MR

As I am new around these parts, please indulge me in a unoriginal (if fun) excercise of ranking the Journey studio albums on a 1-5 star scale. Curious as to what others' preferences are in terms of the band's studio output. Feel free to not rank albums you do not care to rank (or add the odd import "Dream After Dream," if desired), and your comments/thoughts on the various recordings are welcome.

Journey
Look Into The Future
Next
Infinity
Evolution
Departure
Escape
Frontiers
Raised On Radio
Trial By Fire
Arrival
Generations
Revelation

Scale
5 Stars: Classic
4 Stars: Excellent
3 Stars: Good
2 Stars: Below Average
1 Star: Poor
(Optional -- 0 Stars: Mike Baird's groove couldn't have saved this atrocity)
(intervals of 0.5 are ok)

This thread is approved by Jonathan Cain...

Hmmmmmmm. It's a Journey forum. I wonder how this will shake out

Enigma869 wrote:Hmmmmmmm. It's a Journey forum. I wonder how this will shake out

lol ...depends!!!
Deano ...we might need a demographic breakdown!!

Timstar78 is trying to feel us out!!

Speaking of '78 ...that was a very good year and where is he?!?!

timstar78 wrote:As I am new around these parts, please indulge me in a unoriginal (if fun) excercise of ranking the Journey studio albums on a 1-5 star scale. Curious as to what others' preferences are in terms of the band's studio output. Feel free to not rank albums you do not care to rank (or add the odd import "Dream After Dream," if desired), and your comments/thoughts on the various recordings are welcome.

Scale
5 Stars: Classic
4 Stars: Excellent
3 Stars: Very Good
2 Stars: Below Average
1 Star: Poor
(Optional -- 0 Stars: Mike Baird's groove couldn't have saved this atrocity)
(intervals of 0.5 are ok)

if one has to play along...
still don't like how ratings jump from "below average" to "very good" going from 2 to 3.

pre-Infinity - haven't heard much. No interest in hearing more. Just not my style of preferred music.

Infinity 3.0....good, but patchy. Can Do takes it down a LOT, and in rankings for worst Journey song.
Evolution 2.5....pretty patchy. Good when it is good, but a lot of filler
Departure 2.5....very patchy. Homemade Love in rankings for worst Journey song.
Escape 4.5....very good overall. Tremendous growth from previous album.
Frontiers 4.0....good, but Back Talk/Troubled Child both filler. Back Talk in rankings for worst Journey song.
Frontiers (Original Version) 4.5....much better with Ask the Lonely and Only the Young.
Raised on Radio 4.5....could be a Perry solo album, but for Journey-meets-Motown, if you like that, it doesn't get much better than this.
Trial By Fire 3.0....too long, and too many ballads. ballads and mid-tempo good, rockers average. Would improve rankings if cut down.
Arrival 4.0....would be 4.5 if cut down to about 11 songs and add Remember Me. Too long as is.
Generations 2.5....half very good, half filler. With a combo of the good songs, a producer, and re-writing Red 13, could have been very good.
Revelation 3.5....good. Not classic, but good.

awaiting firing squad

kgdjpubs wrote:

if one has to play along...
still don't like how ratings jump from "below average" to "very good" going from 2 to 3.

Fair point...I've amended to "good" and so 3.5 can constitute "very good."

timstar78 wrote:

kgdjpubs wrote:

if one has to play along...
still don't like how ratings jump from "below average" to "very good" going from 2 to 3.

Fair point...I've amended to "good" and so 3.5 can constitute "very good."

I still think that skews everything too far to the top. There isn't much difference between Very Good, Excellent, and Classic. I would have done something like this...


Scale
5 Stars: Classic
4 Stars: Very Good
3 Stars: Average
2 Stars: Below Average
1 Star: Poor
(Optional -- 0 Stars: Mike Baird's groove couldn't have saved this atrocity)
(intervals of 0.5 are ok)


Personally, I would think anything here could get 1 star simply for musicianship/talent involved even if one thinks the album sucks.

