mickey65

A lot of people seem to be making a big deal about the new lead singer for Journey - Arnel and how he sounds "so much" like Steve Perry.

I just call it a poor imitation.

I refuse to listen to any of the new stuff Journey has put out in the last 10 years.

I have all of their albums - including the first three before Perry joined the band.

Any other Journey fans with their thoughts on the the past 3 lead singers they've had since Perry left and all of them sounding like him?

What a joke. It just all tarnishes the band - JMO.

cdollaz

Augeri had a good voice, so does the new guy.

B5Erik

The new album is pretty good - and it comes with a live DVD and a 2nd CD of re-recorded Journey classics. I actually like some of the re-recordings better than the original.

And I like the new singer better than Steve Perry - mainly because he doesn't have Perry's out of control ego (and he's just as good a singer).

Dubya

They are dead to me without Steve Perry.

bunkaroo

For me it doesn't even matter about Perry not being there as much as the fact that I don't think the new material is that great.

cdollaz

That's the problem, the material on the last few albums hasn't been very good, including the last one with Perry, the 2 with Augeri, and the latest. They are always going to have ballads, and that's OK, but in the old days, their rocking stuff used to rock. On the newer rocking songs, it seems that they think that anything with an updeat tempo qualifies as rocking, even though it is just schlock that has no edge or distinction. They are just writing the same song over and over.

They have become kinda like Sting, who is now just an adult contemporary pussy.

Rogue588

^^ That sounds about right. Though, cdollaz has a point too..

SmackDaddy

I think they could have had continual success (music wise, if not popularity wise) if they went for a singer with an entirely different voice. It might have pushed musically too.

I don't think VH would have survived if they tapped another Dave clone to take his place. Instead, they went with a different style that made them even more popular and allowed them to stretch a little more musically (as a whole) and this is MY opinion, so Dave fans take it easy! When they moved on to Cherone, he sounded an awful lot like Sammy and well...we all know where they've been since.

And of course for me: No Steve Perry=No sale!! Heck, I hated seeing Greg Rolie go, for that matter. Heck, if Perry is destined never to come back, they should go back and explore the progressive/fusion sound from their first 3 albums.

superdeluxe

Eh, If perry was not going to be back, I see nothing wrong with the new singer, I actually like the guy.

nothingfails

Perry IS Journey

SmackDaddy

I never had a problem with Augeri, but by that time I stopped caring about what Journey was doing. And the newest guy may sound good, but their new material doesn't. On top of that they re-record Perry songs with the new guy...for some reason that just doesn't sit well with me. Live is one thing, but re-doing the studio cuts?? Are things really that bad between Neal and Steve?

nothingfails

what I find baffling is that their sales were in the crapper with Augeri and fans refused to accept him because he's not Perry. Then this guy comes along and the album is the biggest thing they've done in eons

Rogue588

It's simple.

Rocketdog2000

Perry made have made Journey successful, but to say he IS Journey is unfair and BS, as the band existed and released three albums before he even joined.

nothingfails

and those three albums were all flops. It's like Judas Priest and Rob Halford or Iron Maiden and Bruce Dickinson. Those groups didn't take off until Rob and Bruce came in the band and when they left, fans didn't accept other lead singers and they ended up getting them back because of pressure.

IMO, Journey does not exist without Steve Perry. And a lot of people feel the same way. Oh yea, this will really piss some people off (and it actually has), Queen doesn't exist anymore either, without Freddie Mercury, they're over IMO. They can tour with Paul Rodgers all they want to, but without Mercury and especially considering the living John Deacon wants nothing to do with it, they finished the day Freddie died.

musick

Journey ceased being Journey when Perry left and became a Journey cover band

I still enjoy me some Greg Rolie though as well, even better paired up with Perry

nothingfails

I agree, exactly what I was saying.

People might disagree that "Perry IS Journey" because they had a couple albums before he came along. But look at it this way. A couple members were replaced in 1985, but Perry stayed entact, and "Raised On Radio" was another smash hit for them (even tho it wasn't as big as Escape or Frontier, but it was still successful). But then, the whole Escape-era band reunited in 96, but then Steve left in 97 and was replaced by Augeri, and "Arrival" was a massive sales bomb and led to the end of their contract with Columbia. Yet Perry isn't the most beloved member of the band who IS Journey in most peoples eyes? Please... People were more embracive of the Raised On Radio-era band, which was just Perry, Schon and Cain with a bunch of session musicians than they were with the Escape lineup minus Perry.

musick

mickey65

I'm pretty sure Perry is out of the band for good. If any of you all saw VH-1's Behind the Music of Journey (the director's cut - with an extra 30 minutes), you can see how fed up they were with Perry.

Interesting to note, on that BTM, they mentioned having another lead singer before Perry, but he didn't go over too well, and was more suited for heavy metal type music - they never cut an album with him, just had him on stage at a few venues. Then along came Steve Perry.

But I agree, if Neal and the guys would get a singer who doesn't sound like Perry and creates a different sound, they may be better. But I guess they want to please all the fans who want to hear all those songs with someone who sounds like Perry, hoping they'll all close their eyes and never know the difference, and keep raking in the money.

Neal could do alright on his own. He had his own solo projects going - remember his big "hit" - "No more Lies"?

Rocketdog2000

I'll agree about Queen, but the difference is that Freddie Mercury was an original founding member of the band. Steve Perry, on the other hand, was not a founding member of Journey. You could say that Neal Schon is Journey, and that I would agree with, because he started the band and has always been a member. Basically, without him, Journey truly does not exist. I'll give you that Perry was/is "Classic" Journey, but that's about as far as I'll go.

And not to get too far off the subject, but since you brought Paul Rodgers up - do you think that Bad Company were no longer Bad Company after he left? They still put out many hit albums and singles after his departure, with Brian Howe as lead vocalist. (Although, granted, they didn't do shit with Robert Hart.) Is it only commercial success that makes the difference whether or not a band is still good after the departure of a popular singer?

B5Erik

That was Robert Fleischman, who ended up in the Vinnie Vincent Invasion (for one album, in 1986, before being replaced by Mark Slaughter). Apparently, his ego was even bigger than Steve Perry's, and when the band ran across Perry Fleischman was sent packing.

Fleischman IS a really good singer, and it would have been interesting to hear some of those later albums with him in place of Perry, but Journey made the right move (Perry was the perfect singer for them in the late 70's and early 80's).

Rogue588

Technically, he wasn't.

wm lopez

Do they stil show VH-1 BEHIND THE MUSIC?

mickey65

Not sure. I wish I had VH-1 Classic tho - some good stuff shown on that channel!

I bought a bootleg of the Journey one recently.

Mikael79

I haven't seen it on VH-1 in years. VH-1 plays about as much music as MTV these days, which is little-to-none.