We bought the cassette at Kmart. The store had a policy to seal up their cassettes with those annoying theft proof/loss prevention cases that were almost impossible to get open even when you got them home. We took the cassette (still in the theft proof case) and duct taped it to piece of plywood and then wrapped something else around it and then gift wrapped it from there. But, that is just one memory associated with this album from 30 years ago.
Many people are fans of this band. Many people are not. I have met both in my encounters with all kinds of music fans. Journey started off as a band to highlight the talents of guitarist Neal Schon and Gregg Rolie(keyboards) after their time as members of Santana from 1971 to 1973. According to his bio, Neal Schon was asked to play with both Santana and Eric Clapton’s Derek and the Dominos at the age of 15. He went on to play with Santana and met (then) roadie Herbie Herbert and established a friendship. That friendship with Herbie Herbert led to the formation of the “The Golden Gate Rhythm Section” with bassist Ross Valory in 1973. Herbert would become the band’s manager and the band would eventually be called Journey. Eventually, the drum throne vacancy would be filled by British sticksman Aynsley Dunbar. Dunbar is legendary for having played with Frank Zappa, David Bowie, John Mayall, Jefferson Starship and was even in the running with Mitch Mitchell for the job of drummer for the Jimi Hendrix Experience.
The original style of music that Journey was playing was more of a jazz-rock fusion progressive instrumental flavor. With this type of instrumental experimentation, the audience size would be limited to musicians only. When the band was signed to Columbia records, their initial record sales were not what one could call “impressive” by any stretch. The record label suggested the band add a frontman/lead singer to share vocal duties with Gregg Rolie. When I asked a few of my longtime friends about the music of Journey, my former assistant manager and friend Kevin K told me about his love of Journey from the VERY FIRST ALBUM. As Kevin put it,
“…And while there may be millions of people that would say they had an instant connection with Journey, few would say they had it in 1975 with their first album (which bordered on jazz fusion at times), eponymously titled Journey. But I did.”
The band hired vocalist Robert Fleischman briefly. He played a few shows with band and even co-wrote the hit Wheel in the Sky. But, he was ultimately replaced with the band’s iconic (and often revered) lead vocalist Steve Perry. Thus would begin the band's ascension into greatness. 
Of course, the history of this band has been documented through different TV shows like VH1’s Behind the Music. So, for me to recount many of the details of the band’s history would be rather ridiculous. I have watched the Journey episode of VH1’s Behind the Music many times. I have read online interviews with Neal Schon, Herbie Herbert and Steve Perry. I’ve read many interviews with various members of the band from the many lineups too. After watching the “Director’s Cut” of the Behind The Music, I found out that Steve Perry and Aynsley Dunbar didn’t get along. So, eventually Dunbar was fired. Dunbar was then replaced by Berklee College of Music alum Steve Smith who the band had met while he was performing with guitarist Ronnie Montrose. With the changes in drummers, the band continued their climb to stardom and worldwide fame. Gregg Rolie decided to leave the band in 1980 and was quickly replaced by keyboard player Jonathan Cain of the band the Babys. This is the classic lineup that would go on to make some of the most well known songs of their career and this is when the band would appear on my own personal radar. 
The band would release their first chart topping number 1 album Escape in 1981. This album would feature the kind of song that Journey would become the masters(sometimes credited as the inventors) of....the power ballad. These are the kind of songs that were perfect for the adolescent boy that I was at the time. These were the songs that you could muster up the courage to ask girls to dance a nice slow dance. Upon closer listen, I realized that this band was musically adept in both ballads and straight up rockers. That may explain some of the disdain often aimed at this band. I asked my friends on Facebook about their memories(both good and bad) about Journey. My high school friend Ted admitted that he had been a very neutral fan about the band.
