strangegrey wrote:kgdjpubs wrote:for similar reasons that some people, myself included, think that Raised on Radio is the best Journey album.
Both albums are significantly different from the Journey style. I like both albums, but I also completely understand why both fall into a love-it-or-hate-it category with little in between. Maybe I simply have a broader listening interest than some people. Either that or my ears are broken and are in need of an overhaul...
See, that's just weird. While I'm glad you like it....but if you're gravitating to only the Journey albums that dont sound like Journey, to me, something's wrong.
I'm not just gravitating to the Journey albums that don't sound Journey. Escape and Frontiers (especially if you use what was the original version) are right up there. Arrival, cut down to about 12 songs, is darn close. To me, it's simply down to strength of songs.
As far as rating an album, I simply grade each song on a 1-10 (horrible to absolute classic) and do a simple average. Generally speaking, a filler hurts the album much more than a standout song helps--which means a great deal in the rating. I'm not grading specific songs as much as the ability/interest in listing to the entire album from start to finish. Obviously, a filler greatly diminishes the listening experience. The best albums are those that I like all of the songs.
For my tastes on a song by song basis, ROR has the highest average. Doesn't mean it has the best songs, or it's my favorite to listen to. It's just the most solid album start to finish. Escape is next, followed by the original version of Frontiers. Cut Arrival down to about 12 songs, and it's about equal with Eclipse. Cut TBF down to about the same, it would be close, but a bit lower--you would cut the fillers, but you lose points because of the standouts on Arrival. The list goes on and on. The pre-Cain albums are pretty low for me, but they are patchy and each one of them has an absolute dog of a song, which drags down the rating more than it really should. I'm less of a fan of 70s rock, which probably has some influence in that rating also.
strangegrey wrote:They promised a return to the 'legacy sound' with Arnel....something they cited as a problem with both Steve A and JSS. However, this new album is such a departure from the legacy sound that I literally feel uneasy listening to it.
I'm still going to try to make escape work for me....but really, I've not had any luck at all with it..and I am scratching my head daily at Andrew's 100% rating of it. I wouldn't have given it anything higher than a 60% and only if I were feeling generous.
I really think it's an utter failure of an album....
I may think it's an utter failure as a Journey album. It's more hard rock, more progressive rock and considerably less pop. It doesn't have the sing along pop songs or the typical Journey ballads. Like ROR, it's far from the signature sound of Journey.....but that doesn't mean I don't like the album. On the contrary, I like it a lot. I think there's a good selection of strong rock songs on there.
Do I think Eclipse is 100%? No. Not even close. Going by his rating scale about the time the AOR Hard Rock Hot Spot became melodicrock.com, it probably would have gotten in the high 80s to low 90s, and that's probably closer. I haven't heard all the albums he has given that score to, but I have yet to hear a 100% review that I thought actually deserved it. The vast majority of them don't. It's incredibly rare to find a 100% album, and I've never found one yet.
Eclipse isn't great, but it is good and solid, and will appeal a lot to a
specific audience. The problem is that the specific audience targeted in general are NOT Journey fans. It's appealing closer to those who want a slightly progressive, less pop hard rock release than those who want a classic Journey album.
Doesn't mean it's a bad album for me, but it's stuck between a rock and a hard place trying to find an appreciative fanbase. A lot of the Journey fanbase will dismiss it immediately as it's certainly not the sound that drew them to Journey to begin with, and a lot of the fanbase that would really appreciate it will never hear it because they consider Journey a pop and ballad band and won't give it a chance. Interestingly enough, I'd say the same thing about ROR....but I'm rating both on how much I like the album, not if they are a good "Journey album".
Does that help any, or just muddy the not-so-clear waters?
