Tony Sachs article on SP, Sam Cooke, AP & Journey

[Rick]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tony-sach ... 10186.html

Steve Perry, Sam Cooke, Arnel Pineda, and My Journey To Obsession

It all began so innocently. While perusing the New York Times' Arts section a few weeks ago, I checked out a review of Journey's new album, Revelation. I don't really remember what the review said, but what caught my eye was a passing mention that former Journey vocalist Steve Perry used "Sam Cooke-type vocal embellishments" in the band's melodramatic teen anthems.

Really? The "Man Who Invented Soul" and the man who sang "Don't Stop Believin'" had something, anything in common apart from being professional musicians? I had to check it out for myself.

Now, mock Journey though I may, I like several of their songs. I own a 2 CD compilation of their greatest hits, which is about one CD more than I need, but I'd still play them over Styx or Kansas or REO Speedwagon any day. And I'm a huge Sam Cooke fan, so my iTunes was loaded and ready to go. I first called up Cooke's biggest pop hit, 1957's "You Send Me," and played it back-to-back with Journey's Sopranos series-ending 1981 smash, "Don't Stop Believin'." And sure enough, there it was:

"You, you-oo-ooh, send me, honest you do, honest you do, honest you do
WHOA-AH-OH-OO-AH-OH"

"Don't stop believin'
Hold on to that FEE-LA-EE-EH-EH-EN"

Damn, they DID sound alike! Soon I was going through their catalogs, track by track, the scales falling from my ears one melismatic moan at a time. I started IM-ing and emailing my friends, commanding them to listen to "A Change Is Gonna Come" and "Lights" back-to-back so they too could agree that Steve Perry was in fact the feathered-hair, big-nosed heir to Sam Cooke's throne.

I then hit the Web to find out just how many people had made the same discovery as the authors of the Times article. I felt like I had slipped through a wormhole into a bizarre parallel universe as I read blog after blog and fan site after fan site that said, essentially, oh, of course, EVERYONE knows Sam Cooke is one of Steve Perry's biggest musical influences, and their melismatic phrasing is almost exactly the same. How had I been kept in the dark for so long?

And the question that haunted me: If Sam Cooke was one of the all-time great soul singers, and Steve Perry sounded like Sam Cooke, did that make Steve Perry a great soul singer, too? I went back to 8th grade algebra for the answer. If A=B and B=C, then A=C. No doubt about it.

I sank deeper and deeper into Perry quicksand. I stumbled onto a fan-run site where the currently retired and reclusive Perry surfaces but once a year, usually on his birthday (which, coincidentally enough, is also Sam Cooke's birthday -- this thing just keeps getting weirder), to thank the Perryheads and respond to some of their questions and comments. I didn't find out whether he'd ever thought of recording Sam Cooke's hits, arena-rock style, but I did find out that he has an innie, and prefers South Park to Family Guy.

I also found out, thanks to a recent interview in GQ, why he hasn't made made any music since splitting with Journey over a decade ago: "Sometimes, when I hear myself sing, I sound like Steve Perry, and sometimes that has a lot of memories attached to it. I'm serious.... Because it reminds me of so much."

Wait, Steve Perry can't deal with sounding like Steve Perry? Fortunately, Journey doesn't have the same problem -- they're currently on their third Steve-alike singer since the original checked out. Arnel Pineda, Journey's newest vocalist, could easily be mistaken for His Royal Steveness if Mr. Perry were shorter and of Filipino descent. But vocally, the two are so similar that Journey had the balls to re-record 11 of their biggest hits for Revelation. It's basically their way of saying "See? We still sound like Journey even with a different singer! So come on down to Knott's Berry Farm and check us out in concert this summer!" There are also a bunch of new songs that sound like... Journey.

So even if the boys in the band are acting like the divorcee who will only date women who look like his ex-wife, at least they can handle sounding like themselves, which gives them the edge as far as dealing with their past and moving on.

But don't worry, Steve Perry. I'm on my way to the Coast with some South Park DVDs and Sam Cooke albums. We'll get through this together, pal. You and me.

[StoneCold]

Cooke and Perry both born on January 22nd? That's odd.

Interesting read. Thanks Rick.

Here's a clip with a lot of Cooke'isms.

