Perry on Soto

[Deb]

Also Deb, I don't doubt the Perry story, but what did you expect Perry to say, "Who the fuck are you?" I'm sure to be polite he did tell Jeff that he's heard of him and he probably did listen to some stuff when Neal worked with Soto...because he was like, "Who the fuck is Soto" and wanted to find out.

Also, not to nitpick but on the last couple of CDs, didn't others write most of Soto's stuff. So, the singer-songwriter comment is a little inaccurate.

That is what Jeff thought at first too, but Perry knew and commented specifically on stuff about the songs/cd that he couldn't have if he hadn't listened to or owned the cd. It wasn't one of his latest cds, it was one of the earlier ones that had Jeff's songwriting all over it. For some reason I want to say it is Prism or Lost In The Translation, but I'll have a look for that post later on after work........

[Red13JoePa]

If anything, I found him the most like Perry,

How can this POSSIBLY be?
JSS sounds nothing like perry, don't think he ever tried.

But then again, surely your just talking about those tangible qualities like emoting and soul.

[Deb]

Translation: Jeff didn't have the range to draw comparisons akin to "closed my eyes and it sounded just like him!", thus Jeff threatened Perry the least. I'm not knocking JSS at all - love W.E.T. and like some of his solo stuff. But i don't see any other fair way to read the situation.

Funny. I thought that exact thing while listening to Soto's ~ When You Love A Woman...... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGE3wNjNE4k

He may not have had the same range on some of the glass shattering early highs, but he definitely had the timbre and the soul.

And I can't see Perry being the 'least threatened' by Soto? If anything, he has had the longer career and recognition than the other ones prior to Journey. I really don't think Perry wants to see a train wreck happen with Journey like SJ likes to think would happen if they kept and recorded with Soto. He would probably rather see them break out of the karoakee mold....... But it's all good, some of us liked him in Journey, some didn't. People are going to spin it any which way they want. For me, it just put a huge smile on my face to see that he thinks highly of Jeff's talents as well. Everytime I hear my favorites Jeff, Eric or Steve speak highly of each other, it just makes me....... big!

[Deb]

If anything, I found him the most like Perry,

How can this POSSIBLY be?
JSS sounds nothing like perry, don't think he ever tried.

But then again, surely your just talking about those tangible qualities like emoting and soul.

Grab a q-tip and have another listen......... IBAWY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDtHpo3I5vc You think he sounds nothing like Perry? I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree on this then.

[Jana]

He also did say, "I haven't heard the other two."

Sorry. I consider Arrival a great evolution moving into that decade and a new singer. Augeri stayed true to himself on that album. I consider that album better than some earlier ones even with Perry at the helm.

[Jana]

I think the whole comment was bullshit. In fairness, the only one the b.s. meter went off throughout the interview. I think he was playing to the audience with that comment. I agree, I don't believe he hasn't heard the other two and I bet he doesn't know a Soto song. Soto never recorded with Journey. So, that means he has listened to Soto solo/other material? I doubt that and he hasn't heard the two who have recorded with Journey and been with them for 12 out of the last 13 years. C'Mon Man.

I agree. There's a lot of overlap between the Perry and JSS camps. The reality is that Perry loons gravitate towards JSS because he's unthreatening: even the most casual fans won't confuse JSS or compare him directly to Perry as a "sound-alike." That's comforting to loons protective of Perry's voice. Perry or someone in his camp knows this and told him how to handle the inevitable lead singer comparison question. I think it kills two birds with one stone: (1) it panders to his organic fan base and (2) it denigrates the other two singers who were more closely comparable to Perry (even though Augeri really isn't that close, both he and Pineda are popularly compared to and described as "sound-alikes").

There's absolutely NO fuckin way he didn't at least check out Remember Me back in 98 or Never Walk Away when Arnel first came on the scene. That's a total lie.

Bingo on both posts.

[Red13JoePa]

If anything, I found him the most like Perry,

How can this POSSIBLY be?
JSS sounds nothing like perry, don't think he ever tried.