I'll stick with the post-"Kohoutek" eras:

Infinity: 3.5
Favorite track: "Patiently" -- a hint of things to come

Evolution: 3
Favorite track(s): "Majestic"/"Too Late" -- great 1/2 punch to open the album (love it on "Captured" as well)

Departure: 4
Favorite track(s): "Good Morning Girl" perfectly leading into "Stay Awhile"

Escape: 5
Favorite track: Love them all -- lately it's been "Who's Crying Now"; in the summer it doesn't get much better than "Stone In Love"

Frontiers: 4
Favorite track: Fantastic follow-up to "Escape" -- always have had a fondness for "Send Her My Love" -- up-tempo-wise, "Edge Of The Blade" cuts...

Raised On Radio: 4.5
Favorite track: Despite the controversy surrounding this release, I enjoy the songs. I always come back to "I'll Be Alright Without You"...

Trial By Fire: 3
Favorite track: My favorite non-reggae song would be "When You Love A Woman"...

Arrival: 2.5
Favorite track: Love "Signs Of Life"...I've been meaning to give this album a spin more lately...

Generations: 2.5
Favorite track: "Never Too Late"...I swore it was Perry signing at first; great vocal by Deen...

Revelation: 3
Favorite track: "Change For The Better" is my favorite...

kgdjpubs wrote:
pre-Infinity - haven't heard much. No interest in hearing more. Just not my style of preferred music.

Infinity 3.0....good, but patchy. Can Do takes it down a LOT, and in rankings for worst Journey song.
Evolution 2.5....pretty patchy. Good when it is good, but a lot of filler
Departure 2.5....very patchy. Homemade Love in rankings for worst Journey song.
Escape 4.5....very good overall. Tremendous growth from previous album.
Frontiers 4.0....good, but Back Talk/Troubled Child both filler. Back Talk in rankings for worst Journey song.
Frontiers (Original Version) 4.5....much better with Ask the Lonely and Only the Young.
Raised on Radio 4.5....could be a Perry solo album, but for Journey-meets-Motown, if you like that, it doesn't get much better than this.
Trial By Fire 3.0....too long, and too many ballads. ballads and mid-tempo good, rockers average. Would improve rankings if cut down.
Arrival 4.0....would be 4.5 if cut down to about 11 songs and add Remember Me. Too long as is.
Generations 2.5....half very good, half filler. With a combo of the good songs, a producer, and re-writing Red 13, could have been very good.
Revelation 3.5....good. Not classic, but good.

awaiting firing squad

Pretty much "ditto" to this post. Except I would give Trial By Fire and Departure a little higher marks. And Can Do is definitely worst Journey song, but Homemade Love isn't that bad.

infinity 3.5
evolution 3.5
departure 3.5
captured 4.0
escape 5.0
frontiers 3.0
raised on radio 3.0
trial by fire 3.0

timstar78 wrote:Arrival: 2.5

Generations: 2.5

Another Journey fan hitting the bottle a bit too hard

How anyone can come to the conclusion that "Arrival" and "Generations" are on par with each other is incomprehensible to me. To me, "Arrival" was quite solid and was the only time Augeri was remotely good, while "Generations" was a fucking abortion of an album that sounds like it was recorded in my basement!

Journey 4
Look Into The Future 4
Next 2
Infinity 4
Evolution 5
Departure 5
Escape 4
Frontiers 4.5
Raised On Radio 3
Trial By Fire 4.5
Arrival 4
Red 13 4 (would have given it a 5 if the production was better)
Generations 2.5
Revelation 4

timstar78 wrote:As I am new around these parts, please indulge me in a unoriginal (if fun) excercise of ranking the Journey studio albums on a 1-5 star scale. Curious as to what others' preferences are in terms of the band's studio output. Feel free to not rank albums you do not care to rank (or add the odd import "Dream After Dream," if desired), and your comments/thoughts on the various recordings are welcome.

Journey
Look Into The Future
Next
Infinity
Evolution
Departure
Escape
Frontiers
Raised On Radio
Trial By Fire
Arrival
Generations
Revelation



Scale
5 Stars: Classic
4 Stars: Excellent
3 Stars: Good
2 Stars: Below Average
1 Star: Poor
(Optional -- 0 Stars: Mike Baird's groove couldn't have saved this atrocity)
(intervals of 0.5 are ok)

This thread is approved by Jonathan Cain...

