Journey's "Frontiers" (1983): Track by Track!

<v Speaker 1>Hello everybody, and welcome to the Surely You Can't Be
<v Speaker 1>Serious Podcast, discussing and debating the iconic and the forgotten
<v Speaker 1>of eighties and nineties pop culture with your co hosts
<v Speaker 1>Jane D. Graves and Jason Caliban.
<v Speaker 2>Welcome back, everybody. Here we are for our second part
<v Speaker 2>in the Synchronicity Versus Frontiers debate. And Jason, I've got
<v Speaker 2>a great idea for a video. You should play the
<v Speaker 2>air keyboards and I will play the air guitar and
<v Speaker 2>we'll get somebody else to play the air drop.
<v Speaker 3>We think invisible instruments. Yes, that sounds incredible on a
<v Speaker 3>wharf and have a lady walking around.
<v Speaker 2>Now, now, wait a minute, a minute, that would be
<v Speaker 2>absolutely the worst video in the history of the world.
<v Speaker 2>We can't do that. I don't know what I was thinking.
<v Speaker 3>Let's hang out. We'll be out there in our jeans
<v Speaker 3>and tennis shoes. We'll get some lady off the street just.
<v Speaker 2>To walk around. Awesome tank top.
<v Speaker 3>That you got it Target last night.
<v Speaker 2>And I'll get my haircut right beforehand. Well, welcome back everybody.
<v Speaker 2>As you can see, we're already having fun with this one. Today.
<v Speaker 2>We're here to talk about Journey if you didn't catch
<v Speaker 2>our last episode, we talked about The Police and we're
<v Speaker 2>comparing the two albums that came out in nineteen eighty three.
<v Speaker 2>The Police had Synchronicity and Journey had Frontiers Synchronicity. That
<v Speaker 2>album was released in June of nineteen eighty three. Frontiers
<v Speaker 2>is actually released in February of nineteen eighty three. Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>so today we will cover Frontiers and then finish up
<v Speaker 2>with our decision on which one we think is the best.
<v Speaker 3>I'm anxious to hear what you think I really am
<v Speaker 3>because most of the time I have kind of an
<v Speaker 3>inkling of where you are. I have no idea where
<v Speaker 3>you're on these two.
<v Speaker 2>So it is very, very difficult because these are two
<v Speaker 2>phenomenal albums. Like I said last episode, Police was the
<v Speaker 2>best band in the world, and this was their best
<v Speaker 2>album with the most hits. And the Journey this one
<v Speaker 2>has a ton of hits. It's got my favorite of
<v Speaker 2>all Journey songs to kick things off, and so it's
<v Speaker 2>a hard choice. I'll tell you when we get there. Okay,
<v Speaker 2>stay tuned, Okay, So let's jump in. You know, the
<v Speaker 2>only member of Journey that was an original member of
<v Speaker 2>Journey is Neil shown. You know Neil shown story.
<v Speaker 3>The only thing I really know about him is that
<v Speaker 3>he picked up the guitar at like age five, and
<v Speaker 3>he was born at Tinker Air Force Base, which is
<v Speaker 3>about twenty miles from where we're recording right.
<v Speaker 2>Now, So right right, yeah, I doubt he remembers Oklahoma,
<v Speaker 2>but we'll we'll claim him anyway, right, He.
<v Speaker 3>Is in the Oklahoma Hall of Fame, so we're claiming.
<v Speaker 2>Yes, yeah, Neil Shwan. I'm sure he tells everyone he's
<v Speaker 2>from Oklahoma.
<v Speaker 3>This band was very nearly named Oklahoma City, but instead
<v Speaker 3>they settled on Journey.
<v Speaker 2>Well, they had some wild names to go through. But
<v Speaker 2>let's back it up a little bit. So Neil shown
<v Speaker 2>after Obviously the big important part about being born on
<v Speaker 2>Tinker Air Force Bace here in Oklahoma. He ends up
<v Speaker 2>in California, has a turntable in his room, listens to
<v Speaker 2>Jimmy hendrickson Cream every night, falls in love with the guitar.
<v Speaker 2>And I guess that's sleep hypnotism work, because at fifteen
<v Speaker 2>years old he is an amazing guitar player already, He's
<v Speaker 2>a professional guitarist by age fifteen.
<v Speaker 3>You and I have talked. We both have fifteen year
<v Speaker 3>old boys in our house right now. The idea of
<v Speaker 3>him going out on the road and playing in a
<v Speaker 3>rock band.
<v Speaker 2>It's kind of weird how that fifteen thing keeps coming up.
<v Speaker 2>I mean, you had Eddie Murphy doing stand up when
<v Speaker 2>he was fifteen. You had Rick Allen who started playing
<v Speaker 2>with def Leopard at age fifteen, and then you have
<v Speaker 2>Neil Shoan who's playing the guitar at fifteen. It's crazy,
<v Speaker 2>but he got noticed. Of all people, he got noticed
<v Speaker 2>by Greg Rawley, who was the keyboardist and lead singer
<v Speaker 2>for the band Santana.
<v Speaker 3>I mean Santana. I mean that's a big time band.
<v Speaker 2>It's huge.
<v Speaker 3>Joins them at age fifteen.
<v Speaker 2>I mean we're talking. They played at Woodstock. I mean
<v Speaker 2>this is this is not small potatoes here. I mean,
<v Speaker 2>these guys are an amazing band. And this guy, Greg
<v Speaker 2>Rawley was so impressed with Neil Show's ability at age fifteen,
<v Speaker 2>he would go and pick him up from high school
<v Speaker 2>in the morning, not after our school was done, because
<v Speaker 2>it was like, listen, dude, you don't need to bother
<v Speaker 2>with school because you were going to be a rock god. Okay,
<v Speaker 2>so come on. Herbie Herbert was manager for Santana at
<v Speaker 2>the time, and he heard Neil shown play and he
<v Speaker 2>was like, we need to have this come around a
<v Speaker 2>little bit because he was blown away, blown away by
<v Speaker 2>a fifteen year old.
<v Speaker 3>Neil Showan is a phenomenal guitar player, and I think
<v Speaker 3>he's vastly underappreciated. We talked in our Van Halen podcast
<v Speaker 3>about Eddie is a rock god, but when he wants to,
<v Speaker 3>he can make his guitar scene and Neil is that
<v Speaker 3>type of guitar player. It always compliments the song. He
<v Speaker 3>never stands out there and says, look at me, watch
<v Speaker 3>me go crazy. His guitar always helps the song.
<v Speaker 2>In might opinion, Yeah, absolutely, And to say that means
<v Speaker 2>a lot because this time and history was it was
<v Speaker 2>all about the guitar solos, and so he definitely had
<v Speaker 2>that opportunity to be out there and being that guy.
<v Speaker 2>But I would say that it took some doing, but
<v Speaker 2>he appreciated what they were and where he needed to
<v Speaker 2>be in the scheme of things and didn't try to
<v Speaker 2>didn't try to take that spotlight over. So he joined Santana,
<v Speaker 2>and I mean, it's crazy you watch some of the
<v Speaker 2>old Santana videos that they have that are all psychedelic
<v Speaker 2>and weird technicolor DreamWorks things going on. And he's just
<v Speaker 2>a baby out there with his guitar playing with these
<v Speaker 2>guys who are veterans of the hard rock scene. But
<v Speaker 2>he's amazing. I mean, he's a baby, but he's like,
<v Speaker 2>as they said in Bull Durham, the gods reached down
<v Speaker 2>and touched his hand and his arm became a lightning bolt.
<v Speaker 3>You know. So he doesn't stay with Santana.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, Well, Herbie Herbert says, hey, guys, you know, we
<v Speaker 2>need to do something different. He and Greg Rawley they
<v Speaker 2>split off. This was kind of like part two of Santana.
<v Speaker 2>And obviously they're not going to be Santana because Carlos
<v Speaker 2>Santana and Santana. You can't really take that from right.
<v Speaker 2>So they go out on their own and they start
<v Speaker 2>this band called Golden Gate something or other. I don't
<v Speaker 2>even rhythm section. We think, yeah, I think so that
<v Speaker 2>sounds good. It was not a good name. It was
<v Speaker 2>a horrible but he at.
<v Speaker 3>Air Force Base would have been a better name.
<v Speaker 2>But yes, or Oklahoma City better names. And so they're
<v Speaker 2>a band unlike the Journey that we know today. I mean,
<v Speaker 2>they are a band that is in the kind of
<v Speaker 2>fusion rock progressive rock scene, which is a lot of
<v Speaker 2>instrumental solos. That's the band that they were for a
<v Speaker 2>long time, and they developed a significant following. Is that
<v Speaker 2>kind of.
<v Speaker 3>Band they did, But they didn't have any hits.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, they were selling tickets, they weren't selling any records.