But then again, surely your just talking about those tangible qualities like emoting and soul.

Grab a q-tip and have another listen......... .

LOL Good one.

But no, I think he sounds Like Jeff Scott Soto singing in Journey. Nothing at all wrong with that and Jeff had a bluesier fee/take on IBAWY than the other singers so that was good but his voice (not talking timbre, pitch, emoting, etc) is very distinct from perry's.
This is actually one of the Journey songs I liked JSS best on. Who can forget his shoutout to Deano on the Hollywood Bowl boot when they went into this song?

[Don]

I don't find JSS to sound like Perry very much at all. I do understand where Perry is coming from though. That was Journey's VH moment. Remember, when Eddie went ahead and searched for a replacement for DLR, he didn't go out there looking for a soudalike. He was even looking to Patty Smyth as a vocalist.
Journey though didn't seem to want and start a new chapter but instead try to keep the formula from the past. Thus all of the auditions were geared to who could sound the most like Perry. They wanted to pretend it was 1981 again instead of starting fresh and taking what came. As money was not an issue, the only reason we can deem that they did this was because Neal and Jon were afraid of creating a musical failure, where as in 1984 Eddie just said fuck it and went for broke.

[yulog]

From Andrew's EPIC frontpage interview.....

Andrew: One of those singers is actually one of my best buddies in the whole world, Jeff Scott Soto.

Perry: Uh huh? By the way, of all three [Jouney replacement] singers – now I've not heard the other two, but I know in his own right, with his own music, with his own songwriting ability, this guy's a very talented guy! And of all three maybe they should have stuck with him and continued to write music, but that might have required that they let him in emotionally a little more? (laughing)

Andrew: Maybe? (laughing)

Perry: Maybe… But I think that might have been a challenge. And so I think that possibly, he was the one that I think would have been a growth because he brought a lot of his own self in to it.

Andrew: Oh, I agree with you so much. And do you know how much he loves you!

Perry: Well he's a very talented singer-songwriter and could have been an incredible addition to the band. I don't know what happened, because then they've moved on and now they have their third singer. So I don't know the workings and I've listened to really none of them to be honest. I just know his reputation is really great, I have friends who talk about him.


Wow. That is huge praise indeed.

What would most people say after someone just told you "he's one of my best friends in the whole world" , and your being interviewed?


2nd comment clearly says he has NOT listened to any of them , he's just going off what some of his friends said about him

This might clear up whether or not Perry is listening to Soto's music or not

[Yoda]

I agree. There's a lot of overlap between the Perry and JSS camps. The reality is that Perry loons gravitate towards JSS because he's unthreatening: even the most casual fans won't confuse JSS or compare him directly to Perry as a "sound-alike." That's comforting to loons protective of Perry's voice. Perry or someone in his camp knows this and told him how to handle the inevitable lead singer comparison question. I think it kills two birds with one stone: (1) it panders to his organic fan base and (2) it denigrates the other two singers who were more closely comparable to Perry (even though Augeri really isn't that close, both he and Pineda are popularly compared to and described as "sound-alikes").

Not even close to correct for this fan. Pretty much the opposite. If anything, I found him the most like Perry, so from your take, that should make him the most threatening. Not even close........the other two may have that early Perry range, but for me......range smange, means squat to me. Nobody comes closer to Perry's delivery than Soto IMO. And believe me I dont' find that threatening or makes me protective of Perry's voice. JSS was actually the only one to bring this major Perry fan back around to Journey, but for me it was cuz of his R&B influenced delivery being the closest to Perry's.

Deb, you may really hear R&B influenced delivery or what not. But let's face it. Fans will measure Journey singers by their range (and to a lesser extent their timbre), not their "emotive delivery" or whatever term you want to use to describe a vocalist's intangibles. He does not sound like Perry. That's indisputable. For most loons and presumably for SP himself, that's a comfort.