Journey n/a no opinion... havent listen to whole CD...
Look Into The Future n/a havent listen to whole CD
Next n/a havent listen to whole cd...
Infinity 7.00 the LP that got me into journey... wheel in the sky, feeling that way, lights... patiently, winds of march... all good...
Evolution 8.00 WOW... every song is a great listen...
Departure 6.00 GREAT... hard rocking... and love good morning girl/stay awhile...
Escape 3.00 LOL... not my favorite... but do love stone in love...
Frontiers 6.00 Best Cain/Perry LP
Raised On Radio 4.00 too much a perry CD...but good songs on the CD...
Trial By Fire 4.00 what could have been...
Arrival 4.00 GOOD and gets better with age... livin to do, higher place, I got a reason...a few of the gems...
Generations 2.00 just there....boring...
Revelation 2.00 zzzzz... the re records are a huge minus...

Enigma869 wrote:Another Journey fan hitting the bottle a bit too hard

How anyone can come to the conclusion that "Arrival" and "Generations" are on par with each other is incomprehensible to me. To me, "Arrival" was quite solid and was the only time Augeri was remotely good, while "Generations" was a fucking abortion of an album that sounds like it was recorded in my basement!

I take it you're part of that MR Journey Forum welcoming committee I was told about.

From my perspective, I am not a big fan of the Augeri era, and only find myself enjoying a few tracks on both albums.

Now, if I may ask, can you please drop the bottle long enough to provide your rankings?

timstar78 wrote:

Enigma869 wrote:Another Journey fan hitting the bottle a bit too hard

How anyone can come to the conclusion that "Arrival" and "Generations" are on par with each other is incomprehensible to me. To me, "Arrival" was quite solid and was the only time Augeri was remotely good, while "Generations" was a fucking abortion of an album that sounds like it was recorded in my basement!

I take it you're part of that MR Journey Forum welcoming committee I was told about.

From my perspective, I am not a big fan of the Augeri era, and only find myself enjoying a few tracks on both albums.

Now, if I may ask, can you please drop the bottle long enough to provide your rankings?

Isn't he great?!?!
He speaks w/a very clear mind and a very sharp tongue ...part of the beauty of MR, for me!!
Honest and entertaining posts ...It's quite refreshing to step out of the STEPFORD FORUM mode!!
Kick back, lube up, enjoy!! Where's Lynn?! ...we need more grit!!

timstar78 wrote:
I take it you're part of that MR Journey Forum welcoming committee I was told about.

I can't imagine that my name ever would have come up in the conversation.

timstar78 wrote:From my perspective, I am not a big fan of the Augeri era

Neither am I but I have ears! Listen, my thoughts on Augeri are well known around these parts. I think the guy was WAY over his head stepping into Journey. His voice was never going to cut it on the back catalog. His obnoxious, lunatic, chick fans would have you believe that he walks on water and is working on a cure for cancer. The reality is that he was a hired gun to allow that douche Schon to continue making his alimony payments to his 32 ex-wives

Having said that, I actually enjoyed Augeri when he wasn't trying to be Steve Perry and thought there were a lot of solid tracks on "Arrival". Fast forward to "Generations" when some genius thought it would be a great idea to let Schon, Cain, and Valory sing lead vocals, and you end up with the clusterfuck that was "Generations". Journey lost its soul when Perry decided to go away to pat kitties and watch baseball games. For all the whining that Cain, Schon, and Valory did about the "control" that Perry had while he was in the band, Perry was the guy saving them from themselves. Perry knew better than to let any of these jackasses sing lead on a track and then put the name "Journey" on the label. It's a complete fucking fraud being perpetrated on Journey fans. The only good thing that I can say about the Generations CD is that it's still holding up quite well as a drink coaster, after all these years.

