artist4perry wrote:No, Should have made myself more clear.......sorry Giddeon, late night last night and little sleep.
What I meant was his voice to me sounded great on the TBF album as well. To me the notes were deeper but beautiful. I was wondering if you were of the mindset of some that feel unless Perry is breaking glass with his notes, or that if he has a rasp at all to his voice that he cannot sing.
I disagree with that notion. I feel that as you grow older your voice changes, but sometimes in a good way. I loved early and later Perry music. Not just because of the LOON thing, but just because I can appreciate both styles of his voice. Younger and higher, and older and deeper.
Don't worry about it.
For the record, Steve Perry's finest vocal epoch was from 1983 - 1994. I don't know if I would accredit that to the infamous "rasp" or the fact that his voice sounded stronger; he could still hit some impressive high notes even at that point, but there was a more soulful, perhaps, soothing quality at that point that his Escape-era shrieks couldn't match.
Trial By Fire is, easily, my favorite album. But it was one of Perry's weaker ones. Did he sound bad? No. His skill is such that, especially in a studio album, I doubt he would ever sound "bad." But his range and power were demonstrably stunted; fortunately, I think he recognized this (though may not have admitted it) and so the whole album was laced with vocal harmonies from the rest of the band. That is to say that I felt that Steve Augeri and Arnel Pineda have both delivered far, far, far greater vocal performances than much of Perry's last outing with the band.
However, what made that album so brilliant is that it no longer
was about Perry. It wasn't even about Perry and Neal Schon. It was about the band as a whole. "Still She Cries" is a powerhouse performance, but the general consensus that Jon Cain was MVP. ProgRocker has written many a thesis on how Ross Valory's bass workout steals the show on "One More." And, for example, TBF is the album where I finally believed Steve Smith's reputation as a badass drummer; before, it seemed like Neal and Perry were controlling the band as a whole, forcing Smith, Cain, and Ross to fade somewhat into the background.
Simply put, TBF was brilliant because Perry either took it upon himself or was forced to by the "limitations" of his voice to accept that he was no longer enough to "hog the spotlight." And because of it, the music matured and the band as a whole was at top level.
'Nothing was bigger for Journey than 1981’s “Escape” album. “I have to attribute that to Jonathan coming in and joining the writing team,” Steve Perry (Feb 2012).'