<v Speaker 2>The CBS was like, hey, guys, you want us to
<v Speaker 2>keep paying for your concerts, you better give us a hit. Something.
<v Speaker 3>We need, something we can play on the radio.
<v Speaker 2>And Herbie Herbert realized, we need a singer. We need
<v Speaker 2>a singer who can sing well. And they went through
<v Speaker 2>a couple of guys that just didn't quite have it.
<v Speaker 2>And in the meantime, while all of this is going on,
<v Speaker 2>you got young Steve Perry who's been playing in rock bands,
<v Speaker 2>going through those same motions that early rock and rollers
<v Speaker 2>go through, and he actually gets in with the band
<v Speaker 2>called Alien Project. Looks like this band is going to
<v Speaker 2>be good. You know, they've they've got a decent song.
<v Speaker 2>They are just about to sign their record deal, and
<v Speaker 2>then the bass player gets killed in a car crash
<v Speaker 2>with a train, and when he dies, the band dies.
<v Speaker 3>I mean, Steve Perry at that time, felt like, man,
<v Speaker 3>just when I'm on the cusp of my dreams coming
<v Speaker 3>true whatever it is, the universe is stacked against me. Yeah,
<v Speaker 3>you feel like that was my chance and now it's dead.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, he went back home. I mean he was done.
<v Speaker 3>We're talking about Steve Perry, who who arguably has the
<v Speaker 3>greatest singing voice of the nineteen eighties.
<v Speaker 2>Journey is arguably the definitive eighties band, at least the
<v Speaker 2>definitive early eighties band in my book. I mean, if
<v Speaker 2>you want to say what was the sound of nineteen
<v Speaker 2>eighty through nineteen eighty five for bands, I'm gonna go, well, Journey.
<v Speaker 2>Journey's pretty darn good example.
<v Speaker 3>You could do a lot worse than Journey, that's for sure.
<v Speaker 3>They had this formula of pumping out hits that everybody liked.
<v Speaker 3>Bon Jovi was kind of that towards the latter half
<v Speaker 3>and just everybody sort of mainstream like these songs.
<v Speaker 2>But before they get there, Herbie Herbert is thinking, what
<v Speaker 2>do we gotta do to get a decent hit? We
<v Speaker 2>got to have a singer. And he's going through these
<v Speaker 2>demo tapes and he hears this tape and he's like, no,
<v Speaker 2>tell me that this is Steve Ferry because I just
<v Speaker 2>keep running into this guy, and sure enough it was
<v Speaker 2>Steve Perry. And he's like, all right, where is he?
<v Speaker 2>And somebody's looking and they're like, uh, looks like he's
<v Speaker 2>living back with his parents and working on a turkey ranch.
<v Speaker 2>He's like, no, really, what's he doing the Nope, that's
<v Speaker 2>what he's doing. He went back home, he had no
<v Speaker 2>money and he's working on a turkey ranch.
<v Speaker 3>And he was grateful to have that job. His step
<v Speaker 3>dad's like, hey, come back home, you can fix the
<v Speaker 3>turkey cages. I'll give you a paycheck. And he was like, oh,
<v Speaker 3>thank god.
<v Speaker 2>So when Herbie Herbert calls him up, he's like, nah,
<v Speaker 2>I don't think so.
<v Speaker 1>Well.
<v Speaker 2>I'm good, yeah, yeah, yeah, I got it. Now, you know,
<v Speaker 2>I gotta pay rent.
<v Speaker 3>I got a I don't know where, I got a
<v Speaker 3>guy on the other line sowing some white walls.
<v Speaker 2>So Herbie Herbert says, I tell you what, I'll pick
<v Speaker 2>up your paycheck for a week. I mean, you know what,
<v Speaker 2>in the seventies was probably like thirty five bucks. Right,
<v Speaker 2>So he Herbie Herbert is making plans to fly him
<v Speaker 2>out there, and so he plays a demo of Steve
<v Speaker 2>singing for Greg and for Neil, and both of them
<v Speaker 2>are like, no hard pass, no, no, no, this guy's
<v Speaker 2>a crooner, right, we don't we want somebody who screams,
<v Speaker 2>and we want to play our music loud and we're
<v Speaker 2>going to rock. And Herbie Herbert says he's going to
<v Speaker 2>be the lead singer this band. That's the end, and
<v Speaker 2>thankfully he did that.
<v Speaker 3>I mean, where would we be without Steve Perry. I
<v Speaker 3>mean this band would be in obscurity? Right, So Steve
<v Speaker 3>gets flown out, he meets Neil. They actually kind of
<v Speaker 3>hit it off. Surprisingly, Neil's obviously against him at the beginning,
<v Speaker 3>but they get to know each other. They end up
<v Speaker 3>hanging out at a hotel room in Denver and Neil
<v Speaker 3>starts playing a little bit on his guitar and Steve
<v Speaker 3>starts singing some lyrics and they literally in five minutes
<v Speaker 3>write the song patiently nice.
<v Speaker 2>So it looks like it's going to be a good fit, right,
<v Speaker 2>Neil decides, Okay, I don't need to be the rock god.
<v Speaker 2>I don't need to be the guitar hero. I want
<v Speaker 2>to put my stuff in there, but I'm not going
<v Speaker 2>to overpower this guy, because this guy's got chops. I mean,
<v Speaker 2>he's got a great voice, and the audience, you know,
<v Speaker 2>their diehard fans are like, what's going on a little bit,
<v Speaker 2>but a whole lot of people were like, hey, these
<v Speaker 2>guys sound good with this new lead singer. They're getting
<v Speaker 2>some more radio play, they were getting more tickets sold,
<v Speaker 2>and it looked like it was going to go well.
<v Speaker 3>It's funny because a band is kind of like a
<v Speaker 3>basketball team. You get one or two great players, and
<v Speaker 3>all of a sudden you've got a great team. You
<v Speaker 3>get Neil Sean who is an amazing guitar, and you
<v Speaker 3>pair him up with a voice like Steve Perry's mean
<v Speaker 3>I could play drums and they could pump out hits,
<v Speaker 3>you know what I mean.
<v Speaker 2>Right, So, both Neil and Greg Rawley both kind of
<v Speaker 2>pulled themselves back, you know, they said, Okay, this is
<v Speaker 2>a new direction that we're going and it seems to
<v Speaker 2>be working. That sounds good. We'll do that. Unfortunately, the drummer,
<v Speaker 2>Ainsley Dunbar didn't really feel the same way. I mean,
<v Speaker 2>he was a hard rocking drummer and he wanted to
<v Speaker 2>bang his drums, and as the band went on, Steve.
<v Speaker 2>You know, Steve was a kind of a reserved guy.
<v Speaker 2>He's not a cocky, in your face kind of guy.
<v Speaker 2>But when they start having more success with him singing,
<v Speaker 2>he starts to assert himself and say, listen, you know
<v Speaker 2>the drums are overpowering. What's going on. You need to
<v Speaker 2>pull it back, And Ainsley Dunbar is like, no, I don't.
<v Speaker 2>I like drum and hard and I'm going to drum hard.
<v Speaker 2>And eventually it just you know, came down to an
<v Speaker 2>ultimatum and ains Dunbar didn't win that one.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, he's out for sure.
<v Speaker 2>So then they replace him with the drummer from montros
<v Speaker 2>throw Back, Steve Smith. Then they do a tour. Things
<v Speaker 2>are going well, they're actually having a whole lot of success,
<v Speaker 2>write and some really great songs, and Greg Rawley comes
<v Speaker 2>to Herbie Herbert and says, I don't want to do
<v Speaker 2>this anymore. Yeah, what you know, we're having the biggest
<v Speaker 2>success we've ever had. He's like, I know, and I
<v Speaker 2>don't understand it either, but I just don't want to
<v Speaker 2>be in this band anymore. And I'll just tell you what,
<v Speaker 2>I don't think that you're going to be with these
<v Speaker 2>guys very long anymore.
<v Speaker 3>Either, that's interesting. I mean getting off the train as
<v Speaker 3>it's leaving the station. It's always an interesting decision looking back,
<v Speaker 3>you know, Well, I mean he was I mean they
<v Speaker 3>were on their way to the destination. I mean he
<v Speaker 3>was there where they're making some big hits. But his
<v Speaker 3>departure ends up being a huge blessing because what happens
<v Speaker 3>is Jonathan Kane joins the band to replace him, and
<v Speaker 3>Jonathan Kane is responsible for so many of their hits.
<v Speaker 3>He really really adds that hit making formula to the band.
<v Speaker 2>He's got a very similar personality to Steve Perry. They're
<v Speaker 2>very much about the music. They're very kind of self conscious,
<v Speaker 2>but very good at what they do, and so they
<v Speaker 2>immediately form camaraderie. And at one point, Cain starts playing
<v Speaker 2>this melody and I'll play it for you right now,
<v Speaker 2>and Steve Perry's like, hey, that's good. What is that?