You know, I was thinking more about what you said earlier in regards to Perry being more "threatened" by Augeri/Pineda than JSS. Actually, to me, it would make more sense being the other way around. Look at the resume of Jeff compared to the other guys. Jeff has worked with quite a bit of talent in the music biz over the years. He has also written a lot of really good "Journey-type" of music in his day. He has a very strong, very polished voice - vocals similar to Steve Perry without sounding LIKE Steve Perry. Agree or disagree, Jeff has a lot of those qualities that Perry brought to Journey. In my opinion, JSS was the answer to really take Journey into a new and exciting direction.

Again, this doesn't take away from what Journey has with Pineda now, but he sounds enough like Perry that people are going to always compare Arnel to Steve. Just like they did with Augeri. So, no matter what Journey does with Pineda, people won't get past the thought of someone else trying to provide that "legacy" sound. There's no comparison in those regards to Jeff, and I think that would have been a good thing to Journey. Sure high risk, but high reward in my opinion.

[Deb]

If anything, I found him the most like Perry,

How can this POSSIBLY be?
JSS sounds nothing like perry, don't think he ever tried.

But then again, surely your just talking about those tangible qualities like emoting and soul.

Grab a q-tip and have another listen......... .

LOL Good one.

But no, I think he sounds Like Jeff Scott Soto singing in Journey. Nothing at all wrong with that and Jeff had a bluesier feel/take on IBAWY than the other singers so that was good but his voice (not talking timbre, pitch, emoting, etc) is very distinct from perry's.

This is actually one of the Journey songs I liked JSS best on. Who can forget his shoutout to Deano on the Hollywood Bowl boot when they went into this song?

Ya got a point, voice itself wise, he doesn't sound 'just like Perry'. It probably is all the intangibles like emoting, soul, timbre that make up a vocal, that I find the most similar to Perry's. I tend to gravitate to those vocalists with the more bluesier/R&B vibe to their delivery.

[Yoda]

If anything, I found him the most like Perry,

How can this POSSIBLY be?
JSS sounds nothing like perry, don't think he ever tried.

But then again, surely your just talking about those tangible qualities like emoting and soul.

Grab a q-tip and have another listen......... .

LOL Good one.

But no, I think he sounds Like Jeff Scott Soto singing in Journey. Nothing at all wrong with that and Jeff had a bluesier feel/take on IBAWY than the other singers so that was good but his voice (not talking timbre, pitch, emoting, etc) is very distinct from perry's.

This is actually one of the Journey songs I liked JSS best on. Who can forget his shoutout to Deano on the Hollywood Bowl boot when they went into this song?

Ya got a point, voice itself wise, he doesn't sound 'just like Perry'. It probably is all the intangibles like emoting, soul, timbre that make up a vocal, that I find the most similar to Perry's. I tend to gravitate to those vocalists with the more bluesier/R&B vibe to their delivery.

Didn't Andrew post something from W.E.T. in the Steve Perry forum a couple of years back and made everybody think it was Steve Perry? I remember listening to this soundbyte and at first, I thought for sure it was Steve Perry with a lower tone (which would have made sense where as he had not been active in music.) It tricked a few people. My point is, I DO understand where you are coming from with this and I DO think Jeff can add some "Perry" flavor to his vocals to make it sound like Journey.

But anyways, getting back to the topic of Perry's interview. Notice he never flat out said NO to the idea of doing a one-off show with Journey again. He said he was focusing on finishing his studio and working on recording his music, but it wasn't a flat out I'd never do it. I know he said recently he'd have to decline, but something tells me he'd be open for it IF AND ONLY IF after he releases his new music (of course assuming that would happen before I reach retirement age. )

[tammy]

You know what - it goes back to what we were saying at the time of his dismissal about Perry fans were just starting to come back into the fold. Taking NOTHING away from Arnel or Augeri but there was something genuine about JSS in the band. So many people told me his voice wasn't right, but something about it WAS right in a different way.

