MR

Neal Schon Releases First Ever Holiday EP

DEC 8, 2017

http://schonmusic.com/

2017 Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame inductee Neal Schon has released his first ever holiday ep that includes "Ave Maria," "Can’t Help Falling in Love" and instrumental renditions of Journey hits "Open Arms" and "Faithfully".

Schon founded Journey in 1972 and has been the only consistent member, having participated in every album and tour to date. Schon is a Grammy-nominated guitarist, songwriter and vocalist who is not only the founding member of Journey, but was a member of Santana and has performed with a variety of other acts including Bad English, Jan Hammer, HSAS and has released 10 solo albums including his latest Votex. His guitar style has been described as soulful and melodic, admired by such fellow legends as Eric Clapton and Prince, who reportedly asked for Schon’s blessing to release "Purple Rain", which echoed a similar sound to Journey’s "Faithfully".

Journey’s worldwide sales have reached over 100 million records, making them one of the world’s best-selling bands of all time, with a wide selection of chart-topping hits like "Don’t Stop Believin­'", "Open Arms", "Lights", "Faithfully", and "When You Love a Woman", among others.


Neal Schon - Open Arms (Preview)

Neal Schon - Can't Help Falling In Love (Preview)

Neal Schon - Faithfully (Preview)

Neal Schon - Ave Maria (Preview)

Journey instrumentals sound good.

The only NS instrumental album I own, or care for is 'Beyond the Thunder'

Interesting that the two Journey songs he selected were two of the few without his writing credit.

http://ultimateclassicrock.com/neal-schon-ave-maria/

Months after Journey's simmering internal feud boiled over in public, founding guitarist Neal Schon has emerged with a new solo EP – and it includes updates of two of the band's most recognizable hits.

Titled Ave Maria, the project features the Schubert-composed title track, the Elvis Presley favorite "Can't Help Falling in Love," and new versions of "Open Arms" and "Faithfully." Schon is touting it as his first-ever holiday release. The EP is available through schonmusic.com, where fans can get an instant download of "Ave Maria." It can also be streamed on Spotify (below) and Apple Music.

"Open Arms," a No. 2 Billboard smash from 1981's Escape, was co-written by Steve Perry and Jonathan Cain. "Faithfully," a No. 12 hit which served as the lead ballad from 1983's Frontiers, was composed solely by Cain.

Schon and Cain were at the center of Journey's issues earlier this year, beginning with a disagreement over the role of religion in their music. The guitarist then took his bandmates to task, primarily via Twitter, over a summer White House visit which they made without him. Politics, he argued, didn't have a place in Journey, either. Cain's wife is a pastor and spiritual advisor to President Donald Trump.

Schon has been quiet on social media more recently, though back in November – possibly while he was finishing Ave Maria – the guitarist tweeted that he was "deeply in artistic mode." This solo EP follows 2015's Vortex; the prolific Schon also issued So U in 2014 and The Calling in 2012.

That's the only version of Open Arms I ever want to hear again.

the instrumentals are great.
wonder if he did the two cain songs as an olive branch.
which is more than likely done cause Journey is a cash cow.
99% of the concert goers probably could care less about the feud.

I hope I am wrong cause I want Rolie back.

scarab wrote:the instrumentals are great.
wonder if he did the two cain songs as an olive branch.

After working together for nearly 40 years, they have to communicate via EPs?

It seems odd that Schon's own press release would say Prince "reportedly" asked for Schon's blessing. Doesn't Neal know whether Prince asked him or not? And I had understood that Prince asked Cain's blessing since Cain was the sole writer.

Also, why is Neal bringing religion into the band by putting on an obvious Christian song?

What happened to the blues project - which was supposedly the next Schon solo effort?

Said for many years (yes, before it was a KS idea), that Schon should do a Piranha Blues II. This could be all new, or maybe a few covers, that features different singers on different tracks. Very simliar to what Santana did with Supernatural, but blues, not pop.


later~

From what I've read, I think that Schon is supposed to release two other solo albums before he releases the Blues album?

The only thing on that "album" that comes close to "holiday" is Ava Maria. Open Arms and Faithfully on a "holiday" EP? Nah.

There's a certain irony to Neal covering a song he originally didn't know what he would do on. For me "Open Arms" suffers from the simple fact that you still here Perry when you hear it. There are some really cool little things in it but overall it just sounds like a Muzak version of the song making you miss Perry even more. (And I don't particularly care for Open Arms.)