<v Speaker 2>And He's like, oh, it's just something I've been messing
<v Speaker 2>around with. You know. I played it for John, but
<v Speaker 2>he wasn't really interested in it. So John is John
<v Speaker 2>Waite from the band Baby and Bad English as well
<v Speaker 2>later on. But yeah, so John Waite, here's this melody
<v Speaker 2>that ultimately ends up becoming Open Arms, and he was like,
<v Speaker 2>it's kind of sentimental rubbish. I'm not interested.
<v Speaker 3>That's ridiculous. I mean, he turns down one of the
<v Speaker 3>greatest power ballads of all time and then goes on
<v Speaker 3>to make Missing You, which is one of the biggest
<v Speaker 3>wienie songs of the eighties.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I mean talking about sentimental rubbish.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, I know.
<v Speaker 2>But when Steve Perry hears this melody for Open Arms,
<v Speaker 2>he puts the lyrics to it, He's like, yeah, this
<v Speaker 2>is good, this is just I know it's gonna be hit.
<v Speaker 2>And Jonathan Kaine's obviously in love with that idea, and
<v Speaker 2>Neil Sean's like, this sounds like Mary Poppins. What is
<v Speaker 2>his crap? And I'm like, okay, because I don't know
<v Speaker 2>what what am I supposed to do in this song?
<v Speaker 2>And they're like, Neil, just chillax man, It's just you
<v Speaker 2>don't have to be the guy in every song. He
<v Speaker 2>butted heads with him during the recording like he was mad.
<v Speaker 2>It was one of those standard Prima Donna tantrums. And
<v Speaker 2>then once they have it down, they played in concert
<v Speaker 2>later on and the crowd goes nuts. Of course, and
<v Speaker 2>then Steve looks at Neil, and Neil is just like
<v Speaker 2>in shock. He's like, what it had no anticipation of
<v Speaker 2>how they were going to react to this song. Thankfully,
<v Speaker 2>he said, you know what, I changed my mind. I
<v Speaker 2>think I can play this song and I think we
<v Speaker 2>can do more like it.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, all right. So the song that we've just been
<v Speaker 3>talking about, Open Arms, was off their Escape album, which
<v Speaker 3>came out in nineteen eighty one, huge, huge power ballad.
<v Speaker 3>You've heard it a billion times. That album also contained
<v Speaker 3>a song, Oh you may have heard of it. It's
<v Speaker 3>called Don't Stop Believing.
<v Speaker 2>I think God, let me think about that. Pretty sure?
<v Speaker 2>I heard that one. Could you have a few bars?
<v Speaker 3>No? So I mean you have these two major, major
<v Speaker 3>songs right at the beginning of the eighties. So that
<v Speaker 3>brings us to nineteen eighty three. We're going to talk
<v Speaker 3>about Frontiers.
<v Speaker 2>Right, And I got a question. I failed to look
<v Speaker 2>this up. I feel like it was not nineteen eighty three.
<v Speaker 2>I feel like it was nineteen eighty four. But do
<v Speaker 2>you know what year the Journey video game came out?
<v Speaker 3>It had to be eighty three. It had to be
<v Speaker 3>eighty three. I played that game in the arcade.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah. I played. Actually in Fort Smith, Arkansas. They had
<v Speaker 2>that game in the arcade for a little while and
<v Speaker 2>then it went away and it was devastating. And then
<v Speaker 2>the big new movie theater opened up, the AMC and
<v Speaker 2>they had the game in the movie theater, and I
<v Speaker 2>found myself going to the movie theater just to play
<v Speaker 2>the game. I probably missed out on the beginning of
<v Speaker 2>a few movies because of that game.
<v Speaker 3>I mean, you walk around with Neil Sean and he's
<v Speaker 3>You're shooting out of the end of your guitar.
<v Speaker 2>Favorite song, favorite part of the game.
<v Speaker 3>I think would they play? They played? They played like
<v Speaker 3>Separate Ways.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, Neil Sean was the one doing Separate ways and
<v Speaker 2>shooting things with his guitar.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, nineteen eighty three.
<v Speaker 2>It was out of nineteen eighty three Bingo Bongo and
<v Speaker 2>it has the logos. It has the same logo as
<v Speaker 2>the Frontiers.
<v Speaker 3>Yep, sure does.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, which to me is I mean that's every time
<v Speaker 2>I think of Journey, I think of that logo. I
<v Speaker 2>don't think of the Beatle or anything else like that.
<v Speaker 2>It's always the large blue head which that game. You
<v Speaker 2>are one of our listeners, Karlon Bullard pointed out to
<v Speaker 2>me that that game and the Tron game are very similar, which,
<v Speaker 2>thinking back, they are, Yeah, definitely, very very similar. Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>and so you even that Big Head is kind of
<v Speaker 2>similar to the Tron Giant Head and the Rainbow Spinny
<v Speaker 2>thing both awesome soundtracks on a video game. I mean
<v Speaker 2>I could just stand there and listen to people play
<v Speaker 2>the game.
<v Speaker 3>Yes, for sure, for sure. I gotta give a quick
<v Speaker 3>shout out to I tell you, I've got these two
<v Speaker 3>women that I go to church with who are eighties
<v Speaker 3>music freaks. One was Melissa Mingle and she helped me
<v Speaker 3>with synchronicity. The other is Cindy Smith and she was
<v Speaker 3>a big Journey fan. And I was asking her what
<v Speaker 3>she remembered about Frontiers.
<v Speaker 2>Uh huh.
<v Speaker 3>What she told me She was a freshman in high school.
<v Speaker 3>She got caught sneaking the car out at a friend's
<v Speaker 3>house and got grounded and could not attend the Frontiers
<v Speaker 3>concert in Oklahoma City. Ohn devastating to her, and I
<v Speaker 3>thought that is a very eighties moment. She said, her
<v Speaker 3>friend didn't get in trouble, still got to go. She
<v Speaker 3>couldn't go to the concert.
<v Speaker 2>Oh that's rough. That's rough.
<v Speaker 3>All right. Frontiers was released February first, nineteen eighty three.
<v Speaker 3>Are you ready to dive in and talk about the tracks?
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, let's do it, all right.
<v Speaker 3>So the first song, the first track in the album,
<v Speaker 3>Separate Ways.
<v Speaker 2>I'm banging my head right now, so freaking good. Such
<v Speaker 2>a good song. I mean, I don't care about any
<v Speaker 2>other song on this album. This song seals the video
<v Speaker 2>for him fan freaking tast two.
<v Speaker 3>It's a great song. It's a pump your fist sing along.
<v Speaker 3>Top down, turn it up, summertime, crank it out.
<v Speaker 2>You know, I've said it before. I was listening to
<v Speaker 2>this when I've been running. This song gives me legs
<v Speaker 2>more than any like if I'm if, I'm like even
<v Speaker 2>and I'm like I can't make it, I'm like, okay.
<v Speaker 2>Siri plays several ways.
<v Speaker 3>Several ways, has this great i mean pounding chorus, you know, yeah,
<v Speaker 3>the synthesizers and the guitar.
<v Speaker 2>This is one that I was like, Perry's vocals, My gosh,
<v Speaker 2>You've got this very interesting thing where you've got this
<v Speaker 2>melody playing the and so it's the same melody, but
<v Speaker 2>then the chords change. So despite the fact that the
<v Speaker 2>chords are changing, the melody stays the same even over
<v Speaker 2>different chords, sounds perfect. And then the bass keeps pumping
<v Speaker 2>this same bassline throughout the whole thing. It's a beautiful,
<v Speaker 2>beautiful mixture of musically that I you know, I just
<v Speaker 2>sound like Chris Farley, right, I love it. It's really great.
<v Speaker 3>Okay. So this this song was actually written in nineteen
<v Speaker 3>eighty two while they were on the Escape tour. Yeah,
<v Speaker 3>I said, that's kind of unusual for them.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, Jonathan Caine wrote this on a thirty dollar Cassio keyboard.
<v Speaker 2>That's insane. I mean he had the same keyboard that
<v Speaker 2>like I had at my house.
<v Speaker 3>The thirty dollars one you get a radio shack, right.
<v Speaker 3>So this song reached number one on the Hot Rocks,
<v Speaker 3>number eight on the Hot one hundred, number one that week.
<v Speaker 3>Billy Jeanie by Michael Jackson, gosh one.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, that guy's always in there spoiling people's fun.
<v Speaker 3>He's he blocked paramania, he blocked synchronicity, and he's blocking
<v Speaker 3>Journey right now.
<v Speaker 2>It was a good thing the police blocked him for
<v Speaker 2>at least a little bit.
