Neal Schon & Jan Hammer - Talking To You (1981)

[tater1977]

Neal Schon & Jan Hammer - Talking To You (1981)


http://youtu.be/D3lI7Rn354w


Published on Apr 2, 2013


Early MTV Music Video

[Don]

Useless trivia: This album came out one month before Captured and one month after Dream After Dream.

[tater1977]

I don't even remember seeing this video on MTV.
I remember the song..but not from mtv...

[Don]

I don't even remember seeing this video on MTV.
I remember the song..but not from mtv...

Mark Goodman used to play it during his segments. To me, it seemed that he, J.J. and Nina were more of the rock and early Punk types while Hunter and Quinn tended to lean a bit more towards new wave and pop.

[tater1977]

I think with Nina, you could never know what to expect from the crew that she worked with.
With Mark, he got better the longer he was there..

Found an old cable bill not to long ago...
1983..$12.95/month & that included the cable box...

[Don]

I think with Nina, you could never know what to expect from the crew that she worked with.
With Mark, he got better the longer he was there..

Found an old cable bill not to long ago...
1983..$12.95/month & that included the cable box...

I think I paid 15 bucks to see Journey, Foreigner and George Thorogood open for the Rolling Stones in 1981. General admission, of course.

[steveo777]

I think with Nina, you could never know what to expect from the crew that she worked with.
With Mark, he got better the longer he was there..

Found an old cable bill not to long ago...
1983..$12.95/month & that included the cable box...

That won't even buy a blow job in Tijuana these days.........so I'm told!

[annie89509]

Nothing wrong with Neal wanting to branch outside of Journey, especially getting to sing, with his 2-time album collaborations with Jan Hamner back in the day. But what gets me is the old argument that SP was wrong by going "commercial" with his solo effort (Street Talk), while Neal was just "satisfying a creative need." You don't record albums, do promos, and produce videos for MTV showings (I don't know NS songs like I do SP's , but there were at least 3 songs from the Schon/Hamner albums that got made into videos) ... and say there was no intent to be commercial.

The fact that ST sold 2M copies and people barely heard of the S/H albums is not for lack of trying.

[Eric]

Nothing wrong with Neal wanting to branch outside of Journey, especially getting to sing, with his 2-time album collaborations with Jan Hamner back in the day. But what gets me is the old argument that SP was wrong by going "commercial" with his solo effort (Street Talk), while Neal was just "satisfying a creative need." You don't record albums, do promos, and produce videos for MTV showings (I don't know NS songs like I do SP's , but there were at least 3 songs from the Schon/Hamner albums that got made into videos) ... and say there was no intent to be commercial.

The fact that ST sold 2M copies and people barely heard of the S/H albums is not for lack of trying.

I think Schon's frustration was more that he was doing stuff that wasn't anything like Journey while he felt Street Talk was more Journey-esqu. The fact more songs were consistently played from Street Talk on the ROR tour would lend credence to that. But in my opinion they were really out of their fucking league next to real Journey songs.

[hoagiepete]

Why'd they add the Hammer on drum part to the video? Strange.

[verslibre]

Why'd they add the Hammer on drum part to the video? Strange.

Because Jan plays drums (and guitar!) in addition to keyboards, and because they wanted to.

[verslibre]

Nothing wrong with Neal wanting to branch outside of Journey, especially getting to sing, with his 2-time album collaborations with Jan Hamner back in the day. But what gets me is the old argument that SP was wrong by going "commercial" with his solo effort (Street Talk), while Neal was just "satisfying a creative need." You don't record albums, do promos, and produce videos for MTV showings (I don't know NS songs like I do SP's , but there were at least 3 songs from the Schon/Hamner albums that got made into videos) ... and say there was no intent to be commercial.

The fact that ST sold 2M copies and people barely heard of the S/H albums is not for lack of trying.

Schon/Hammer didn't sell the way they thought it would because Jan's jazz-fusion fans didn't want to hear him playing rock, and Neal's not the lead singer of Journey. That's all it boils down to. Two albums of smooth rock with cool tunes and great keyboards (but then, I'm probably the only Jan Hammer fan on this site).

And you're right, anything being promoted on MTV was and is "commercial" in every sense of the word. Jan Hammer got more flak from the jazzheads for composing the music for Miami Vice than Perry did for recording ST.

[annie89509]

Nothing wrong with Neal wanting to branch outside of Journey, especially getting to sing, with his 2-time album collaborations with Jan Hamner back in the day. But what gets me is the old argument that SP was wrong by going "commercial" with his solo effort (Street Talk), while Neal was just "satisfying a creative need." You don't record albums, do promos, and produce videos for MTV showings (I don't know NS songs like I do SP's , but there were at least 3 songs from the Schon/Hamner albums that got made into videos) ... and say there was no intent to be commercial.

The fact that ST sold 2M copies and people barely heard of the S/H albums is not for lack of trying.

I think Schon's frustration was more that he was doing stuff that wasn't anything like Journey while he felt Street Talk was more Journey-esqu. The fact more songs were consistently played from Street Talk on the ROR tour would lend credence to that. But in my opinion they were really out of their fucking league next to real Journey songs.

What about "No More Lies"???? That song was played by Journey (while SP took his break backstage) in almost every Frontier's concert ... so I hear from the boots. Steve even made big announcement that "here is a new song by Neal."
I think 1 other S/H song was played infrequently either during Frontiers or ROR.