Ted told me a story of a high school friend(Ted didn’t want to name names) that had his first serious girlfriend and “their song” was Open Arms that was also on the soundtrack for the animated feature Heavy Metal. So, when Ted and his friend would play basketball and there was a boom box nearby, this friend would “continually stop the game so he could rewind it.” To this day, Ted says he still “loathes” that song. In short, Ted says
“Otherwise they're a decent band. I think they were the forefounders of the power ballads that we were tortured with in the late 80s. “Faithfully”, “Send her my love”, etc, then they turn around and try to rock your ass off.”
I honestly think I was one of those guys that would defend the band for their ability to "Rock" after delivering a heartfelt slow power ballad. Among some of my favorites from Escape were Stone in Love. As I relayed my intentions to write up this blog to my various friends, I talked to my old friend Bob. Where I felt like I HAD to make excuses and maybe even" apologize" for liking Journey, Bob outright stated that Journey was a band he felt he DIDN'T have to apologize for. I would always seem to come across someone who was more of a musical snob than I was and would simply brush off Journey as a “Corporate Rock” act and all they did was write mushy power ballads for lovesick teenagers.
When the Frontiers album came out, I was already on track as a Journey fan. By this time, I was picking up every “Rock” or popular music magazine I could get my hands on. I soon became a big fan of drummer Steve Smith. At this time in my life, my love and interest in drums and drumming was growing. I knew the name of the drummer of every band I loved. When the first single Separate Ways (Worlds Apart) was released and the video began showing on TBS’s Night Tracks and NBC’s Friday Night Videos (we didn’t have MTV yet), my eyes were glued to drummer Steve Smith. When Steve Smith plays that fill that goes into the chorus at 2:27, I am always in “DRUMMER ECSTASY!” Many drummers use that fill. At my young age as a developing drummer, that fill enraptured me. I was over the moon about that brief camera shot. I was hooked. I still love this song just for that drum fill. I still wait for it every time.
My friend Val spoke highly of songs like Chain Reaction, Faithfully, and Only the Young. But, she talked about her memory she shared with her son,
"Separate Ways" blew me away the first time I heard it. Probably in 1992 or so, my youngest son, Shaun, and I listened to it every morning when I dropped him off at the middle school, from a cassette deck in the car. He re-wound it every morning, and we jammed out.”
After the successful Frontiers tour, the band released a live documentary video entitled "Journey: Frontiers and Beyond". I remember renting this video and in the 24 hour rental period I watched 2 or 3 times. Looking back, it's rather amusing that this documentary is narrated by longtime NFL Films voice John Facenda. If you’re unfamiliar with the name, He’s the guy who would set up a slow motion shot of an NFL team running onto the field and say something like “On a cold November morning at Chicago’s Soldier field, the warriors of the grid iron……”
As I stated, I watched this documentary over and over. I loved watching the band on the road, playing onstage and watching them warm up before the show. There’s a scene where drummer Steve Smith is backstage and he’s warming up with a series of rudiments on the arm of the couch. At that point, I felt the need to start drumming on the arm of the family couch too. My mother wasn’t exactly happy with that. I found out much later that my friend Perry was actually on the road with the band and ran cameras for the video screens that they had on tour. There’s a shot at the beginning of the documentary where the camera starts at the beginning of the trucks and the crew and supposedly my friend Perry is in that shot. I’ve watched it a few times. But, it goes by so fast, I can’t tell which one is him.
The band was huge and I did what I had done with many bands before that. I went back in their catalog to see what the rest of the material was like. I found a cassette that was a “two albums on one cassette” package. It was the albums Infinity and Next. Infinity was actually the first album that featured Steve Perry as the vocalist. 
It featured the hits Lights, Wheel in the Sky and the consecutively played Feeling that Way/Anytime. At the time I had purchased this tape, I had my own “walkman”. Listening on headphones, I was floored by the layered vocal harmonies on Feeling that Way/Anytime. The vocals filled my head through the headphones of my walkman. I would carry the tape with me and one of my high school drumming friends actually asked me if this cassette was the new Journey album.