<v Speaker 3>For a little bit before I take that over.
<v Speaker 2>Right, So this one, the basis for this song while
<v Speaker 2>they were on tour, Neil Showen and Ross Valerie were
<v Speaker 2>both going through painful and expensive divorces, and Perry said
<v Speaker 2>to Kaine, hey man, there's got to be a more
<v Speaker 2>soulful way to look at what's going on. And they
<v Speaker 2>worked up. After Jonathan had put the music together on
<v Speaker 2>his thirty dollars cassio keyboard. Perry does the melody and
<v Speaker 2>the lyrics and they're like, yeah, this is actually this
<v Speaker 2>is actually pretty decent. And so they show it to
<v Speaker 2>the band. They were, like you said, they were on
<v Speaker 2>tour while this was going on. They work on it
<v Speaker 2>during their sound check, you know, like before the concert starts,
<v Speaker 2>they're like, okay, let's see if we can play this.
<v Speaker 2>They work on it for a little I mean, you
<v Speaker 2>don't have that long on stage. They work on it
<v Speaker 2>for a little bit, and they played it that night,
<v Speaker 2>played it that night live, love it. I mean, I
<v Speaker 2>think I think Steve Perry even had to like mumble
<v Speaker 2>through half the lyrics because he couldn't remember what he
<v Speaker 2>was just three hours before. But people went insane.
<v Speaker 3>Listen to what Neil Sean said about the song. He said,
<v Speaker 3>like many other songs from this band, Motown mixed with
<v Speaker 3>R and B and blues. So that's what Separate Ways is.
<v Speaker 3>But it's got heavier guitar than an R and B.
<v Speaker 3>But he said, that's what I think makes it sound
<v Speaker 3>like Journey.
<v Speaker 2>And then they decided to make the video.
<v Speaker 3>Let's talk about the video.
<v Speaker 2>I have an idea. We let us have the band
<v Speaker 2>that some of the best musicians of all time play
<v Speaker 2>the air. Jonathan Kine is like, he looks like a
<v Speaker 2>bear or something so hard I can't even imagine being
<v Speaker 2>the band. And the direct you get. Got to remember
<v Speaker 2>this is early early eighties, so you know, you get
<v Speaker 2>guys who the day before were directing like a bud
<v Speaker 2>Light commercial or something. I mean, those are the directors
<v Speaker 2>you have because because nobody's thinking, nobody's gone coming out
<v Speaker 2>of USC going, let's think I'll make us a music video.
<v Speaker 2>Because nobody cared. Nobody knew what that was. It was insignificant.
<v Speaker 2>And so you get this director who's like, Okay, you guys,
<v Speaker 2>let's put your instruments away. Okay, what are we gonna do.
<v Speaker 2>You're gonna play your instruments? Wait a minute, what, No,
<v Speaker 2>it's gonna be awesome.
<v Speaker 3>They're invisible and then we'll flash them in and then
<v Speaker 3>all of a sudden you'll be playing them for real.
<v Speaker 2>Oh and then oh.
<v Speaker 3>Hey, honey, you're you're one of the guy's girlfriends. Okay,
<v Speaker 3>I want you to walk across the screen, Just just
<v Speaker 3>walk across the screen.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah. Actually, when Steve Perry showed up and he had
<v Speaker 2>just cut his hair, like, I mean, he had his
<v Speaker 2>fresh mullet going on, and his girlfriend Sherry, who the
<v Speaker 2>song Oh Sherry is all about, who he dated all
<v Speaker 2>the time, and he was in Journey. She was livid
<v Speaker 2>about the fact that there's another girl in the video
<v Speaker 2>and she's a good looking lady. But I mean, how
<v Speaker 2>do you come to the video. I mean, you're not
<v Speaker 2>like a world renowned actress or something. How do you
<v Speaker 2>come in and say, I don't like that some other
<v Speaker 2>girls in this video.
<v Speaker 3>It's crazy crazy.
<v Speaker 2>And then you see the video and I don't even think.
<v Speaker 2>I don't even think. Steve Perry and the random, very
<v Speaker 2>very eighties looking girl, even in the same.
<v Speaker 3>Scene one dime, it's like he was kissing her. My gosh,
<v Speaker 3>she just walked in front of him while he was singing.
<v Speaker 2>Screaming in somebody else's face as she walks in between him.
<v Speaker 2>So Ross Valerie has the porn stash and porn glasses on,
<v Speaker 2>yes he does. And Steve Smith is wearing a foosball switch.
<v Speaker 2>I mean, these guys, I just I'm looking at this
<v Speaker 2>video and I'm like, did you guys like fall in
<v Speaker 2>the mud and have to stop at Walmart on the
<v Speaker 2>way over to the video.
<v Speaker 3>It looks like it's just as like they got the call.
<v Speaker 3>Hey guys, listen, be down the wharf in twenty minutes.
<v Speaker 3>I'm playing now, I'm at the arcade. That's okay, just
<v Speaker 3>come on over.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, where's it gonna be. It's gonna be at the
<v Speaker 2>wharf at this well, good news. There's a giant sign
<v Speaker 2>this is wharf across the building. It's a big important
<v Speaker 2>part of the video.
<v Speaker 3>It's an industrillar area. Nobody bothers there, don't worry. It's
<v Speaker 3>it's gorgeous.
<v Speaker 2>Listen, dogong, is that you god awful video?
<v Speaker 3>Okay, let's talk about that because we talked during the
<v Speaker 3>def Lebert Hysteria podcast a few weeks ago. Yeah, Poor
<v Speaker 3>some Sugar on Me had a terrible video along with
<v Speaker 3>this great, great song, Yes, and we questioned whether or
<v Speaker 3>not Poor Some Sugar on Me would be as remembered
<v Speaker 3>as it was as it is because of that crappy video.
<v Speaker 2>Right, Well, the difference, well, but the difference here of
<v Speaker 2>five years is huge as far as music videos are concerned.
<v Speaker 3>Well, that's true, but this video has a great song
<v Speaker 3>and a horrible video.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, this this song is great because of the radio.
<v Speaker 2>I mean, it wasn't much longer before songs had to
<v Speaker 2>be great on MTV before they were going to be
<v Speaker 2>great on the radio. But this was still when the
<v Speaker 2>radio waves ruled the day.
<v Speaker 3>Oh man, And this song is great. This song was great, Okay,
<v Speaker 3>second track of the album Center My Love. This was
<v Speaker 3>the fourth single released in September of nineteen eighty three.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, this one was written by Jonathan Kane. He had
<v Speaker 2>been listening to a lot of Beatles albums and he
<v Speaker 2>had this experience like he was on stage and he
<v Speaker 2>got called backstage and somebody said something about Virginia, and
<v Speaker 2>Virginia was like this girl he dated when he was
<v Speaker 2>a teenager. And they said, you know, she still talks
<v Speaker 2>about you and your relationship. And he said, you know,
<v Speaker 2>it was just one of those off handed comments that
<v Speaker 2>you make. And he said he looked at her and
<v Speaker 2>just said send her my love. Wait a minute, that's
<v Speaker 2>a song. That's a song. We got to make that song.
<v Speaker 2>And my gosh, break out the cassio.
<v Speaker 3>This song has that wonderful eighties synth rock mix. I mean,
<v Speaker 3>it's just I mean, how many people learned to skate
<v Speaker 3>backwards to this song. It's just one of It's one
<v Speaker 3>of those roller skating ring specials, you know, Yeah, right,
<v Speaker 3>a couples back out to the center of the drink,
<v Speaker 3>turn it on, crank it up.
<v Speaker 2>This one. He says. I went home and I called
<v Speaker 2>Steve Perry up and I said, I came up with
<v Speaker 2>this idea and I wrote it on the spot, and
<v Speaker 2>a lot of stuff was just on the spot, very spontaneous.
<v Speaker 2>We kind of wrote with an urgency because we didn't
<v Speaker 2>have a lot of time together and the road was
<v Speaker 2>hard enough. And when we did write, we wrote very intensely,
<v Speaker 2>and all the lyrics were like within hours, which didn't
<v Speaker 2>mess around. And so once again they have I have
<v Speaker 2>this amazing song that they put together spur of the moment,
<v Speaker 2>off handed comment, beautiful song.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, I love it. I love it. This reached number
<v Speaker 3>twenty three in the US charts. I'm surprised didn't get higher. Frankly,
<v Speaker 3>it's a great It's on the Makeout Mix of nineteen
<v Speaker 3>eighty three.
<v Speaker 2>From Both People. Right, I'll give that tape back to
<v Speaker 2>you next week.
<v Speaker 3>Okay, we're adding to our makeout mix list here. Okay,
<v Speaker 3>the next song. This song is called Chain Reaction.