The 3or4 songs that S/H made into video and shown by MTV sounded pretty pop-ish to me... all very good, btw. Ergo..."commercially" motivated.

[koberry]

Nothing wrong with Neal wanting to branch outside of Journey, especially getting to sing, with his 2-time album collaborations with Jan Hamner back in the day. But what gets me is the old argument that SP was wrong by going "commercial" with his solo effort (Street Talk), while Neal was just "satisfying a creative need." You don't record albums, do promos, and produce videos for MTV showings (I don't know NS songs like I do SP's , but there were at least 3 songs from the Schon/Hamner albums that got made into videos) ... and say there was no intent to be commercial.

The fact that ST sold 2M copies and people barely heard of the S/H albums is not for lack of trying.

I just don't buy that at all. As you say, you don't know NS songs... there's very little of what Schon & Hammer produced that was 'commercially' accessible. They were able to do promos/videos because Journey was enormous at that time. If the opportunity is there to record a video, why not pursue it? But watch those videos and it's hard to believe anyone was waiting all night in front of the TV for 'Talking to You' to come on, like we did for an endless amount of mainstream/melodic/pop acts back then. There's much to dispute in the comments Neal's made over the years, but you gotta see the truth in what he said about him stretching out (with S&H, HSAS, etc), while Espee was recording and building fame on songs that easily could have found a home on a Journey album. And playing a large number of Journey songs on his 'solo' tour.

[verslibre]

But watch those videos and it's hard to believe anyone was waiting all night in front of the TV for 'Talking to You' to come on, like we did for an endless amount of mainstream/melodic/pop acts back then. There's much to dispute in the comments Neal's made over the years, but you gotta see the truth in what he said about him stretching out (with S&H, HSAS, etc)

The HSAS album crushes! They should have recorded another one.

[annie89509]

Nothing wrong with Neal wanting to branch outside of Journey, especially getting to sing, with his 2-time album collaborations with Jan Hamner back in the day. But what gets me is the old argument that SP was wrong by going "commercial" with his solo effort (Street Talk), while Neal was just "satisfying a creative need." You don't record albums, do promos, and produce videos for MTV showings (I don't know NS songs like I do SP's , but there were at least 3 songs from the Schon/Hamner albums that got made into videos) ... and say there was no intent to be commercial.

The fact that ST sold 2M copies and people barely heard of the S/H albums is not for lack of trying.

I just don't buy that at all. As you say, you don't know NS songs... there's very little of what Schon & Hammer produced that was 'commercially' accessible. They were able to do promos/videos because Journey was enormous at that time. If the opportunity is there to record a video, why not pursue it? But watch those videos and it's hard to believe anyone was waiting all night in front of the TV for 'Talking to You' to come on, like we did for an endless amount of mainstream/melodic/pop acts back then. There's much to dispute in the comments Neal's made over the years, but you gotta see the truth in what he said about him stretching out (with S&H, HSAS, etc), while Espee was recording and building fame on songs that easily could have
found a home on a Journey album. And playing a large number of Journey songs on his 'solo' tour.

We'll have to agree to disagree, then. I haven't heard all the songs on the S&H albums, but the ones that got made into videos sound mainstream pop rock, to me. I don't hear Street Talk as totally Journey=ish. Lot's of R&B, motown influence, there. That sound just happened to carry over to ROR, with Jon Cain's blessings. Why do you think so many hardcores called it a non-Journey record?

Both Neal and Steve got to play their solo songs in Journey concerts. And, they both played Journey songs outside of the
band...Neal with Santana revisited, Steve with FTLOSM. What's the problem?

[annie89509]

Nothing wrong with Neal wanting to branch outside of Journey, especially getting to sing, with his 2-time album collaborations with Jan Hamner back in the day. But what gets me is the old argument that SP was wrong by going "commercial" with his solo effort (Street Talk), while Neal was just "satisfying a creative need." You don't record albums, do promos, and produce videos for MTV showings (I don't know NS songs like I do SP's , but there were at least 3 songs from the Schon/Hamner albums that got made into videos) ... and say there was no intent to be commercial.

The fact that ST sold 2M copies and people barely heard of the S/H albums is not for lack of trying.

I just don't buy that at all. As you say, you don't know NS songs... there's very little of what Schon & Hammer produced that was 'commercially' accessible. They were able to do promos/videos because Journey was enormous at that time. If the opportunity is there to record a video, why not pursue it? But watch those videos and it's hard to believe anyone was waiting all night in front of the TV for 'Talking to You' to come on, like we did for an endless amount of mainstream/melodic/pop acts back then. There's much to dispute in the comments Neal's made over the years, but you gotta see the truth in what he said about him stretching out (with S&H, HSAS, etc), while Espee was recording and building fame on songs that easily could have
found a home on a Journey album. And playing a large number of Journey songs on his 'solo' tour.

We'll have to agree to disagree, then. I haven't heard all the songs on the S&H albums, but the ones that got made into videos sound mainstream pop rock, to me. I don't hear Street Talk as totally Journey=ish. Lot's of R&B, motown influence, there. That sound just happened to carry over to ROR, with Jon Cain's blessings/colloraboration. Why do you think so many hardcores called it a non-Journey record?

Both Neal and Steve got to play their solo songs in Journey concerts. And, they both played Journey songs outside of the
band...Neal with Santana revisited, Steve with FTLOSM. What's the problem?