Its the GROWTH that Perry refers to.

Exactly! Jeff brought something different to the band, yet something very similar to what Steve Perry brought to the band - if that makes any sense. Not taking anything away from Augeri or Pineda, but out of the three, I felt Jeff had that special something that could have elevated Journey.

Yep, when Perry joined, the band evolved into a different band. The same could have been true with JSS. With AP and SA, they are pretty much exploring the same ground over and over again.

I've always gotten the feeling that Neal and Jon really don't want to bring someone in with new ideas and direction at this point; they don't want that conflict again. But IMO, the conflict was one of the things that drove the band and made them great.

Exactly! I agree with you 100%! It does seem like a lot of hit songs, not just with Journey but with a lot of bands, are born out of collaboration, conflict, a few "f-yous" but, that conflict is what molds them into the hit songs they eventually become.

Right! It is that "conflict" that creates something so great and magical. The pressure & friction of the mountain creates the diamond. And, I think that SP and JSS have that same sort of independence & passion that changes the path, ha, changes the journey. Nothing against Arnel or Augeri who obviously have talent, too...I just don't think they have/had that same "butting heads" personality...of course, it's just a whole different story when there is such a popular established band and a casual audience that wants to just hear the hits. Maybe, it is all how it is meant to be now...they all seem to be in a good place and making music in their own way.
Oh, and yes I remember the interview by JSS talking about many, many years ago when Steve Perry met Jeff and told him he bought & liked his music and Jeff was completely floored.

[kgdjpubs]

If anything, I found him the most like Perry,

How can this POSSIBLY be?
JSS sounds nothing like perry, don't think he ever tried.

But then again, surely your just talking about those tangible qualities like emoting and soul.

as far as range and stuff, there isn't much similarity. The thing is though unlike the rest of the singers, both JSS and Perry come from similar backgrounds (aka a love of Sam Cooke). JSS doesn't have the tone of Perry, but on the right song, he gravitates to the R&B styled delivery that Perry does. That's why JSS sounded so good on the post-Frontiers material when Perry had dropped out of the clouds rangewise. His range on ROR and TBF was much closer to where JSS is most comfortable, and combine that with the Cooke-isms (which Perry really started about Street Talk), it's no surprise that JSS could really nail that material.

Arnel, and to a lesser extent Augeri, have the TONE and range of Escape/Frontiers Perry. JSS is pretty close to the range of ROR/TBF Perry, and is very much influenced by Cooke. Of course, most of the hits that Journey has to play are in the former, not the latter, which is why Augeri and Arnel can cover those better.

[G.I.Jim]

I think the whole comment was bullshit. In fairness, the only one the b.s. meter went off throughout the interview. I think he was playing to the audience with that comment. I agree, I don't believe he hasn't heard the other two and I bet he doesn't know a Soto song. Soto never recorded with Journey. So, that means he has listened to Soto solo/other material? I doubt that and he hasn't heard the two who have recorded with Journey and been with them for 12 out of the last 13 years. C'Mon Man.

LMAO!

Tremendous!

Dude, I SOOO want this picture for my new avatar!!!

[Ehwmatt]

Translation: Jeff didn't have the range to draw comparisons akin to "closed my eyes and it sounded just like him!", thus Jeff threatened Perry the least. I'm not knocking JSS at all - love W.E.T. and like some of his solo stuff. But i don't see any other fair way to read the situation.

Funny. I thought that exact thing while listening to Soto's ~ When You Love A Woman...... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGE3wNjNE4k

He may not have had the same range on some of the glass shattering early highs, but he definitely had the timbre and the soul.

And I can't see Perry being the 'least threatened' by Soto? If anything, he has had the longer career and recognition than the other ones prior to Journey. I really don't think Perry wants to see a train wreck happen with Journey like SJ likes to think would happen if they kept and recorded with Soto. He would probably rather see them break out of the karoakee mold....... But it's all good, some of us liked him in Journey, some didn't. People are going to spin it any which way they want. For me, it just put a huge smile on my face to see that he thinks highly of Jeff's talents as well. Everytime I hear my favorites Jeff, Eric or Steve speak highly of each other, it just makes me....... big!