<v Speaker 2>This song I told you before, I listen to these
<v Speaker 2>songs running and as listen to this one, I feel good.
<v Speaker 2>But I'm like, I feel like I'm in a rocky
<v Speaker 2>montage moment right now, Like I'm rocky running along this song,
<v Speaker 2>and I'm pretty sure that it's gonna We're gonna do
<v Speaker 2>a fast cut to me getting punched in the stomach
<v Speaker 2>or something. I don't know.
<v Speaker 3>I think this is kind of a fist pumping song.
<v Speaker 3>This would be great in concert. They released this. It
<v Speaker 3>was a video but not a single. It was a
<v Speaker 3>hit on the Hot Rocks chart. It's featured in the
<v Speaker 3>Journey video game that we talked about a few mens ago.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, but unfortunately, this one is a song that is dated,
<v Speaker 2>Like its dated. Yeah. If I listen to this song now,
<v Speaker 2>it just says eighties to me. These are other songs
<v Speaker 2>I'm like, I don't care when this came out. It's
<v Speaker 2>still good now this one. I'm like this. This is
<v Speaker 2>stuck in the eighties right here.
<v Speaker 3>See, I like this song. Okay, and I didn't have
<v Speaker 3>a relationship with it before we dove into this podcast,
<v Speaker 3>but I like it. It's catchy. Once again, anything Steve
<v Speaker 3>Perry sings automatically kind of has a head start with me. Yeah,
<v Speaker 3>but I like it. Have you seen the video? Do you,
<v Speaker 3>George the video for this?
<v Speaker 2>No, I haven't seen the video.
<v Speaker 3>Okay, so picture this. All the guys that you saw
<v Speaker 3>in the Separate Ways video are now in tuxedos. They
<v Speaker 3>look like they're at the senior prom though they don't
<v Speaker 3>look like James Bond. They look like my seventeen year
<v Speaker 3>old guns right. And there's this you know, it's this
<v Speaker 3>pumping sort of rock or chain reaction, and Steve and
<v Speaker 3>Neil are sort of like yelling at each other and
<v Speaker 3>they're in the course of the video, Neil actually pushes
<v Speaker 3>Steve to the ground.
<v Speaker 2>It's weird, it's eighties. But does anybody have a tuxedo
<v Speaker 2>shirt on? Tuxedo teach?
<v Speaker 3>No, No, it's actual tuxedos.
<v Speaker 1>I like it.
<v Speaker 2>I like it.
<v Speaker 3>All right. Next The number four track on the album
<v Speaker 3>single is called after the Fall. Now it's what'd you say?
<v Speaker 2>Well?
<v Speaker 3>Okay? This is another song written by Jonathan Kane Steve Perry.
<v Speaker 3>Peaked at number twenty three on the Hot one hundred.
<v Speaker 3>This song appeared in Risky Business. You might recognize it
<v Speaker 3>Risky Business.
<v Speaker 2>That's what I was gonna say. Yup, it appeared in
<v Speaker 2>the film Risky Business. Is the only fact that about
<v Speaker 2>this song.
<v Speaker 3>Did you see this video?
<v Speaker 2>Nope?
<v Speaker 3>All right, this video same guys from the Separate Ways video.
<v Speaker 3>The band, yes, all dressed in khaki pants like Jake
<v Speaker 3>from the State Farm. Right now, they're all falling out
<v Speaker 3>of the sky past an open window. What they're falling like?
<v Speaker 3>You see this open window and they're like falling. They
<v Speaker 3>keep falling right after the fall and you get told
<v Speaker 3>they're diving into a swimming pool or something, fully dressed
<v Speaker 3>in their khakis.
<v Speaker 2>Oh my word. Yeah, that was the That's the other
<v Speaker 2>thing about directors of early eighties music videos. Let's treat
<v Speaker 2>this song as literally as we possibly can.
<v Speaker 3>But I like the song. It's catchy, that sort of
<v Speaker 3>power ballad.
<v Speaker 2>This one, like a lot of these songs, kind of
<v Speaker 2>falls into that category of it's the filler. To me,
<v Speaker 2>this is another this is a filler.
<v Speaker 3>It doesn't stand out, it doesn't belong in their greatest
<v Speaker 3>hits for sure.
<v Speaker 2>Okay.
<v Speaker 3>Now, then fifth song on the album. This song's called
<v Speaker 3>Faithfully where You're Wrong, You've go along.
<v Speaker 2>And round, So beautiful, so so beautiful. We covered this
<v Speaker 2>one when this was one of the songs my band
<v Speaker 2>covered in high school. And just the way, the way
<v Speaker 2>the piano comes in and then then the guitar comes
<v Speaker 2>in leading over the piano is just if it doesn't
<v Speaker 2>pull out your heartstrings, you are a soulless creature. I don't.
<v Speaker 2>I have no pity for you.
<v Speaker 3>Every time I listen to this song, it blows me away.
<v Speaker 3>It crescendos, and when Steve Perry is singing that whoa
<v Speaker 3>you know, yeah, I want to pull over and light
<v Speaker 3>up my lighter and like wave to nobody. You just
<v Speaker 3>sway with the crowd. You know, it's so good.
<v Speaker 2>This one was written completely by Jonathan Kane and he says,
<v Speaker 2>God gave me that song.
<v Speaker 3>He said this, this is interesting to me.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, he said. He's on a bus heading to Saratoga
<v Speaker 2>Springs and then he wakes up the next day and
<v Speaker 2>there's a napkin on his nightstand and he looks at
<v Speaker 2>the lyrics which are in his handwriting, but he doesn't
<v Speaker 2>even remember writing him. He just sees Highway run into
<v Speaker 2>the midnight sun and he says, I got this supernatural download.
<v Speaker 2>And that was the rest of the song. He said.
<v Speaker 2>He wrote like frantically, trying to get it to it
<v Speaker 2>as quickly, put it down as quickly as it just
<v Speaker 2>seems to supernaturally come into his brain. And in thirty
<v Speaker 2>minutes he had written the entire song on that napkin,
<v Speaker 2>which he then took to his piano. This wasn't on
<v Speaker 2>this gassio. This one. He had his big grand piano
<v Speaker 2>and played it through and thought to himself, this is good.
<v Speaker 2>If somebody were to say, name a song by Journey
<v Speaker 2>that is divinely inspired, I wouldn't have any hesitation but
<v Speaker 2>to say, Faithfully, Yeah, I'm with you on that.
<v Speaker 3>Brian Adams opened for Journey on their nineteen eighty three
<v Speaker 3>Frontiers to her Yeah. During that time he wrote the
<v Speaker 3>song Heaven, which he believes was heavily influenced by Faithfully,
<v Speaker 3>and actually on that track, Journey drummer Steve Smith plays.
<v Speaker 2>The guy who directed this video was found by Herbie Herbert,
<v Speaker 2>and it was a guy who shot NFL films, like
<v Speaker 2>playing footage that you just see. So like the guy
<v Speaker 2>who's shooting Walter Payton scoring touchdowns is now filming Steve
<v Speaker 2>Ferry shaving his mustache.
<v Speaker 3>Right exactly. That's cool. I thought this was super interesting.
<v Speaker 3>After recording the song purple Ring, Prince called Jonathan Kane
<v Speaker 3>worried that it might sound too similar to Faithfully and
<v Speaker 3>asked him to listen to it. Kane reassured Prince and
<v Speaker 3>told him that the songs only shared the same four chords.
<v Speaker 3>I'm not a musician, but it's that just as interesting
<v Speaker 3>the video. It's like the first road video you actually get.
<v Speaker 3>I mean throughout the eighties, I mean Bonjovi does it,
<v Speaker 3>Guns of Roses does it, Genesis does it, Poison does it,
<v Speaker 3>Richard Marx, Motley Crue, I mean, everybody has this sort
<v Speaker 3>of here we are out on the road making a video.
<v Speaker 3>It kind of became a staple for the eighties.
<v Speaker 2>I got to say that that bon Jovis Wanted It
<v Speaker 2>or Alive is my favorite of this. I'll take Motley
<v Speaker 2>Crue home, Sweet Home, so journey hated making videos and
<v Speaker 2>I can talk because they're not good that they don't
<v Speaker 2>look like they like being there for the most part,
<v Speaker 2>but they couldn't ignore how much of an impact MTV
<v Speaker 2>was having, and MTV loved them because they were a
<v Speaker 2>huge favorite with the audience, and as we've mentioned before,
<v Speaker 2>they were really trying to promote that rock format which
<v Speaker 2>was just coming back into style again.
<v Speaker 3>Here's the deal when with Steve Perry's voice, and I
<v Speaker 3>know I keep harping on this, but his voice is
<v Speaker 3>made for arena rock. So when you show this song
<v Speaker 3>being played to tens of thousands of people and you
<v Speaker 3>get the feel of being at the concert, I mean
<v Speaker 3>the video really I think helped launch the song. It's
<v Speaker 3>just they go together well and I like the video.
