Here's the first one...
Journey- Infinity
Employees and jobs:
Steve Perry- Lady-singing/King of Sap
Neal Schon- Face-melting
Ross Valory- Standing there pretending to play bass
Gregg Rolie- Keyboard playing and sometimes singing
Aynsley Dunbar- bangin' the drums
Intro: *WARNING* IF YOU ARE NOT OPEN MINDED IN ANY WAY, GO AWAY *END OF WARNING* Seriously. (edited it).:
Lights- Starts out with a 6/8 (I think... it seems too fast to be 3/4) guitar and piano/keyboard part... lookin good... aight, now the vox are in. Yeah, this is sort of weird starting track. Like... it's sort of a dance song. It's slow, swingy and in 6/8 time. It's good, though. Not too smarmy. Maybe the smarmy only came in once Gregg Rolie left. That dude was cool; he was in Santana (Sang lead vocals on Black Magic Woman, etc.). (wait.... Lovin Touchin Squeezin was there when Gregg was. Fuck. Theory disproven.) Steve's vocals are at their most high pitched on this album, and you can kinda tell. Ha ha. OOH, nice part. "IT's SA-AAD! OHHH!" Etc, because it's moving too fast. xD Yeah, this is givin' me uber-70s nostalgia. Good stuff. Oooooh guitar solo time! GO NEAL GO! YESSSSS. (I think the afro gave him strength.
) Nice n' bluesy. Alright, now it's back to the first verse ("When the lights/go down/in the citaaay", etc.), but with group vocals. Kind of a Queen-esque thing. Ok, it's over. NEXT!
Feeling That Way- Startin' out with piano and Gregg is singing this time. He kind of reminds me of Elton John before the throat problems. I dunno why. Especially when he goes "Are you feeeelin-uh..... feeelin that way too-oo-woo..." Ok, now Steve's in. Wow, you know? Gregg and Steve blend very well. This song is more upbeat, but still midtempo. Oooh wow, they really do blend REALLY well. I'm surprised, but in a good way. This is a definite head-bobber once it gets to Steve's part (It gets more groovy there; Gregg's part is more smooth). Like the guitar part; rock on Neal. One thing I noticed though.... the bass isn't very out in the mix. Very guitar and vocal heavy production-- ESPECIALLY guitar. But it's not surprising; Journey USED to be focused PURELY on Neal's guitar playing if I recall correctly. So I guess they're still sort of in that mode here. Yeah, this song is catchy. It'll be in my head forever. DAMN YOU JOURNEY, YOU'RE MUSIC IS WAY TOO CATCHY.
Anytime- Group vocals galore in the opening... "OOOOOH ANYTIME THAT YOU WANT MEE!" This basically segues from Feeling That Way. Gregg is on main vocals again, with Steve (I guess) harmonizing with him in the chorus. Another kinda groovy thing. Oh, THERE'S Steve. Nevermind. I guess he's gonna weasel his way into all the songs, then. But this is mostly a track for Gregg and Neal to show off their stuff. There were less and less of those kind of deals as time went on.... looks like SOMEBODY went on an ego trip.... ;p Oh, nice drummin' from Aynsley Dunbar near the end. Kind of "Let it Be"-era George Harrison-ish guitar tone from Neal near the end. Ba-domp.
La Do Da- OOOOOO now THIS is more like it. A SWEET palm-muted riff from Neal. Reminds me of 70s era Judas Priest, kinda. Yep, this one is uptempo. The palm-muted riff turns less metal once it kicks in and more bouncy, but still cool. Nice bluesy honky tonky piano from Gregg. And here we go with the vocals from Steev... I don't really like how he drags out the last note of the phrases he sings here, but the rest of it is good so far. But what the hell with the "La do da do daaay". WHAT THE HELL IS THAT, STEVE. WHAT THE HELL, MAN. Whatever. This is still good stuff. The lyrics are smarmy, but the music is nice and fast-paced, and that more than makes up for it. OOOH I like that part at about 1:50, with the palm-muted stuff again. DAMN, UBER high note from Steve at the end. The mofo's a fucking banshee when he wants to be. Nice punky drummin' at the end. Annddd... that's that!
Patiently- THE FIRST BALLAD! Cool dark, minor keyed guitar part, though. Hmm, this might be something cool. Let us see... Oh DAMMIT Steve made it cheesy and major-keyed. WHAT THE HELL, STEVE. We had something going, too! Oh well. At least you kick ass at singing. I mean, you sound like a chick, but you do it tastefully, unlike a certain singer from a prog band I know of... *cough* GEDDY LEE *cough* Anyway... more piano-y now. Oh good, it's gonna get cranked up a notch. GOOD! Ok it's still pretty cheesy, and I HATE the "Onnne! Oooone in a miiiillion!" part because it is SO smarmy, but at least there's some nice guitar backing it up now. And here comes Neal with a nice, emotive guitar solo. He's good at the emotive, bluesy stuff. And also good at having an epic afro. ANYWAY... ("what was I saaaayin'"! xD *cough* wrong album.) some drum rolls at about 2:39, then it segues back into the pretty little acoustic bit from the beginning (w/ vox). Kewl. The best part about this ballad, though.... is that IT'S NOT ABOUT CHICKS OR RELATIONSHIPS! Give 'em a gold star!!