JSS doesn't do it for me on WYLAW at all. He does, however, ROCK on IBAWY. And pulling that off in my ears is no small feat because it's one of my favorite Journey tunes and thus one I can listen to note-by-note and critique if I want. This was really one of the only ones he really killed it on for me though.

[Don]

Translation: Jeff didn't have the range to draw comparisons akin to "closed my eyes and it sounded just like him!", thus Jeff threatened Perry the least. I'm not knocking JSS at all - love W.E.T. and like some of his solo stuff. But i don't see any other fair way to read the situation.

Funny. I thought that exact thing while listening to Soto's ~ When You Love A Woman...... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGE3wNjNE4k

He may not have had the same range on some of the glass shattering early highs, but he definitely had the timbre and the soul.

And I can't see Perry being the 'least threatened' by Soto? If anything, he has had the longer career and recognition than the other ones prior to Journey. I really don't think Perry wants to see a train wreck happen with Journey like SJ likes to think would happen if they kept and recorded with Soto. He would probably rather see them break out of the karoakee mold....... But it's all good, some of us liked him in Journey, some didn't. People are going to spin it any which way they want. For me, it just put a huge smile on my face to see that he thinks highly of Jeff's talents as well. Everytime I hear my favorites Jeff, Eric or Steve speak highly of each other, it just makes me....... big!

JSS doesn't do it for me on WYLAW at all. He does, however, ROCK on IBAWY. And pulling that off in my ears is no small feat because it's one of my favorite Journey tunes and thus one I can listen to note-by-note and critique if I want. This was really one of the only ones he really killed it on for me though.

Jeff's take on IBAWY and LTS are fantastic. Message Of Love isn't bad either. JSS singing the rest of the catalog live though is more akin to what we heard on the few songs that Sammy would cover from the DLR era during his time in VH.

[Red13JoePa]

Always thought JSS and Neal would be GREAT together on a Prihanna Blues II.

[Journey/Survivor]

I think the whole comment was bullshit. In fairness, the only one the b.s. meter went off throughout the interview. I think he was playing to the audience with that comment. I agree, I don't believe he hasn't heard the other two and I bet he doesn't know a Soto song. Soto never recorded with Journey. So, that means he has listened to Soto solo/other material? I doubt that and he hasn't heard the two who have recorded with Journey and been with them for 12 out of the last 13 years. C'Mon Man.

I agree. There's a lot of overlap between the Perry and JSS camps. The reality is that Perry loons gravitate towards JSS because he's unthreatening: even the most casual fans won't confuse JSS or compare him directly to Perry as a "sound-alike." That's comforting to loons protective of Perry's voice. Perry or someone in his camp knows this and told him how to handle the inevitable lead singer comparison question. I think it kills two birds with one stone: (1) it panders to his organic fan base and (2) it denigrates the other two singers who were more closely comparable to Perry (even though Augeri really isn't that close, both he and Pineda are popularly compared to and described as "sound-alikes").

There's absolutely NO fuckin way he didn't at least check out Remember Me back in 98 or Never Walk Away when Arnel first came on the scene. That's a total lie.

Dead on.

Great post!

That is exactly what I've thought for quite some time.

I've wanted to post that for so long now. But then you get on shit-lists if you say something like that.

Great observations, Matt!

[Journey/Survivor]

I agree. There's a lot of overlap between the Perry and JSS camps. The reality is that Perry loons gravitate towards JSS because he's unthreatening: even the most casual fans won't confuse JSS or compare him directly to Perry as a "sound-alike." That's comforting to loons protective of Perry's voice. Perry or someone in his camp knows this and told him how to handle the inevitable lead singer comparison question. I think it kills two birds with one stone: (1) it panders to his organic fan base and (2) it denigrates the other two singers who were more closely comparable to Perry (even though Augeri really isn't that close, both he and Pineda are popularly compared to and described as "sound-alikes").