<v Speaker 3>I love the song. If they'd have made this in
<v Speaker 3>tuxedos in a sound stage, it would not have worked
<v Speaker 3>as well.
<v Speaker 2>Right the road videos are they're classic, they're good too,
<v Speaker 2>and it kind of it sounds like this one was
<v Speaker 2>the one that kind of set the stage for that.
<v Speaker 2>You know. We talked about Jonathan Kane being a devout Christian,
<v Speaker 2>he had actually wanted to be a priest, went to
<v Speaker 2>the Lady of the Angels School in Chicago about this, Yeah, no,
<v Speaker 2>and he actually there was a huge fire there that
<v Speaker 2>killed ninety five people. He survived that, but he stepped
<v Speaker 2>away from his faith for a while. And then when
<v Speaker 2>he was going through turmoil with Journey and going through
<v Speaker 2>two failed marriages, he had this epiphany on the road
<v Speaker 2>to Florida and he found himself calling out to God
<v Speaker 2>and he joined this church down in Florida. In twenty fifteen,
<v Speaker 2>he married the pastor there, Paula White, and twenty sixteen
<v Speaker 2>he released an album of worship music called What God
<v Speaker 2>Wants to Hear. It's a cool story. Yeah, well, and
<v Speaker 2>he said, he said, looking back on faithfully, he started
<v Speaker 2>to see it in a different light. And if you
<v Speaker 2>replace the words oh girl with oh God, you've got
<v Speaker 2>a Christian song, all right.
<v Speaker 3>So interestingly enough, Jonathan Kane wrote this song about his
<v Speaker 3>then wife Tony Kane, this beautiful ballad professing his love
<v Speaker 3>to her, I will stand by you faithfully. They divorced
<v Speaker 3>like shortly after the song was released.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah it's terrible, which is terrible.
<v Speaker 3>And then he's kind of go up there on stage
<v Speaker 3>and play this wonderful song that everybody loves about a
<v Speaker 3>woman that is dumping you. You know, I feel bad
<v Speaker 3>for him and it is what a terrible thing to happen,
<v Speaker 3>all right, So that ends side one. Pushed up on
<v Speaker 3>your tape player, Kick out your tape, flip it over.
<v Speaker 3>First song on side two is called Edge of the Blade.
<v Speaker 3>Edge of the Blade. To me, this is like the
<v Speaker 3>biggest rocker on the album. I would call this heavy
<v Speaker 3>for them. Neil Shown's guitar playing on full display on instrum.
<v Speaker 2>They're introing side too with a big heavy fist pumping. Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>this is rocking out and it's an isn't angry song?
<v Speaker 2>This isn't angry? Elf step here.
<v Speaker 3>He's not using his love song voice on this one, and.
<v Speaker 2>I can't tell you know, it almost seems to me
<v Speaker 2>like he's singing to some record exec or somebody who's
<v Speaker 2>making money off of it. Doesn't seem like he's singing
<v Speaker 2>to a girl. To me, you know, the contracts and
<v Speaker 2>lawyers and the champagne downtown. You're caught up in the
<v Speaker 2>power and you better see which side of the blade
<v Speaker 2>you're holding. I don't know, man, that's to me, he's
<v Speaker 2>kind of angry at somebody who's taken advantage of their
<v Speaker 2>fame or something.
<v Speaker 3>This is a head bomber. I really like Nilshawn's guitar
<v Speaker 3>on this one. He's demonstrating what he can really do
<v Speaker 3>with the guitar. All right. So the second song on
<v Speaker 3>side too is a song called Troubled Child. Okay, to me,
<v Speaker 3>this track sounds like it needs to be played on
<v Speaker 3>Miami Vice after Crockett gets somebody killed.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I was thinking. I was thinking. Okay, so if
<v Speaker 2>Chain Reaction is like the working Out montage, this is
<v Speaker 2>the song that plays whenever Rocky is doubting himself. You know,
<v Speaker 2>at some point he's throwing his helmet, his motorcycle helmet
<v Speaker 2>at the statue of it. That's the song. This is
<v Speaker 2>the song that should be playing it is. I think
<v Speaker 2>that'd be a great idea if we could just like
<v Speaker 2>re engineer all of the music in the old movies
<v Speaker 2>and just throw in completely different So totally could Yeah, Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>that'd be FANTASTICA. So I'm gonna put this on. Two
<v Speaker 2>songs off of Frontiers are gonna go onto Rocky three.
<v Speaker 3>Okay, that sounds like playing.
<v Speaker 2>This one is. Yes, it's sad and it's sweet, and
<v Speaker 2>I knew it complete when I wore a younger man's clothes.
<v Speaker 2>But to me it does again. It doesn't sound quite
<v Speaker 2>like Journey. It sounds like the group's trying to sound
<v Speaker 2>like Journey.
<v Speaker 3>Okay, it's got a darker tone, but the chorus is great,
<v Speaker 3>and I think the vocals are great. It is very dated, Okay,
<v Speaker 3>it's the synse and the tone sounds. I mean, like
<v Speaker 3>I said, it belongs in Rocky three or Miami Vice.
<v Speaker 2>It's probably that sound on the tape that you.
<v Speaker 3>I don't know, man, if you skip past this one,
<v Speaker 3>I'm worried about the next two on this side.
<v Speaker 2>Yes, yeah. So the next track that we have on
<v Speaker 2>the album is Backtalk.
<v Speaker 3>Backtalk, heavy drums. I think this sounds similar to Jon
<v Speaker 3>Jet's bad reputation.
<v Speaker 2>So this is the song that I play when I
<v Speaker 2>get home from work every day, not for me, but
<v Speaker 2>for my kid. Right, no bit of right. I worn't
<v Speaker 2>all day, Megan A. Liven, No one needs your kind
<v Speaker 2>of attitude, your sharp tongueece. This is this is another
<v Speaker 2>angry song. We got a couple of angry ELF songs
<v Speaker 2>on this one. And this is a guy who's he's
<v Speaker 2>had his day and he doesn't want any of the
<v Speaker 2>nonsense that he's getting. He walks through the door tonight.
<v Speaker 3>All right, I'm not a fan of this song. This
<v Speaker 3>is just silliness. I mean Neil Showan's guitar solo, I
<v Speaker 3>mean it's pretty good on this song. The drums are
<v Speaker 3>a little bit heavier, you know, Steve Smith gets a
<v Speaker 3>chance to show off a little bit. But for me,
<v Speaker 3>this is a stinker.
<v Speaker 2>I really wish I mean the drums. For me, the
<v Speaker 2>drums on this one. I'm thinking to myself, these could
<v Speaker 2>be good drums if we had a better recording, like
<v Speaker 2>if Mutt Lang were there and had the perfect sampling
<v Speaker 2>of drums or something. I don't know, but that he's
<v Speaker 2>hitting him hard. But the recording on this is just
<v Speaker 2>not good for the sound of the drums.
<v Speaker 3>I mean, I don't want to bash it. It just
<v Speaker 3>lacks heart, But I do want to make mention. Okay,
<v Speaker 3>Troubled Child is the one we listened to previously. This
<v Speaker 3>is the one that belongs in Miami Vice in my opinion.
<v Speaker 3>Then we have backtalk which we both agree. You know,
<v Speaker 3>not that great, right, Doggy? Are those because those were
<v Speaker 3>last second additions to Frontiers? Okay, and the songs that
<v Speaker 3>they replaced. I want to talk about here once we
<v Speaker 3>get to the end of this tape.
<v Speaker 2>It sounds good. Yeah, let's do that.
<v Speaker 3>All right. So the fourth track on side too is
<v Speaker 3>a song called Frontiers.
<v Speaker 2>We Thank You. This is I mean, this song really
<v Speaker 2>had the potential, I think to be a big hit
<v Speaker 2>for a Journey. I mean, it's got that, it's got
<v Speaker 2>that solid lead, it's got Steve doing his great voice.
<v Speaker 2>The only problem I think is that I have no
<v Speaker 2>idea what he's talking about. I can't understand what he's saying.
<v Speaker 3>It's funny that you say that to me. This is
<v Speaker 3>my least favorite song on the entire album. There's no
<v Speaker 3>real course, there's nothing to scene with on this one.
<v Speaker 3>It gives the album a good title, but it's my
<v Speaker 3>least favorite track on the entire album.
<v Speaker 2>This is your least favorite track on the whole album. Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>you like this less than Edge of the Blade and
<v Speaker 2>less than back Talk?
<v Speaker 3>Yes?