Still They Ride
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rErQYXQtMj4

[ttango1]

I wish Tony good luck on trying to appeal to the Steveness. I hope he can make a documentary of it.

[NealIsGod]

Stealing a piece of that article for my sig.

[Michigan Girl]

Stealing a piece of that article for my sig.

"So even if the boys in the band are acting like the divorcee who will only date women who look like his ex-wife"

I like THIS!!!

[Babyblue]

Stealing a piece of that article for my sig.

"So even if the boys in the band are acting like the divorcee who will only date women who look like his ex-wife"

I like THIS!!!

[conversationpc]

Damn, they DID sound alike! Soon I was going through their catalogs, track by track, the scales falling from my ears one melismatic moan at a time. I started IM-ing and emailing my friends, commanding them to listen to "A Change Is Gonna Come" and "Lights" back-to-back so they too could agree that Steve Perry was in fact the feathered-hair, big-nosed heir to Sam Cooke's throne.

[lights1961]

Stealing a piece of that article for my sig.

"So even if the boys in the band are acting like the divorcee who will only date women who look like his ex-wife"

I like THIS!!!

i found that funny too.

[tammy]

Cool find, Rick! I love this article - it rings so true about "the scales falling from the ears" in a Biblical Paul kinda way...that happened to me, too. Not long after re-discovering SP/Journey in 2004 and reading all the past interviews, forums, etc. I kept thinking, "what is this all about SP & Sam Cooke sounding alike?"...then one night I was driving to the store and I had the radio on low and thought it was SP so I turned it up...whoa, it was Sam Cooke! Then I got "it". Had to go buy Sam Cooke music then.

And, here's something "weird"...on Sunday morning we were getting ready to go to the mountains and I decided to go get the car filled up & washed...I turned on the car and my CD player had Sam Cooke playing (hadn't played my lone Sam disc in many, many months so I had been listening for a few days) - I decided to change it and when I popped it out, the EXACT words "don't stop believin" came blasting out! At first I thought it was a CD (this was the morning after the JSS show and I was very fuzzy-headed...lol.). What perfect timing...exactly on those words, exactly! If anyone knows me I love saying, "it's a sign"...so, could it be? Is Sam telling? Okay, it's fun to dream.

[Red13JoePa]

Incidentally, anyone ever read up on the, er, "one sad mistake" sung of in Captured By The Moment that "took Sam away?"

[AlteredDNA]

Incidentally, anyone ever read up on the, er, "one sad mistake" sung of in Captured By The Moment that "took Sam away?"

More like "one bad decision"...

[RedWingFan]

Stealing a piece of that article for my sig.

"Knott's Berry Farm"...LMAO

[kgdjpubs]

Incidentally, anyone ever read up on the, er, "one sad mistake" sung of in Captured By The Moment that "took Sam away?"

that depends on which version you read, because I think there are just about as many versions of that as JFK. Very tragic situation regardless of what exactly happened as the outcome was still the same.

[brywool]

Incidentally, anyone ever read up on the, er, "one sad mistake" sung of in Captured By The Moment that "took Sam away?"

Yup.
Dream Boogie and You Send Me are great books on Sam. Great singer, but not the peaches and cream that his image painted him to be (as many aren't). Definitely the "Kiss member" of his time with women. There are a lot of conspiracy theories out there (mob, etc.) but I think it's basically, he was where he shouldn't have been and paid for it. Sad mistake, indeed.

Always thought Sam's life would've been good movie.

[frfksakes]

"So even if the boys in the band are acting like the divorcee who will only date women who look like his ex-wife"

[Red13JoePa]

Still don't see the "mistake" unless the woman who shot him when he attacked her after checking into the motel with a hooker meant to shoot only to injure....

[Michigan Girl]

Still don't see the "mistake" unless the woman who shot him when he attacked her after checking into the motel with a hooker meant to shoot only to injure....

Maybe being there in the first place?????

[brywool]

the "Mistake" was that he was married at the time. Shouldn't a been horndoggin'

FOLKS THAT CHEAT ON THEIR SPOUSES SUCK.

[Red13JoePa]

They're rationalizations of savage actions that precipitated what's been adjudicated as justifiable homicide per the court records.

Not mistakes.

[brywool]

They're rationalizations of what's been adjudicated as justifiable homicide per the court records.