Not even close to correct for this fan. Pretty much the opposite. If anything, I found him the most like Perry, so from your take, that should make him the most threatening. Not even close........the other two may have that early Perry range, but for me......range smange, means squat to me. Nobody comes closer to Perry's delivery than Soto IMO. And believe me I dont' find that threatening or makes me protective of Perry's voice. JSS was actually the only one to bring this major Perry fan back around to Journey, but for me it was cuz of his R&B influenced delivery being the closest to Perry's.

JSS has certain Perryisms down pat. If you listen to Street Talk or FTLOSM, and then listen to the SS song "Coming Home," it's obvious that JSS does a great job with the way that Perry would style a lead vocal. When I listen to "Coming Home" I feel like I'm listening to solo era Steve Perry.

But, and no offense on this...but to my ears JSS just never came nearly close enough to Perry tonally, especially not live.

So, to me, it just wasn't working with JSS performing live with Journey.

And whereas I would love to see Journey cut down the "Dirty Dozen" to the "Dirty-Half-Dozen" live, it's not realistic to expect them to eliminate all or even most of the hits when they play live.

[annie89509]

Deb and Tammy already aluded to this, and as I recall, JSS posted a long story (on the BackTalk forum) detailing his personal encounter with SP from years past while Jeff was just starting out in the business. The post was right before or after Jeff was hired as the LS, I don't remember which, but he said he was posting the story to offset the predominately negativity toward SP on that board. Remember, this was Journey's official fansite of the SA era, and the wigglers outnumbered the loons 5-to-1, and the factions were constantly engaged in war.

As Deb and Tammy corrected stated, Jeff was very complimentary of their 1st encounter, how they talked about Jeff's just released 1st record and he was going to send a copy to Steve but forgot to ask for his address. Then, they ran into each other some months later, and Steve proceeded to tell him how much he (Steve) liked his (Jeff's) work. Jeff said it did occurred to him that Steve was just throwing out empty compliments, but then, there were things Steve said he liked (and somethings that could be improved) about the record that he would have to actually have listened to it to know....which really made his day because his Hero actually went and sought out his record, gave it a good listen, and now giving him some constructive, and favorable, critique.

This is what I remembered about the story, and no way can anyone say this SP mention about knowing JSS's work is "bs."

[AR]

If anything, I found him the most like Perry,

How can this POSSIBLY be?
JSS sounds nothing like perry, don't think he ever tried.

But then again, surely your just talking about those tangible qualities like emoting and soul.

Soto sounded more like Perry on "I'll Be Alright Without You" than either Augeri or Pineda.

[annie89509]

The point is when JSS was hired, people were all excited that this is a "new direction" for Journey. Heck, Neal came right out and said so...said he and Jeff is going to write some kick-ass songs. Sammy Hagar endorsed the move...thought Journey needed to get out of the perry "soundalike" mode. Then...poof...6 months later, JSS is out. Back to the legacy (perry) sound.

True, Journey has had a lot of success with the AP hiring. Who knows if they would have had the same success with JSS? But, when others in the music industry (Brian May called it a mistake) voiced their opinions questioning the dismissal of JSS, it's not good. Who cares what the fans think/have to say...but, your peers...that's huge. As they like to say....It's not all about the money....

[Andrew]

There's absolutely NO fuckin way he didn't at least check out Remember Me back in 98 or Never Walk Away when Arnel first came on the scene. That's a total lie.

Sorry, but this is stepping over the line. There is no way you know the facts here and I'd like you and others to stop trying to correct statements made by Steve.

[Andrew]

I think the whole comment was bullshit. In fairness, the only one the b.s. meter went off throughout the interview. I think he was playing to the audience with that comment. I agree, I don't believe he hasn't heard the other two and I bet he doesn't know a Soto song. Soto never recorded with Journey. So, that means he has listened to Soto solo/other material? .