<v Speaker 2>Wow? Yeah, Now we're on different pages on this one,
<v Speaker 2>my friend, we're on the same page as far as
<v Speaker 2>there's a problem because you don't have anything to sing
<v Speaker 2>along with her. And that is the difference that this
<v Speaker 2>that makes this song not a big hit, had you
<v Speaker 2>had a something that is understandable and sing alongable. The
<v Speaker 2>rest of this song is great. The melody is great,
<v Speaker 2>the instruments are great.
<v Speaker 3>That's why I listen to Journey. I want to sing
<v Speaker 3>along with Steve Perry, you.
<v Speaker 2>Know, I guess, but but I mean, even if I
<v Speaker 2>get yeah, yeah, I'd pick listening to this song one
<v Speaker 2>hundred thousand times over either one of those last two.
<v Speaker 3>Okay, So that brings us to the last song on
<v Speaker 3>the tape, song called Rubicon. Rubicon, in my opinion, is
<v Speaker 3>the best song on site too, and it's not even close.
<v Speaker 2>Well, okay, I don't dislike the song. I mean it's
<v Speaker 2>it's all right. I guess side too is just not
<v Speaker 2>a really a very good side. Honestly, this song's okay.
<v Speaker 2>I can't say that it blows me away. I like
<v Speaker 2>the guitar as it comes in. The melody for the
<v Speaker 2>verse is kind of humdrum for me. The chorus is solid,
<v Speaker 2>and it's got this junglesque kind of feel. I don't
<v Speaker 2>know why I said that word. It's just got this.
<v Speaker 2>It's got this. It has an eye of the tiger.
<v Speaker 2>Not the song, but just kind of the attitude feel
<v Speaker 2>about it, I guess. But this to me, again, it's
<v Speaker 2>one that doesn't stand the test of time. It's still
<v Speaker 2>gonna be one of those ones that I go, Okay,
<v Speaker 2>this is a generic eighty song. You know, we're just
<v Speaker 2>picking generic eighty songs.
<v Speaker 3>Okay, okay. In my opinion, I think this could have
<v Speaker 3>been a successful single. I think it's every bit as
<v Speaker 3>good as After the Fall. For instance, crossing the rubicon
<v Speaker 3>means to make an irreversible decisions, kind of like burning
<v Speaker 3>the ships. I like it.
<v Speaker 2>This song is good.
<v Speaker 3>This is a foot tapper for me. Put a cool
<v Speaker 3>video with it. I think it's everybody as good as
<v Speaker 3>After the Fall.
<v Speaker 2>So you mentioned that the two songs that we find
<v Speaker 2>the least favorite on the album were last minute throw ins,
<v Speaker 2>and they actually ended up replacing something else.
<v Speaker 3>Right, Troubled Child and backtok were last minute additions. This,
<v Speaker 3>to me is the most interesting story regarding this album.
<v Speaker 3>This was a huge success. I mean, this sold six
<v Speaker 3>million albums in the US right charted as high as
<v Speaker 3>number two on Billboard. But they put in two crappy
<v Speaker 3>songs and took out two potentially I mean huge songs.
<v Speaker 3>They removed at the last second. They took out a
<v Speaker 3>song called only the Young Yes, and they took out
<v Speaker 3>a song called Ask the Lonely. Both of these were
<v Speaker 3>top ten hits down the road that.
<v Speaker 2>Right, And maybe who knows, maybe they maybe that was
<v Speaker 2>their thought. Maybe they're like, there's too many good songs
<v Speaker 2>on this one when I don't know that we're going
<v Speaker 2>to have a hit on the next album, Let's save
<v Speaker 2>these to be hits. You think.
<v Speaker 3>I think that that is a legitimate theory. Yes, we know,
<v Speaker 3>we've got faithfully, we've got separate ways, we've got chain reaction.
<v Speaker 3>Why would we try to make thriller when we can
<v Speaker 3>stretch this thing out and make more money. I think
<v Speaker 3>that's a legitimate idea. But only the Young you may
<v Speaker 3>recognize it's it's on the soundtrack for Vision Quest. Yeah,
<v Speaker 3>I had the soundtrack for Vision Quest. I love this song.
<v Speaker 3>It is a fantastic song.
<v Speaker 2>So at some point, the band gets this letter from
<v Speaker 2>a mother who's frantic. In her letter and she explains
<v Speaker 2>that her little boy, Kenny loves the band. He loves
<v Speaker 2>loves the band. All he wants to do all day
<v Speaker 2>is listen to the band, and he's dying. He is
<v Speaker 2>dying of cystic fibrosis, which is a terrible lung condition
<v Speaker 2>makes it difficult to breathe, but like hearing Journey play
<v Speaker 2>gives him light in his life. And she writes the
<v Speaker 2>band to say, he doesn't have much longer and it
<v Speaker 2>would mean the world to him if you guys would
<v Speaker 2>come to see him. They read this letter and they
<v Speaker 2>said let's go. Let's go right now, and so they
<v Speaker 2>go and he's I mean, he's in his hospital bed
<v Speaker 2>and they come in and his eyes light up and
<v Speaker 2>his breathing improves, and he feels, you know, he's just
<v Speaker 2>he's ecstatic at being able to meet these guys who
<v Speaker 2>were his heroes, and it's like the pain goes away
<v Speaker 2>for a little while. And then as it happens, they
<v Speaker 2>happen to have a tape with only the young on
<v Speaker 2>the tape and no one else other than the band
<v Speaker 2>has heard this song yet right nobody's heard it. They
<v Speaker 2>haven't released it didn't come out on Frontier. It's Vision
<v Speaker 2>Quest isn't out yet. This is going to be this
<v Speaker 2>is an up and coming and so they're like, would
<v Speaker 2>you like to hear the song that we that were
<v Speaker 2>going to release next, you know, on our next album.
<v Speaker 2>He's like, oh, that'd be great, and they put the
<v Speaker 2>headphones on him. And the way that Jonathan Kane describes it,
<v Speaker 2>it's like it looks like he has gone to heaven
<v Speaker 2>and twenty four hours later he went to heaven for real.
<v Speaker 2>It a momentous and life changing moment for every member
<v Speaker 2>of the band.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, I mean Jonathan kan when they asked him about this,
<v Speaker 3>I mean he breaks down and not just not just
<v Speaker 3>wipes tears, but is broken over this event. It's incredibly touching.
<v Speaker 3>But the song has an interesting history. They actually sold
<v Speaker 3>it to the band's Scandal, which it was on their
<v Speaker 3>Warrior album in nineteen eighty four, which really yeah and
<v Speaker 3>has Patty Smythe who I think has a one of
<v Speaker 3>the best female rock voices of the eighties. Check it
<v Speaker 3>out all right, So Only the Young would become a
<v Speaker 3>top ten hit in nineteen eighty five. The other song
<v Speaker 3>that was left off is a song called ass the Lonely.
<v Speaker 3>This song was left off at Frontiers and placed on
<v Speaker 3>the Twist of Fate soundtrack. Twist of Fate was a
<v Speaker 3>movie that starred John Travolta and Olivia Newton. John remember that.
<v Speaker 2>One, No, did you say grease because I thought you
<v Speaker 2>said something else.
<v Speaker 3>The song is grease lighting. No, I'm just kidding, but
<v Speaker 3>this would become a hit from that soundtrack as well.
<v Speaker 3>So so you have two vastly better songs. Ask the
<v Speaker 3>Lonely and Only the Young left off of Frontiers and
<v Speaker 3>replaced with Troubled Child, which used a term they're stinkers.
<v Speaker 2>These are stinkers.
<v Speaker 3>They're stickers. But for the sake of this argument, we've
<v Speaker 3>got to leave only the Young and Ask the Lonely off. Okay,
<v Speaker 3>they don't count.
<v Speaker 2>Nope, we're talking about the albums that came out in
<v Speaker 2>nineteen eighty three and not the re issues that came
<v Speaker 2>out in two thousand and six. We got to compare
<v Speaker 2>apples to apples here.
<v Speaker 3>Right, yes, all right, so are we ready to get
<v Speaker 3>down to it.
<v Speaker 2>Let's do this. It is nut cutting time, if you will,
<v Speaker 2>think about Stuart Copeland's shorts, and that's what time. I
<v Speaker 2>can remember coming over to your house for a run
<v Speaker 2>one day, and I had the shorts that were like
<v Speaker 2>a little the shorts are really usually wore, and your
<v Speaker 2>wife went, we call those nutcutters. Here. We got to decide,
<v Speaker 2>you know, looking at these two I'll go ahead, I'll
<v Speaker 2>go out there, all right. So let's just let's let's
<v Speaker 2>start with Frontiers. We've just to do a quick track listing.
<v Speaker 2>We've got Separate Ways, Send Her My Love, Chain Reaction
<v Speaker 2>After the Fall, Faithfully, Edge of the Blade, Troubled Child,
<v Speaker 2>Back Talk, Frontiers, and Rubicon. To me, I'm really only
<v Speaker 2>excited about the songs that have lasting value on this,
<v Speaker 2>which are Separate Ways, Send Her My Love and Faithfully.
