15 Years Ago: Journey’s ‘Arrival’ Unfairly Suffers from Stev

[JourneyHard]

This might be a way Steve Perry could get back in the band and save face. He will go under the name Travis, and then if he sucks he can say it wasn't Steve Perry; it was Travis!

[tater1977]

Travis?

Travis Thibodaux

http://www.travismusic.com/music--media.html

[STORY_TELLER]

Ok, now you're just throwing exaggerations out there --

Such as? You're the guy relying on debunked stories ("Augeri lost his voice during the audition!") here. In your blind hatred for Steve Augeri, you are pretty much just flinging anything at the wall that sticks.

Such as William Hung dude. Come on now. If that's not an exaggeration I don't know what is... Blind hatred would be another of course.... And yet another would be you saying I was "relying" on that one element to support my point that Augeri wasn't the right guy for the band. It was one thing I was using to make my point, but I said in my statement I wasn't sure where I heard it and I was paraphrasing. That was my way of implying my memory was faulty on what I had read. When you pointed out elements I wasn't aware of, I said I stood corrected, which shows my fair mindedness about it. But read on because I think you stepped in it on this one.

It's about vocal character, vocal qualities -- EAR CANDY (as Herbie so perfectly said of Perry).

Ok, and to use another Herbie quote, "...you're comparing the current reality of Steve Augeri to the memory of Steve Perry. And trust me, that memory is jaded, and dead-ass wrong."

Nope. Wasn't doing that. You must have a reading comprehension problem. Read on and I explain it [yet again]. Hopefully this time it sinks in.

Lets not forget, Herbie Herbert disagreed with the choice of Augeri as well. In his interview with Andrew, he said "he never understood why they went with that guy" when they could have gone with Chalfant. Elsewhere in the interview, he said when Tall Stories was opening for Mr. Big, Augeri was on him about letting him front Journey. You notice he didn't jump at the idea himself? He didn't try to make that happen, did he? HE said the guys should have gone with Chalfant.

An example would be Sammy Hagar and David Coverdale sharing the same stage, singing the same song. Both great singers, but I think it's pretty obvious who has the more engaging sound.

How did we go from debating Journey to Whitesnake vs Montrose?! Talk about apples and oranges.

Yeah, ok, you either just don't get it or you're being intentionally obtuse. I'm pretty sure it's the latter. Do you know what it means to make a point with an illustrated example? That's what that was. An example to help YOU understand what I meant by ear candy. It was not about Perry, but you split the hair and made it sound like I was doing a comparison to Perry to try and create a perception like you were wining an argument.

So here's my point -- again: Bolton is ear candy to many people. Is he Perry? Martin is ear candy to many people. Is he Perry? Freddie Mercury is ear candy to many people, is he Perry? My point is the band should have searched for something comparable to THOSE quality voices, or better, NOT a Perry sound-a-like. With the exception of a handful of people on this board, Augeri was never nor will he ever be thought of in the same class as those guys.

If you were being fair minded I think you would simply say "I see your point". That doesn't mean you have to like Augeri less than you do. It means you understand what I'm saying. It means you get the differences I'm pointing out. But you're not doing that, you're attacking because you're taking this personally and that's just silliness. I'm not attacking you dude, so relax.

Now can you honestly tell me that between Augeri and Deen, that Deen doesn't have a more attractive sound to his voice than Augeri? That his chords aren't simply the more sophisticated instrument of the two?

Deen is higher pitched. Between Augeri in his prime and Deen (for example, let's say Tall Stories vs Revolution Saints), I would take Augeri. Neither singers are vocal perfectionists in the way that Perry was.

Ok, here's where we butt heads, and I can see why -- but I don't think you do. You're harping on the technical aspects of a voice whereas I'm also talking about characteristics. There are many singers out there who have higher pitch aspects, vibrato, range, breath control, etc., etc., but that doesn't mean the sound that voice makes is attractive to listen to, does it? Does it have that "ear candy" or "it" factor? Technically speaking, Eddie Money doesn't have as strong an instrument in his neck as Kevin Chalfant, but the character of his voice is a standout. The same could be said of John Waite. Look at Geddy Lee (in his prime). His voice is generally viewed as unattractive, right? Isn't that the general consensus about him? THAT'S vocal character. Geddy Lee is not ear candy. He can sing, in his prime he could hit notes I could only dream of. But "ear candy" -- A voice you can't wait to listen to over and over again, and you can't wait to buy anything that guy does because he sang the song? No.

I'm sorry, but IMO, that sure wasn't Augeri. You're entitled to your opinion, but I think the guy was a decent singer at his best. I think he was the wrong guy because he wasn't a great singer to begin with. To follow Perry you need to be something special in your own right. There was never anything special about Augeri. Sorry, but that's my opinion. No reason for you to take it personally dude.

I know when I first heard "Remember Me", I thought it was pretty special. Still do. Jon and Neal must've seen something in Augeri too.

You could have left the rest alone and simply responded with that and made the same point, but your responses having you coming across like you felt slighted somehow and took this personally. I have no idea why. You're just strange.