Why not? JSS has a lot of solo records and with another bands/artists. Everyone can have access to these records and videos. It doesn't sound like he was playing with the audience.

He wasn't. Not in my opinion anyway.

[Andrew]

If most of us think he's lying about not hearing the other two singers part, isn't it just remotely possible he's lying about other parts in the comment as well?

Why not just take what he said on face value....all of you....and move on.

[Journey/Survivor]

When JSS first joined Journey, I remember thinking that I didn't think that tonally he would do as good of a job as Augeri had done, but that maybe it would help them Rock more, which was something that I wanted. So, I was somewhat excited to hear what a Rocking new album with JSS might sound like.

But, then I started hearing the boots of Journey shows with him on vocals, and saw them in person with him, and did not like what I was hearing. Then, I was very disappointed in that one song "Winds Of Freedom" that they demoed with him.

IMO, Journey just released that Rocking new album, that new direction album, it's called "Eclipse." But it has a lead vocalist who sounds more like Perry on it. Eclipse is almost exactly what I've wanted out of a new Journey album. Hard Rock, with a Perry-like voice.

[onmyjrny]

[i]"The enemy of my enemy .

I definitely noticed he chose his words very carefully during that part of the interview. The rest of the interview seemed much more off the cuff.

1. How could you possibly tell if he was chosing his words carefully or talking off the cuff when reading a transcript? I'd only buy that if you were listening to the interview and gaging his reactions to the questions as Andrew asked them.

2. You really think he would be brutally honest about his feelings and emotions towards Journey, the other members, his past, and his music, and then lie about something like that? In the end, this is just his opinion...it's not right or wrong, it's just the way he feels Journey should have gone. Maybe he was right, maybe he was wrong. But JSS was the only one whose work he probably WOULD have heard. AP was an unknown before Journey, and IIRC, SA wasn't that well known either. And it's pretty obvious that Steve is over it...he is secure with his place in Journey's history and there is just no reason for him to blatently lie about something like this. Also, there is no denying that JSS would have been the only one out of the 3 to have voiced is opinion and possibly created conflict. He would have been the one out of the three the other members WOULD have to deal with emotionally. Steve was right on there; it would "have required that they let him in emotionally a little more." There is no denying that!

[Navarro]

When JSS first joined Journey, I remember thinking that I didn't think that tonally he would do as good of a job as Augeri had done, but that maybe it would help them Rock more, which was something that I wanted. So, I was somewhat excited to hear what a Rocking new album with JSS might sound like.

But, then I started hearing the boots of Journey shows with him on vocals, and saw them in person with him, and did not like what I was hearing. Then, I was very disappointed in that one song "Winds Of Freedom" that they demoed with him.

IMO, Journey just released that Rocking new album, that new direction album, it's called "Eclipse." But it has a lead vocalist who sounds more like Perry on it. Eclipse is almost exactly what I've wanted out of a new Journey album. Hard Rock, with a Perry-like voice.

I am in the minority. I really like Eclipse. For years, on this board and others, people complain about Journey not growing, rewriting the same album. They finally do something different and the fan base, in general, hates it. Eclipse is a powerful album, skillfully written, and played. As much talk about Neil's playing being in the forefront of Eclipse, the vocals are ridiculously good. Arnel rocks on that CD!

[zino]

If anything, I found him the most like Perry,

How can this POSSIBLY be?
JSS sounds nothing like perry, don't think he ever tried.

But then again, surely your just talking about those tangible qualities like emoting and soul.

Soto sounded more like Perry on "I'll Be Alright Without You" than either Augeri or Pineda.

JSS was awesome on this and rocked Where Were You..

IMO there was just soemthing about JSS on the stage.. he brought an energy to the stage and he didnt seem to have to force anything,, While not a total match to Perry, he worked the stage well and had that charmisa of a front man..
Augeri seemed a bit uncomforatble talking to the crowd between songs and AP just isnt there yet