<v Speaker 2>I mean, the other songs are all right, and I'm
<v Speaker 2>okay to listen to them, but it's not like I
<v Speaker 2>turn them up when the radio would play them if
<v Speaker 2>the radio still played them, which it doesn't. So really three,
<v Speaker 2>I'm looking at three songs here, Separate Ways, cent Her
<v Speaker 2>My Love, Faithfully, whereas I enjoy the other songs and
<v Speaker 2>don't enjoy a couple of them at all. Only three
<v Speaker 2>songs doesn't make this a strong enough album for me. Now,
<v Speaker 2>I will say Separate Ways is the best song by
<v Speaker 2>the definitive early eighties rock band, and so that has
<v Speaker 2>a lot of clout with it. I mean that weighs
<v Speaker 2>heavy on the scales for me. But overall, when I
<v Speaker 2>then look at synchronicity, I mean you have got several,
<v Speaker 2>so it's kind of like it's kind of like, you know,
<v Speaker 2>separate ways weighs heavy as almost as much as Mother
<v Speaker 2>weighs against ony, right right, Okay, So then on synchronicity,
<v Speaker 2>you have Synchronicity one, Walking in your Footsteps, OMG, Mother,
<v Speaker 2>Missus Grindenko, Synchronicity two, Every Breath you Take, King of Pain,
<v Speaker 2>Wrapped Around your Finger, t in the Sahara, and Murder
<v Speaker 2>by Numbers. Okay, so one of those songs is definitive
<v Speaker 2>for the band, and that is Every Breath You Take,
<v Speaker 2>and it's the most played song on the radio. In
<v Speaker 2>addition to that, you've got King of Pain, You've got
<v Speaker 2>Wrapped around your Finger, and you've got Synchronicity two. All
<v Speaker 2>of those are mind blowing hits. And I really enjoy
<v Speaker 2>Synchronicity one, and I really really enjoy Murder by Numbers,
<v Speaker 2>and I dig Tea in the Sahara. I won't skip
<v Speaker 2>past tea in the Sahara. Walking in Your Footsteps is
<v Speaker 2>one of those acquired tastes OMG and Mother. I'm gonna
<v Speaker 2>fast forward through them probably every time. Miss Grindenko. It
<v Speaker 2>just depends on the mood of the man. But overall,
<v Speaker 2>Synchronicity is a better album. It's got more, it's got again,
<v Speaker 2>a monstrous hit. You got monstrous hit on Frontiers, but
<v Speaker 2>it's not enough to save the totality of the album
<v Speaker 2>in my opinion, What are your thoughts?
<v Speaker 3>Sadly you've stolen my thunder. But here's the deal.
<v Speaker 2>Okay, Now, can I say this? Can I say that
<v Speaker 2>when we started this out, well, the way this conversation began,
<v Speaker 2>you were going year by year and You're like, here
<v Speaker 2>are the bands that I didn't like, and when you
<v Speaker 2>hit eighty three, you put the Police and I went
<v Speaker 2>what And that's how this that's how this podcast became
<v Speaker 2>a thank so go ahead, go.
<v Speaker 3>Ahead and talk about that. Okay. Yeah, So when we
<v Speaker 3>started this podcast the first time, and like we said,
<v Speaker 3>we had not had a prior relationship really with either
<v Speaker 3>of these two albums, I would call myself a journey
<v Speaker 3>greatest Hits type of guy. Right, give me the greatest
<v Speaker 3>Hits album. I'll listen to Awesome, I had it, I
<v Speaker 3>owned it, Police, I the Police. I had never really
<v Speaker 3>had an album by them, Okay. I was familiar with
<v Speaker 3>their hits, but never really fell in love with them.
<v Speaker 3>They seemed a more mature band that was somebody my
<v Speaker 3>mom or my uncle might listen to. Okay, So when
<v Speaker 3>we started this, I listened to the first four songs
<v Speaker 3>of Synchronicity. I texted you, and I'm like, this is
<v Speaker 3>a landslide for Journey.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah right, yeah, I did.
<v Speaker 3>And I fully I thought, Man, what are we even
<v Speaker 3>wasting our time thinking about debates on this? But I
<v Speaker 3>listened to Synchronicity too. Then every breath you take, king
<v Speaker 3>of pain wrapped around your finger. You know, I'm not
<v Speaker 3>big on ten the Sahara, but Murdered by Numbers is
<v Speaker 3>fun and interesting and sophisticated. Those are mammoth songs. And
<v Speaker 3>when I look at Frontiers, if you have only the
<v Speaker 3>young and you have asked the lonely in there instead
<v Speaker 3>of backtalk, we've got a discussion.
<v Speaker 2>But I'm with you.
<v Speaker 3>Separate Ways and Faithfully are mind blowing songs. Chain Reaction
<v Speaker 3>I think is good. I even like Trouble.
<v Speaker 2>Child a little bit.
<v Speaker 3>I like Rubicon a little bit, but everything else is
<v Speaker 3>just kind of filler. So very surprisingly, I am going
<v Speaker 3>to say Synchronicity is the better album.
<v Speaker 2>Cow I'm doing my little happy dance right now. Yes,
<v Speaker 2>I'm my mind is blown. I'm just like, what what what?
<v Speaker 3>I'm surprised to hear myself say that.
<v Speaker 2>I really I can't believe it, Like I I, this
<v Speaker 2>is must this must have been how you felt when
<v Speaker 2>I picked Pyromania over Hysteriaiz, even though you still pick
<v Speaker 2>Hysteria over Pyromania. It just the idea that that that
<v Speaker 2>taking the time with both of these albums that you've
<v Speaker 2>you went from. I don't like these guys too. They
<v Speaker 2>have the better album than the guys that I loved
<v Speaker 2>at the time. That's that's amazing. That's that's awesome. Man,
<v Speaker 2>that's great.
<v Speaker 3>I think I think I texted you about a week
<v Speaker 3>ago and I said, Synchronicity's got it sucks in me.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I guess I missed that one, because yeah, you
<v Speaker 2>texted me today and You're like, do you know which
<v Speaker 2>one you're picking? And I'm like, yeah, of course I do.
<v Speaker 2>I mean, and and you had me convinced. You sent
<v Speaker 2>me that Landslide text and I called or texted back
<v Speaker 2>and I said, I don't know. After listening to the
<v Speaker 2>first four songs, I don't know that I can argue
<v Speaker 2>for Synchronicity. But once you hit Synchronicity two, it's a
<v Speaker 2>clear winner. And then again I went back just it
<v Speaker 2>just takes it a little bit of time with some
<v Speaker 2>of those other songs, and you're like, no, these are
<v Speaker 2>actually good too. Synchronicity one is a real good song.
<v Speaker 3>One of the things that kind of helped me make
<v Speaker 3>my final decision is today I was listening to Frontiers
<v Speaker 3>in my car and I wanted to switch to Synchronousity Nice.
<v Speaker 2>So it's nice.
<v Speaker 3>I mean, how can you really argue with that? I mean,
<v Speaker 3>that's that's what my heart wanted to do.
<v Speaker 2>You know. Yeah, wow, Well that's fantastic. I cannot wait
<v Speaker 2>to hear what you are listeners think about these decisions
<v Speaker 2>and your opinions on it. Where do you put it?
<v Speaker 2>Does Frontiers hold up for you? Do you think we're
<v Speaker 2>crazy on picking the police? Please check with us on Facebook,
<v Speaker 2>tweet us on Twitter that you can reach us at
<v Speaker 2>Shirley Podcast on both of those formats, or email lists,
<v Speaker 2>so you can email us at Shirley Podcast at gmail
<v Speaker 2>dot com. But we'd love to hear what you think
<v Speaker 2>as well.
<v Speaker 3>I have had a fantastic time getting to know these albums,
<v Speaker 3>and I'm having a blast doing this I hope you
<v Speaker 3>guys are having fun listening to us. Send us some
<v Speaker 3>suggestions that you think would be good matchups. We'd love
<v Speaker 3>to have that.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, absolutely, we've gotten We've had quite a few folks
<v Speaker 2>sending ideas and some of them, some of them were like, Yep,
<v Speaker 2>that's right, that's what we need to do. Yep, yep.
<v Speaker 3>D appreciate you, ma, yeah.
<v Speaker 2>Youtuboe man, it's been great. We'll look forward to the
<v Speaker 2>next one.
<v Speaker 3>Okay, we'll talk to you later.
<v Speaker 2>All music images and movie clips are used for the
<v Speaker 2>purposes of commentary and education in conjunction with the Fair
<v Speaker 2>Use Agreement under the US copyright law.