Journey - Trial By Fire
The ultimate AOR band are back in town. After a decade of doing their own thing, with varying degrees of success, the boys have got together again. Ever since the reunion was announced expectations have been high. There were stories of the album being shelved by the record company to await a more AOR friendly environment.
There have been many changes on the rock music scene since Journey released the 'Raised On Radio' album. Grunge dominates the rock music scene. In fact, many rock bands have adopted a 90's sound, including my beloved Harem Scarem. I'm glad to report that Journey have ignored all this and stuck to what they do best (apart from the bonus track).
Reviewing this is a bit of a waste of time because if you're reading 'Mood Swings', then either you've got the album already or you're going to buy the album anyway no matter what I have to say about it.
The first song 'Message Of Love' kicks in. An uptempo start to the album. You realize just how good it is to hear some new Journey material. I was also a bit surprised. I'd forgotten that there was more to Journey than all the wimpy ballads that made the charts. Other rocking moments include 'One More' and 'Castles'.
Another chunk of the album could be described as mid-tempo. These are sort of songs that Journey have made all their own. You could just imagine this lot churning out these by the bucket load and still maintaining the quality. Examples are 'If I Should Break Your Heart', 'Forever In Blue', 'Still She Cries' and 'Colors Of The Spirit'. Some other song could be described as semi-ballads. Example being 'Easy To Fall' and 'Its Just The Rain'.
Of course, no Journey album would be complete without it's fair share of ballads. 'When You Love A Woman', 'Don't Be Down On Me Baby' and 'When I Think Of You'.
All the above songs are of the quality you would expect from the Godfathers Of AOR. The attempt to pick up the pace towards the end of the album in the form of 'Can't Tame The Lion' doesn't work for me. This brings me to the 'hidden' track. Journey start doing Bob Marley impersonations. Interesting - maybe for the novelty value. A mistake - yes.
One criticism that could be leveled at the album is that the quota of slow and mellow numbers is rather high. I don't really have a problem with this, but some people might. How does it compare to the previous albums ? I'll have to cop out on this one. Ask me again in a couple of years time. At the moment lets leave it at - it's a great album and it's good to have the boys back together again.
Rating : 8/9