Not mistakes.

The mistake was that he was fooling around. As far as justifiable, it's always been debated. Kind of like how Oj beat the rap. According to the court, he wasn't guilty, though most people think he is (me included). It's always been the hotel mgr and a known hooker's word only. Who knows, the hooker actually could've been trying to rob him. We'll never know and it's not worth debating.

Still the guy had mega talent and Perry really did cop every lick he did from Sam as did many others. Not to take anything away from Perry because he took what Sam did and expanded on it exponentially, but there aren't many singers who sound so much alike. I believe Sam's family even said that. Can't find that quote though.

[Deb]

And the question that haunted me: If Sam Cooke was one of the all-time great soul singers, and Steve Perry sounded like Sam Cooke, did that make Steve Perry a great soul singer, too? I went back to 8th grade algebra for the answer. If A=B and B=C, then A=C. No doubt about it.

Duh, of course!

Love that part.

[Red13JoePa]

I still see free will being exercised and backfiring fatally.

Unless he walked by the hooker, slipped, and his junk lodged accidentally inside of her. And later tripped, fell forward and used the hotel manager's throat as a means to right himself.

Those would be mistakes.

Of course they would really be straing the limits of physical possibility, BUT Mumia Abu Jamal MIGHT NOT have murdered Daniel Faulkner, either.

[frfksakes]

Maybe it happened the way you say, Red13JoePa, or maybe it happened like others say... that he had become chummy with Malcolm X and Mohammad Ali, and his death was a hit job, possibly by the Nation of Islam... (the first shot was a fatal one, right between the ribs into the heart at close range... a hit? ,, and if not, why was he shot several more times, even though he was already dead,,, if not to create another story...) Some even say RCA was in on it...

Lol, I have no idea what the truth is, but that's kind of the point,,, there are many contradictions, and many questions about that night that will never be answered.

just stayin

[Red13JoePa]

Maybe it happened the way you say, Red13JoePa

I didn't say it happened that way, the records say it. They're the facts of the case.
What's in dispute to some is the reason behind the trigger-pulling I think.

Myself, I think that there might be at least a slight chance I'd retaliate and defend myself too if I found a hand closing around my throat.

That may only just be me, though.

[brywool]

Blame Sam's manager, Allen Klein. He broke up The Beatles and so that's reason enough to think that he had something to do with it!

(joking of course)

[frfksakes]

Maybe it happened the way you say, Red13JoePa

I didn't say it happened that way, the records say it. They're the facts of the case.
What's in dispute to some is the reason behind the trigger-pulling I think.

Myself, I think that there might be at least a slight chance I'd retaliate and defend myself too if I found a hand closing around my throat.

That may only just be me, though.

What's in dispute IS what the records say,,, that's just it

[I.e. if it really happened like the record said, then Cooke probably had it coming,,, but many thought it was set up to look like what the records say,,,(the bullet thing, witness stories changed a lot, Cooke's body was badly bruised as if he'd been beaten,,one of the police officers had nefarious connections,,,]

[frfksakes]

Blame Sam's manager, Allen Klein. He broke up The Beatles and so that's reason enough to think that he had something to do with it!

(joking of course)

ahhhh,,,, it's all clear now,, thanks!

[Red13JoePa]

[b]What's in dispute IS what the records say,,, that's just it

In dispute by whom?

[Saint John]

I see it this way. You have an inebriated black dude, who, like his idol MLK, liked to take hookers to hotel rooms...while married. Back on topic...I do believe she tried to rob him, and his drunken state he convinced himself that the hotel owner was "in on it." He was wrong. Should he have paid with his life? Of course not. Doesn't mean that the shooting was justified. It was.

[kgdjpubs]

[b]What's in dispute IS what the records say,,, that's just it

In dispute by whom?

to put it mildly, there is a VERY large gray area regarding the shooting, and a lot of events (such as a VERY brutal beating of Cooke's body mentioned by several people at the funeral like Aretha Franklin, and a large amount of cash that Cooke had on him that night that dissappeared) that don't agree with the official version of the story.

There is a large subset, including members of Cooke's family, that think the whole thing was set-up and the official story is simply a cover-up for what actually happened. Search it out online--there's a lot of funky stuff going on that doesn't quite add up.