Enigma869 wrote:Having said that, I actually enjoyed Augeri when he wasn't trying to be Steve Perry and thought there were a lot of solid tracks on "Arrival". Fast forward to "Generations" when some genius thought it would be a great idea to let Schon, Cain, and Valory sing lead vocals, and you end up with the clusterfuck that was "Generations". Journey lost its soul when Perry decided to go away to pat kitties and watch baseball games. For all the whining that Cain, Schon, and Valory did about the "control" that Perry had while he was in the band, Perry was the guy saving them from themselves. Perry knew better than to let any of these jackasses sing lead on a track and then put the name "Journey" on the label. It's a complete fucking fraud being perpetrated on Journey fans. The only good thing that I can say about the Generations CD is that it's still holding up quite well as a drink coaster, after all these years.

No disagreement there. Out of all the bad ideas of let's let everybody sing lead vocals (which works for some bands, but not for Journey), I'm amazed they didn't do a dual-vocal song as a nod of the head back to the Perry/Rolie era. A version of Every Generation with Augeri taking lead on the chorus might have actually worked.

I still think there could have been a good cd in there if you took the best of Generations, a re-write of the Red13 material to give it some choruses, and a producer to tighten everything up.

Journey - 4
LiF - 4
Next - 3.5
Infinity - 4
Evolution - 4
Departure - 3.5
Dream after Dream - 3.0
Escape - 5
Frontiers - 4.5
RoR - 3.0
TBF - 2.5
Arrival - 4.5
Red 13 - 3.0
Generations - 3.0
Revelation - 3.5

4-Infinity
4-Evolution
3.5-Departure
5-Dream After Dream
5-Captured
4.5-Escape
4-Frontiers
3.5-Raised On Radio
3.5-Trial By Fire
4-Arrival
2-Generations
3-Revelation

TBF would be lower except for the great production done on it.
Captured ranks higher than the average score for the three albums before it because of the inclusion of the Party's Over and the change in Perry's vocals at that point which I enjoyed a bit more than the near-falsetto like stuff he was doing before that.

Generations and Revelation each have only a few songs keeping them from the trash heap, Rev getting a higher score because of the better production (except for NWA which I think sounds terrible sonically despite being probably the best new song on the disc).

Journey *** Standouts- Kohoutek, Of A Lifetime
Look Into The Future ** Standouts- Your On Your Own, Look Into The Future
Next *** Standouts- Karma, I Would Find You
Infinity ***** Standouts- Patiently, Winds Of March
Evolution *** Standouts- Just The Same Way, When Your Alone (It Ain't Easy)
Departure *** (People and Places, Precious Time)
Escape **** (Mother, Father and Lay It Down)
Frontiers ****1/2 (Chain Reaction, Edge Of The Blade)
Raised On Radio **** (Why Can't This Night, Happy To Give)
Trial By Fire ***1/2 (Message Of Love, Don't Be Down On Me Baby)
Arrival ***** (Higher Place, Livin' To Do)
Red 13 *** (State Of Grace, I Can Breathe)
Generations *** (The Place In Your Heart, In Self Defense)
Revelation ***1/2 (Like A Sunshower, Never Walk Away)

In this order

5- TBF
4- Escape
4- Infinity
4- Frontiers
4- Captured
4- Time 3
3- Departure
3- Evolution
3- Raised on Radio
3- Next
and that's it...any other albums recorded is not Journey to me...

Infinity 3.5
Evolution 4.0
Departure 4.0
Escape 5.0
Frontiers 4.0
Raised On Radio 3.5
Trial By Fire 3.0
Arrival 2.0
Generations 1.0
Revelation 3.5

Journey-2.5
Next-2
Into The Future-2
Infinity- 3.5
Evolution-3
Departure-3
Escape-5
Frontiers-4.5
Rasied On Radio-3.5
Arrival-4
Red 13-3
Generations-4
Revelation-3.5

TBF - 5
ROR - 4
Escape - 4
Infinity - 4
Captured - 3
Evolution - 3
Frontiers - 2.5
Departure - 2.5

That's it for me!

journey **
ITF *
Next **
Inifnity *****
Evolution ** 1/2
Departure ***
Escape **** 1/2
Frontiers *****
ROR ** 1/2
TBF ***
Arrival ***
Red 13 **
the butterfly album - *
the arnel album **

Enigma869 wrote:

timstar78 wrote:
I take it you're part of that MR Journey Forum welcoming committee I was told about.

