If you could have made one change to Journey's sound...

[conversationpc]

Over the years, if you could have made one change to Journey's sound, what would it be?

Mine would be to keep Neal away from Floyd Rose-style tremelos. His tone is so smooth early on, especially on "Infinity". I thought he still had good tone in the 80s but I think it suffered a bit when he started going with Floyd Rose-style bridges.

[CatEyes]

Over the years, if you could have made one change to Journey's sound, what would it be?

Mine would be to keep Neal away from Floyd Rose-style tremelos. His tone is so smooth early on, especially on "Infinity". I thought he still had good tone in the 80s but I think it suffered a bit when he started going with Floyd Rose-style bridges.

Oh people will hate this one - I always loved the Tower of Power horn section - they appeared on some of the King Biscuit Flour Hour shows with Journey - and I truly enjoyed them in their own rite.

I would have loved to hear a couple of uptempo r&b tracks with TOP.

Had the good fortune to see both Journey and TOP on the same bill together in the early years - I think the Stones were headlining.

Cat

[conversationpc]

Oh people will hate this one - I always loved the Tower of Power horn section - they appeared on some of the King Biscuit Flour Hour shows with Journey - and I truly enjoyed them in their own rite.

I would have loved to hear a couple of uptempo r&b tracks with TOP.

Had the good fortune to see both Journey and TOP on the same bill together in the early years - I think the Stones were headlining.

Cat

I like some of the tracks from that KBFH show. Some of them sounded great, ala "Good Times", others didn't. I definitely don't think they should've incorporated something like that on their studio albums but one-off live shows like that can work.

[whocares]

No Jon lead vocals

[*Laura]

More sax. j/k


You reffering to the classic sound or the new sound?

Nothing from the past.That was THE Journey sound.
The newer sound...dunno.I loved that symphonic orchestra backing the songs on TBF.I'd add that,but not on every song,just here and there for the majestic effect.

I agree on Neal's guitar tone - I loved the smoothness of it back in the days.

[7 Wishes]

I don't know. I really like what Neal has done since Bad English. He has melded somewhat with the times, but that sound he has now is all his own and entirely unique. Now that Fraudgieri is gone, I'd love to get back to some of the more agressive, Frontiers and Escape-era rockers. It's almost a lost art with these guys, unless Jack Blades is in on the action - he keeps it real. "Castles Burning" was perhaps the worst attempt at a semi-modern hard rocker by any classic rock band in history. I'd like to hear more JSS-fronted stuff in the idiom of "Higher Place" or "World Gone Wild".

[conversationpc]

I don't know. I really like what Neal has done since Bad English. He has melded somewhat with the times, but that sound he has now is all his own and entirely unique. Now that Fraudgieri is gone, I'd love to get back to some of the more agressive, Frontiers and Escape-era rockers. It's almost a lost art with these guys, unless Jack Blades is in on the action - he keeps it real. "Castles Burning" was perhaps the worst attempt at a semi-modern hard rocker by any classic rock band in history. I'd like to hear more JSS-fronted stuff in the idiom of "Higher Place" or "World Gone Wild".

I'm not sure about "Higher Place" but I think "World Gone Wild" would sound killer with JSS singing it.

[WalrusOct9]

I'd change anything involved with the style/sound of ROR. Other than two or three songs, ROR is as far from a "rock" album as can possibly be...it sounds like Street Talk with a better guitarist.

I'd have them re-do "Be Good To Yourself," the one real keeper on that disc, with Steve Smith or Deen on drums, and actually make it into the great rock track it's supposed to be.

(honestly, I wish I could take the Augeri-era DVD version and paste Perry's vocals over it...that would rule)

[whocares]

Deen on BG vox, with Perry singing lead. That would have been a killer combo. Hell, Perry layered his Vox so much anyway.

[frfksakes]

No drum machines or talking on the songs. I know, that's two...

[conversationpc]

No drum machines or talking on the songs. I know, that's two...

saint john's gonna have to come in here and kick your ass for that.

