My Opinion.......

[BigAl]

I do not get why everyone is fighting about Arnel. And his ability to sing or not to sing. Sure he can sing!!! da! I believe that the real problem here is.... Can he take Journey any further than "The Dirty Dozen"? In the begining Augeri could sing ... with the help of Dean. JSS could sing just fine on his own. But neither one took them any further!! Which made them both nothing more than hired hands. I don't know about the rest of you but I for one have already seen the Frontiers Tour way too much. Don't get me wrong I enjoy all of that music.I just get tired of the same old shit over and over again.The only thing that has changed here since 1998 is the lead singer. Hell I can sit at home and see it all on DVD any time I want. I do not mean to disrespect anyone here or in the band, but it is time here to make a move. There is just way too much talent here to keep doing the same old crap all of time.

[marco17]

Welcome BigAl, I see this is your first post.... I have to admit that while there are a lot of opinionated folks on MR, I really don't agree that there is a ton of fighting regarding Arnel. I believe that he is a great singer for the band in their present state, as do the majority of people on here. With all due to Arnel, or any of the other singers since Steve Perry, they will always be considered hired guns somewhat, because they aren't SP, they're replacements.

Journey fans, especially those on this forum, are very passionate about the band and the lead singers they like[d]. I liked Perry..who didn't, I liked Augeri a lot [really got me into Journey]...some did, some didn't, I liked JSS, but didn't think his voice was right for their type of music....some agree with that opinion, some don't, but now I know a lot more about JSS than I ever did before.

Can Journey be "big" again, maybe... They will never reach the levels they were in their heyday. They could have been bigger with Augeri if his voice held out or the music written during his tenure was stronger, but I can tell you for 8 years they packed a lot of sheds with him at the helm. They could have regained momentum with Jeff because his voice and songwriting capabilities could have taken them to a new level and in a different direction. Arnel, nails the dirty dozen better than almost anyone I've heard and some of the clips coming out for the new album sound good, but it remains to seen if they will have a major impact for the band. Time will tell.

[EightyRock]

Until Arnel actually has an EQUAL share in the writing contributions to a CD, then he's just another hired hand in a long line of them. He was hired to mimic Perry's voice during live shows....or live rehash DVD's.
Does Arnel have any writing credits on Revelations????
Since Schon and Cain now boast that they are (and were) all it takes to make great Journey music, then I doubt Arnel gets more than a token song and possibly a couple minimal credits on any follow-up CD. Augeri was with them for how many years and how long did it take them to let him actually write anything?
I don't think anybody questions if Arnel can sing or not. He's a step above Augeri. If he can come up with material better than Butterfly, then maybe we have something to discuss.