Revelation and other Journey Memories

Journey is back with another new singer, a new album, and some old stuff repackaged and re-recorded all in a two CD set called Revelation. I never considered myself a big Journey fan. My memories of Journey mainly consist of a greatest hits cassette that one of my friends owned and insisted on playing in the car on a few college road trips, much to the dismay of the rest of us. Every time the cassette was inserted I used to shudder at the thought of hearing Don’t Stop Believing one more time. However, despite of this, there was a time or two we could have created one of those classic movie scenes where everyone breaks into song, similar to Bohemian Rhapsody in Wayne’s World or Elton John’s Tiny Dancer in Almost Famous. Picture five guys crammed into a Chevy Cavalier with bad moustaches and bad mullets wailing Don’t Stop Believing to the top of our lungs. I digress.

I am not sure if there is a lot of buzz about this latest Journey offering or not, but it seemed like everywhere I turned, I was reading something about the new album. Curiosity got the better of me and echoes of Don’t Stop Believing from days gone by would not stop running through my head, so I made the purchase. It contains a CD of brand new material and a second CD of all the old hits. But it’s just not the old hits digitally re-mastered and put into a new case, they actually went into the studio and re-recorded them all with their new lead singer, Arnel Pineda. Take that Steve Perry.

No mistake, the new material makes for a fun album. Listening to it made me feel like I was in the early to mid 80’s again. The guitars, keyboards and high-pitched vocals are all unmistakably Journey. There is a good mixture of upbeat tunes with the classic sounding Journey ballads. Towards the end of the disc, I find it starts to wear a little thin for me, but before it’s done there is an interesting instrumental track called The Journey (Revelation) that I like. If you are a fan of Journey, I don’t think you will be disappointed here.

The second CD contains all the songs that you would want to hear at a Journey concert, Don’t Stop Believing, Faithfully, Open Arms, Anyway You Want It, etc. In re-recording these hits they’ve stayed very true to the originals, but the sound quality has naturally improved and they have a bit of a fresh feel to them. Arnel Pineda does them all justice, and many times it sounds as if Steve Perry himself is still on vocals. It makes for another very fun disc.

Overall, a strong offering and it was better than what I ever expected it to be. This one will definitely get some playing time from me. I even attempted to serenade my wife in the car with the new version of Don’t Stop Believing in the background. Steve Perry or Arnel Pineda I was not, but at least my moustache and mullet are gone. I give the album a grade of a strong B.

Favorite Tracks: Never Walk Away, Like a Sunshower, Change for the Better, The Journey (Revelation) and yes…Don’t Stop Believing.