I can't imagine that my name ever would have come up in the conversation.

timstar78 wrote:From my perspective, I am not a big fan of the Augeri era

Neither am I but I have ears! Listen, my thoughts on Augeri are well known around these parts. I think the guy was WAY over his head stepping into Journey. His voice was never going to cut it on the back catalog. His obnoxious, lunatic, chick fans would have you believe that he walks on water and is working on a cure for cancer. The reality is that he was a hired gun to allow that douche Schon to continue making his alimony payments to his 32 ex-wives

Having said that, I actually enjoyed Augeri when he wasn't trying to be Steve Perry and thought there were a lot of solid tracks on "Arrival". Fast forward to "Generations" when some genius thought it would be a great idea to let Schon, Cain, and Valory sing lead vocals, and you end up with the clusterfuck that was "Generations". Journey lost its soul when Perry decided to go away to pat kitties and watch baseball games. For all the whining that Cain, Schon, and Valory did about the "control" that Perry had while he was in the band, Perry was the guy saving them from themselves. Perry knew better than to let any of these jackasses sing lead on a track and then put the name "Journey" on the label. It's a complete fucking fraud being perpetrated on Journey fans. The only good thing that I can say about the Generations CD is that it's still holding up quite well as a drink coaster, after all these years.

x10

Sorry to make you do all the work but I couldn't have stated it any better.

Infinity 3.5
Evolution 4.0
Departure 4.0
Escape 5.0
Frontiers 4.0
Raised On Radio 4.0
Trial By Fire 4.0
Arrival 2.5
Generations 1.0
Revelation 1.0

Infinity 5
Evolution 4.0
Departure 4.5
Escape 4.5
Frontiers 4.0
Raised On Radio 3.0
Trial By Fire 3.0
Arrival 3.5
Generations 2.0
Revelation (Never listened to it)

Kick out Friga, Valory and Ritalin Deen. Replace with Rollie, talented non-zombie bass player and Steve Smith. Keep Neal, Herbie (the man behind it all) and Perry at his vocal prime - and you'll have the best lineup in rock history.

Journey
Look Into The Future
Next
Infinity
Evolution
Departure
Escape
Frontiers
Raised On Radio
Trial By Fire
Arrival
Generations
Revelation

I can't really comment on the first 3 albums because they're not something I listen to that often so I'm not really familiar with them.

Infinity: 3.5 Great first album with Perry.
Evolution: 2.75 Solid album with some standout tracks like LTS. Perry sounds great on the early stuff.
Departure: 3.25 Another solid album with a lot of obscure solid tracks like I'm Crying, Line Of Fire, Good Morning Girl, and one of my personal fav's Stay Awhile.
Escape: 5 An Epic album
Frontiers: 4 in original way format, 4.5 on remaster. Would be as good as Escape had they released Only the Young and Ask the Lonely instead of Back Talk and Rubicon.
Raised on Radio: 2 It has a couple good tracks, but way to much 80's pop. They let Perry have too much control.
Trial By Fire: 3.5 I enjoy this album. Love Perry's vocals on it and the music is so calming.
Arrival: 3 Has some really standout tracks, but then it's also got a lot of sap on some of them. Japan got one of the best tracks off it.
Red 13: 1.5 Saving Grace and Walking Away From the Edge are great, other songs are iffy. Terrible prod work.
Generations: 2.25 Has some real standout tracks on it, but then a lot of filler. Album was released about 3 songs to long
Revelation: 1.75 I just don't really care for this album to much. Nothing realy stand out except Change For the Better, Never Walk Away, and After All These Years.

Infinity 3
Evolution 1.5
Departure 1
Escape 4.5
Frontiers 5
Raised On Radio 3
Trial By Fire 2
Arrival 2
Red 13 Zero
Generations .5
Revelation 3