Now having said that, here's where you stepped in it: By your own admission, Neal said he wanted to go with John West, calling it the new Journey, but JC said he didn't sound enough like Perry. Isn't that what you said went down? So just how special did Neal find Augeri if he was leaning to the other guy? Sounds more like Neal settled on Augeri to move forward, because JC wasn't going to agree to hiring West, doesn't it? Again, I find that so odd because Augeri could not pull off the ballads and JC is the ballad guy. Very weird, no? And don't tell me in the interview that Neal said "Augeri killed it". It doesn't mean he didn't sing well at the audition, but of course he's going to say that. He's promoting the revival of his band! He's not going to tell you he preferred West in an interview any more than Eddie Van Halen would say he would have rather had Patty Smyth instead of Sammy Hagar at the time they hired him. (hey, how did we go from Journey to Van Halen? Talk about apple and oranges! Oh wait, this must be that whole "illustrated example" thing again... )

Now don't do what you do and split a hair here. I'm not saying they should have gone with West. I'm saying they should have continued the search to find someone with a voice that made the world take notice. That's always been my point and I named guys like Bolton, Martin, Mercury and Coverdale as examples to illustrate that point. I'm saying Augeri was NOT that guy. His instrument is simply not as sophisticated as any of those guys.

I'm just going to leave it at that. I don't see the point in answering further. If you're still butt-hurt feel free to attack. I'm not a fan of circular arguments so I won't waist time responding.

[STORY_TELLER]

First, Steve Smith is back! Now, Travis on background vocals!

This Summer tour is going to be very interesting. They have to do Feeling That Way/Anytime if they are bringing in more vocals.

In addition to backup vocals, having a backup keyboard allows Jon to play rhythm guitar for certain songs as well. This also means they don't need to use a click track to time everything to canned vocals or instrumentals. Gives the band more freedom to jam out and loosen up in places they couldn't before. That alone, assuming they do that, will make this tour more interesting than its been in a long time.

[The_Noble_Cause]

By your own admission, Neal said he wanted to go with John West, calling it the new Journey, but JC said he didn't sound enough like Perry. Isn't that what you said went down? So just how special did Neal find Augeri if he was leaning to the other guy?

No. That's what West said went down. Not Neal. You are grasping again.

Again, I find that so odd because Augeri could not pull off the ballads and JC is the ballad guy. Very weird, no?

What does this even mean? When his voice was in its prime, Augeri was as capable of singing Open Arms as he was Separate Ways. You make these wildly outlandish claims ("Augeri is not ear candy!", "He cannot sing ballads!") as if those are widely shared opinions. When in reality you sound like a guy with a metal plate in his head receiving and repeating radio transmissions from Alpha Centauri.

He's not going to tell you he preferred West in an interview any more than Eddie Van Halen would say he would have rather had Patty Smyth instead of Sammy Hagar at the time they hired him. (hey, how did we go from Journey to Van Halen? Talk about apple and oranges! Oh wait, this must be that whole "illustrated example" thing again... )

Smyth and Hagar both auditioned for Van Halen. It only makes sense to compare the two. Coverdale and Hagar are two different worlds. It's like comparing Perry to Lou Rawls.

I'm just going to leave it at that. I don't see the point in answering further. If you're still butt-hurt feel free to attack. I'm not a fan of circular arguments so I won't waist time responding.

Thank the Lord. I was tired of reading your nonsensical bullshit anyway. Have fun throwing darts at your custom Steve Augeri dart board.

[The_Noble_Cause]

Seems like Travis released a Journey tribute album. Sounds like Journey by way of Rascal Flatts.

https://anewdayproductions.bandcamp.com ... ey-tribute

[Archetype]

Thought that's why they hired a new keyboard/singer for this tour

Well, look at that....
According to the guy's website, he IS going on tour with the band. Journey gets a new member and it goes completely under the radar. WTF. Maybe Jon is grooming him to be his replacement when his televangelist career takes off. Either way, it's cool that the band is using real BG vocals after years of canned vox.

"It was a random call after years of distance with an old Nashville writing partner, Jonathan Cain from the iconic rock band Journey ("Don't Stop Believin," "Open Arms," "Faithfully") that leads us to the present.

Travis recently announced he will be touring with Journey for their 2016 summer tour as a background vocalist and looking forward to this experience and getting to meet new bandmates and fans."

I'm betting that he was contacted to fill the void left by the loss of Deen's backing vocals.

[STORY_TELLER]

I'm betting that he was contacted to fill the void left by the loss of Deen's backing vocals.

Plus one on that. I think they're feeling the vocal void without Deen. I much prefer Smitty's drumming to Deen, but Deen's vocals were a big boost to their harmonies. I'm hoping they ditch the click track and loosen up the instrumentals in favor of more spontaneous elements. The DD tours have become too homogenized with the canned instruments.

[Abitaman]

Any idea why the extra vocalist?

[FamilyMan]

I think they should try more of this... adding back-up singers...maybe even a horn section. In 1989, The Who had to add a whole series of upstage risers to support the additional musicians on the tour. It gave their old music a fresh new vibe and they sounded great. Pete Townsend said during band introductions, "And we've still got the gall to call it The Who!"

[tj]

"It's like comparing Perry to Lou Rawls."

That's awesome. Maybe SP can sing You're Gonna Miss My Lovin' on his new release.

[lparn]

I think Arrival had too many songs on it. Especially ballads. Wish they had done more songs off there live. I think signs of life was one of the forgotten songs on there. Would love to see Arnel do signs of life we will meet again and to be alive again. Am tired of higher place and kiss me softly.