"KISS it"
Posted: Fri Jul 06, 2007 1:14 amI do pseudo-engineering and so I frequently work with real engineers. A favorite saying with them is, "K.I.S.S. it." Which is to say: Keep It Simple, Stupid. I prefer the JOURNEYesque "Keep It Sweet & Simple".
I think this is something that is lacking on Arrival - Generations (and to some degree TBF). I don't know that any song on these albums was KISS'ed. It seems to me that Neal's guitar basically wants to drown out everything. Ross's bass which has driven so many of the hits is buried. Deen's drums have to be pounded so hard in order to be heard that they any dynamics he plays are difficult to follow. JC's keys are given obligatory intro's but after that they're lost. Poor SA's vocals have NOTHING to soar over.
Try and keep it simple - not too far away...
Saint John has argued this point (in different words) and I agree. Whatever happened to the wonderful dynamics and orchestration once heard in JOURNEY's songs? It seems to have been replaced by an in-your-face, self-indulgent Neal Schon guitar. I've always said his genius is in his ability to orchestrate - to know when to play and when not to play FOR THE SAKE OF THE SONG. It just seems like his guitar either starts off a song and dominates it throughout or comes into a song at some point and dominates it. Whatever happened to the idea of playing FOR the song? Whatever happened to embellishing a song as oppossed to dominating it?
When JOURNEY talks about returning to their legacy sound then I think it MUST go beyond Steve Perry. They need to think about KISSing their songs again.
I think this is something that is lacking on Arrival - Generations (and to some degree TBF). I don't know that any song on these albums was KISS'ed. It seems to me that Neal's guitar basically wants to drown out everything. Ross's bass which has driven so many of the hits is buried. Deen's drums have to be pounded so hard in order to be heard that they any dynamics he plays are difficult to follow. JC's keys are given obligatory intro's but after that they're lost. Poor SA's vocals have NOTHING to soar over.
Try and keep it simple - not too far away...
Saint John has argued this point (in different words) and I agree. Whatever happened to the wonderful dynamics and orchestration once heard in JOURNEY's songs? It seems to have been replaced by an in-your-face, self-indulgent Neal Schon guitar. I've always said his genius is in his ability to orchestrate - to know when to play and when not to play FOR THE SAKE OF THE SONG. It just seems like his guitar either starts off a song and dominates it throughout or comes into a song at some point and dominates it. Whatever happened to the idea of playing FOR the song? Whatever happened to embellishing a song as oppossed to dominating it?
When JOURNEY talks about returning to their legacy sound then I think it MUST go beyond Steve Perry. They need to think about KISSing their songs again.