[ohsherrie]

Mine would be to keep Augeri away from Journey.

[*Laura]

Mine would be to keep Augeri away from Journey.

That's changing the history,not the sound. ...If so..... Not going there.

[ohsherrie]

Mine would be to keep Augeri away from Journey.

That's changing the history,not the sound. ...If so..... Not going there.

Gotcha Laura. That's just the only thing I can think of that I'd like to change.

[AR]

If I could change anything, I would have had Journey add Latin rhythms to all of their albums.

[frfksakes]

Mine would be to keep Augeri away from Journey.

That's changing the history,not the sound. ...If so..... Not going there.

Gotcha Laura. That's just the only thing I can think of that I'd like to change.

I guess you could argue that changing the sound in any way would be changing the history, and that nothing would be changing the sound more than, shall we just say, having a different singer.

And please, no tiraids.

[conversationpc]

If I could change anything, I would have had Journey add Latin rhythms to all of their albums.

I perceive that thou hast been possessed by the evil spirit of FyreWyngz.

[7 Wishes]

Yeah, wasn't Neal in a band with Johan Santana back in the early 70's?

[wildchildtwisted]

I would like the keys to be more atmospheric and maybe some interesting loops instead of just the straight ahead piano/synth sounds. They experiment with them for intros and such, but they don't use them enough in songs. It's usually the same "Be Good To Yourself" stacked synth everywhere.

[Rockindeano]

Yeah, wasn't Neal in a band with Johan Santana back in the early 70's?

Dude, last time I checked, Johan Santana was pitching against the White Sox.

Are you talking about Carlos?

[ohsherrie]

Mine would be to keep Augeri away from Journey.

That's changing the history,not the sound. ...If so..... Not going there.

Gotcha Laura. That's just the only thing I can think of that I'd like to change.

I guess you could argue that changing the sound in any way would be changing the history, and that nothing would be changing the sound more than, shall we just say, having a different singer.

And please, no tiraids.

Good point Frick. (I hope you don't mind me calling you Frick. It's not an insult. I just love the Merlin mini-series in which Queen Mab's second in command is named Frick and every time I see your nic I think of him. It was a stellar performance by Martin Short.)

[7 Wishes]

Carlos is his father.

[Matthew]

I'd change the lousy drum production on Infinity, Evolution and Departure.

[Ms_M]

More cowbell!!!!

[Matthew]

More cowbell!!!!

Definitely! It's always a winner!

[LucyFurr]

More cowbell!!!!

Definitely! It's always a winner!

And I was going to say take the cowbell out of Perrys hands!!

[ohsosoto]

Yeah, wasn't Neal in a band with Johan Santana back in the early 70's?

Dude, last time I checked, Johan Santana was pitching against the White Sox.

Are you talking about Carlos?

no deano, carlos santana now makes shoes!! get is straight will ya.

[Ms_M]

More cowbell!!!!

Definitely! It's always a winner!

And I was going to say take the cowbell out of Perrys hands!!

[7 Wishes]

Carlos co-owned a sweatshop in Bangladesh with Cyndi Crawford and Martha Stewart. He's now a chocolatier, specializing in the production of "Crunchy Frog" and "Cockroach Clusters".

I'm still pissed at Carlos for deliberately exclusing Neal from Santana's ROR HOF induction. Neal played a shitload of the great solos credited to his Carlosness.

[Saint John]

I would have loved this scenario. Friga calls up Perry and fires him. The next day, Perry and Schon show up at Friga's house and say: "Joke's on you fuckface, we're firing your ass and re-hiring Rolie." This is, of course, assuming Perry would have wanted to work and that Rolie would re-join the band with his good buddy Perry. ANYWAY, my point is that Cain's magic ran out in 83 for my ears. He hasn't done shit since. Arrival had SOME decent parts, but Red 13 and Generations are 2 good reasons to retire the whale and step into the 21st century. He looks like fuckin' Liberace back there. It's simply ridiculous.