Wheel in the Sky- OKAY, now here's the CLASSIC! ALL RIGHT! Starts out on a clean guitar line before hittin' the distortion at about 0:14 and ROCKIN'. Kind of reminds me of a movie scene or something where we see a GTO or Charger or something speeding along a desert road, kickin' up all this dust and stuff, from a birds-eye view. This is a very Route 66 song. Sure, Steve still sounds girly, but the music is rockin' enough for it not to matter and I never minded the girly singing anyway. Hell yes. Weird lyrics, too. Pretty poetic for a band who also wrote smarmy stuff like "Lovin' Touchin' Squeezin", ya know? WHEEL IN THE SKY KEEPS ON TURNIN! Yeah, catchy as hell chorus. You know you're good at writing hooky stuff when a modern rock and emo fan (my best friend
) can dig this and get it stuck in her head. xD "My my my my my...."-- GUITAR SOLO TIME, BITCH!! And... HOLY DANG another crazy note by Steve in the background. When this song first came out, everyone thought it as a keyboard part... but nope! I guess Neal kicked Steve in the balls before that, ha ha (wait... does he have balls? The ultimate unanswered question.). More nice guitar stuff by Neal in the last verse, and it ends on a snare/cymbal part and repeated guitar chord, then fades out....
Somethin' To Hide- Here's another ballad, but it's an old school, groovy one, so it's all right I guess. But still... get out the lighters and tissues! I like the chorus, though, and the vocals throughout so far are very very good. Unless you're so fucking macho that you still can't get over the whole sounding-like-a-chick thing, because it somehow threatens your masculinity. Dude, the only one who's masculinity is threatened is Steve himself. You don't have to worry about shit; he's the one who sounds and looks like he has little to no no testosterone in his body at all. ANYWAY.... HOLY DAMN NEAL SCHON. Sorry, AWESOME guitar part after the chorus. I AM BOWING AT THE ALTAR OF NEAL. *bows* I gotta learn that part sometime, because that is a GREAT part. Neal Schon and David Gilmour are basically the masters of emotive guitar playing imho. Ok, it's over now, and there's some group vocalizing, la di da... (or should that be La do da, HURR HURR HURR.) Alright, now it's a return to the chorus, badabing badaboom. Ok, chorus x 2. And here's that GREAT guitar line of Neal's again, with Steve vocalizing over it... basically doing that part in voice and NAILING IT. This was godly.
Winds of March- "Somethin' " segues into this one. Another ballad, but more atmospheric and proggy sounding instead of groovy. More piano and keyboard than anything right now. Oooh yes, I like the kind of melancholy feel this has so far. Pretty. A snare roll brings in the vocals, and it's Steve on lead again. Oh yeah, I dig this one so far. Steve's vocals are damn gorgeous here, I don't care what anyone says. He sounds like a chick, but goddamnit he sounds like a chick who can SING, and sing very very well and quite emotively at that. So to me, it works out. OOh, distortion just kicked in! let's see where this ends up.... ok right now it reminds me of an Iron Maiden ballad or something--- OH WAIT A DAMN SECOND. It's getting.... HEAVY. YESSS. YES. KEEP ON GOING. YES! PERFECT! (I know, I know, that's what she said... *eye roll*) Sounds like Deep Purple now, no joke! Kickass keyboard/organ solo by Gregg! Kickass guitar solo by Neal! Oh dammit it got slow again. But that was AWESOME. And the solo's still going on.... yes it is awesome. Ok, vocals are back in now; singing the chorus... starts out belting it, but then fades to quietness and a classical guitar line closes it out. This song was AWESOME. Total eargasm. Especially if you ignore the lyrics.
Can Do- This one.... throws the groove off entirely. I mean what the fuck, we just got off the wings of a fucking EPIC and here's some weird little 2 minute ditty with a weird Beatles-esque chorus and Steve singing the verses like a black lady. Doofy lyrics, too. But it's not as bad as everyone says it is. I like the riff, and the solo is sweet-- reminds me of something Jimmy Page would come up with. Overall, though, this seems like an afterthought-- think Paranoid by Black Sabbath. Except Paranoid is better.
Opened the Door- Another kind of melancholy sounding ballad; the last song! YAY! Kind of the same in tone to Winds of March so far. You know, atmospheric and moody in both keyboard lines and vocals. And DAMNIT we're back to girls and relationships. Come on, guys. Oh well, it's still sounding cool and minor key, so I'm cool with it. This song would actually sound pretty cool a cappella. Not to snub the instrument players, though, cause it's great with instruments, too. Ok, now the song's a little less minor and more happy. Dammit. xD But the backing vocals of Gregg really help this band out. I wish he stuck around.... he left after their third album with Steev. <:( Sucks, too, I liked the bastard. Anyway.... this song was cool. Kind of classical sounding in parts; sweet.
And that's the end. AND DAMN my fingers are TIRED. I typed too hard. >_<
Favorite Songs- Feeling That Way, La Do Da, Wheel in the Sky, Somethin' To Hide, Winds of March
Least Favorite Song- Can Do
Total Amount of Songs- 10
Grade- A
Conclusion- This album, even though it's by Journey and they are basically everyone's guilty pleasure band, kicks some ass. Not TOO many ballads, some great hard rockers, and cool mid-tempo stuff. In other words, this is a pretty damn balanced Journey record! Nice flow to it. And they still had some "kVlt" cred on this, ya know? Rolling Stone actually gave this shit a great review! Rolling Stone! The magazine who hated these mofos the most! And if you have trouble getting into this because of Steve's girly voice, goddamnit. Chill out, relax, and remember that at least he's not Geddy Lee. The next album that I actually have all of is Escape, so tune in for that one.
What I would do to make this album an A+!
1. Tack on the really beautiful ending bit of Patiently that Steve usually adds in concert. (It really is beautiful. Goddamnit it seriously is.)
2. Start out the album with a more rocking number instead of Lights.
3. Move Can Do to after La Do Da or something. Or, you know, don't add it at all.
You're on a roll here! 
