era and the standard was set so high it would be impossible to equal that let alone to surpass it.
That’s how things happen in life as in music…you cannot bring back "yesterday" no matter how hard you try. There are certain things that happen once in a lifetime.

No one condemns the guys for wanting to continue doing their jobs , but maybe they should have done it for the love of their musicianship and not for the love of the name and the fame. I believe they would have been much more relaxed if they would’ve put aside the Journey project and go for something new. All the controversy and all the wars between the fans would have disappeared…
The band would have gotten rid of the comparisons, the complaints and all the other negative stuff in between and for sure, Augeri would have walked in his own shoes.

This is (part) of my opinion…Sorry if it will bother some of you.

Oh, and to follow Memorex’s example I have to say that I too am not a Journey hater.
More,I don’t want Perry back in the band, and I don’t wish to see Augeri’s career destroyed foolishly.

I would agree with the fact that Journey needs a break to see what’s left standing.

[conversationpc]

I've spent the last couple of days listening to Journey boots from all eras of the band, as early as '74 and as recent as this last European tour. The boots from the Perry era are all pretty good up until the "Frontiers" tour. Perry sounded good on some of those shows but on some of the others, he sounded almost as bad as Augeri has, at least up until very recently.

[ohsherrie]

I've only got one bootleg of the current band and that's from a show in Canada last year(I believe it's one of the ones Dean had referred to) so I can't really compare much of the quality of that one to the quality of the many Perry bootlegs I have. I can say that I wasn't impressed with the sound of the classic songs on the Augeri show, but I thought the few original songs they did were pretty good. Nothing on it was Perry quality though. I'm not saying every bootleg I have of Perry is good or that he didn't hit quite a few bloopers over the years, but overall when you listen to the complete body of his live work and the percentage of bad notes and breaks in his voice, he was amazing. When you listen to the bootlegs from the Frontiers tour, yes there are more missed notes and vocal breaks than there were in the earlier ones(maybe that's why he was reluctant to tour that year). You need to remember though that by this time he had performed live for five years in probably twice as my shows as Augeri has and recorded five albums with incredible vocals, and his voice was still head and shoulders above Augeri's.

I agree with Memorex that the standards expected of this line up are much lower than the Perry era. The fact that so many people have been critical of Perry's lower range on ROR and TBF is testimony to that. They still expected him to sound like he did in '83. The fans that followed this lineup were so happy just to have a band called Journey with some of the original members that they didn't really care if the singer was up to the old standards. They just wanted someone to tour and do an acceptable job of singing those songs in a high vocal range, even if they weren't sung as well as Perry sang them. The only one held to the highest vocal standard seems to be Perry.

I also agree with nearly every word of Shania's post. She said exactly what I've been saying for years, except that I think it's time to retire the name and try to salvage whatever is possible of the legacy rather than take a break.

[conversationpc]

They just wanted someone to tour and do an acceptable job of singing those songs in a high vocal range, even if they weren't sung as well as Perry sang them.

The show I saw in November '98 was awesome. Augeri was as good as just about any boot I've heard from the early 80's and on with Perry in the band. The show in '99 was almost as good and the show I saw on the "Arrival" tour in 2001 was about the same. It kinda went downhill from there, though.

[Abitaman]

This will be controversial to some, but it’s just my opinion. So take it for what it’s worth.

. And quite simply, he never was even close to being in the same league as Steve Perry. .

NO ONE HAS EVER BEEN AS GOOD AS PERRY, no one has ever argued that fact-ERIC

[wildone]

This will be controversial to some, but it’s just my opinion. So take it for what it’s worth.

. And quite simply, he never was even close to being in the same league as Steve Perry. .

NO ONE HAS EVER BEEN AS GOOD AS PERRY, no one has ever argued that fact-ERIC

well that would be a tough argument!!!