Of course, it wasn’t. Singer Steve Perry had released his solo album Street Talk in 1984.The band members would all work on various projects outside of the band. Drummer Steve Smith would release his first jazz fusion project Vital Information. All of these projects had my attention to one degree or another. One of my drumming colleagues had a cassette of Perry’s album and one day he gave me a ride home. But, he would drive around the school after we got out for the day. He would play the opening track Oh Sherrie and as soon as the second track would come on, he would rewind it and play the song again. I myself got a little annoyed by that because the second track started off with a great Motown style drum fill. I loved that fill and the song intro. I still enjoy that initial solo album from Steve Perry. But, I longed for the lead guitar sound of Neal Schon and the drumming of Steve Smith.
As fans of Journey would find out, they would have to wait for almost 3 years before the album Raised on Radio would be released in 1986. By this time, my tastes in music had become that of a heavier nature. I wanted heavy guitar riffs and slamming drums. Journey was definitely not on my list of favorite bands anymore. Then, I found out that the classic Journey rhythm section of Valory and Smith were let go or fired or just weren’t invited to the recording sessions. Steve Smith had been a drumming inspiration to me. He had fueled my growing love of everything drums and drumming and ignited an interest in jazz and fusion with his fusion band Vital Information. Allegedly, Valory and Smith had been fired by Steve Perry because he was producing the album and wanted to use some of the studio musicians he had worked with on his Street Talk album. Those studio cats were fine at what they do. But, Journey was supposed to be a band with participation from all of the band members. I never bought the Raised on Radio album because of the lack of the classic rhythm section and was angry with Steve Perry in my own little way.
As the 80’s drew to a close, Journey was not the choice of favorite band for a lot of people any more. I was in college and working at Dustys Records. The band had splintered and gone their “separate ways”. Jonathan Cain and Neal Schon formed the band Bad English with Cain’s old bandmates from the Babys – vocalist John Waite and bassist Ricky Phillips. The band would be rounded out by monster drummer Deen Castronovo. Deen appeared on my own “drum” radar when he played drums on “shredder” guitarist Tony MacAlpine’s album Maximum Security. Coincidentally, Steve Smith had played drums on MacAlpine’s first album Edge of Insanity. I saw Bad English in the Spring of 1990 while I was on Spring Break in Austin Texas when they opened up for Whitesnake. They put on a fine set and Deen (along with Tommy Aldridge with Whitesnake) got my drumming adrenalin pumped up too. Bad English lasted through a second album in 1991. But, it came and went with little fanfare. Deen and Neal would surface again in 1992 with a band called Hardline. The band was in a heavier vein than both Journey and Bad English. I saw them play and I actually met Neal before the show at the Ranch Bowl in Omaha Nebraska. My friend Bob and I were both living in Omaha at the time and we were there to witness this concert. But, the sad thing we both noticed was that the crowd was very small. I would say the attendance that night was around 50-100 people. Neal took a small guitar solo and during that solo he would play some of his signature guitar lines from Journey. I don’t think a lot of the crowd caught those references. I remember Bob telling me that he overheard someone say, “I didn’t know that guy was in Journey.” I thought how sad that here was a man that had played some of the biggest venues and concerts in world in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s and here he was playing at a club in Omaha Nebraska that was attached to a bowling alley.
Then, in 1996 it all changed again. Perry, Schon, Cain, Valory and Smith reunited to record the album Trial by Fire. The band was back together and recorded a full album and then there was talk of taking this new reunion on the road. Even though this was big news for longtime Journey fans, I was a little hesitant. I remember reading the review for the new album in Entertainment Weekly magazine. The review basically said that here was a return for Journey and the masters of the power ballad. In a way, it felt like a slam of some kind. I had read interviews with Steve Smith and how he had brought some drum “tricks” he had learned from Primus’ Tim Alexander while recording an album bassist Michael Manring. So, I was looking forward to them. I liked in some ways. But, it didn’t hold my attention.
Issues came up involving Steve Perry’s health and some hip replacement. The band eventually recruited singer Steve Augeri. Drummer Steve Smith bowed out of the reunion and concentrated on his fusion band Vital Information and his love of jazz and drummer Deen Castronovo filled the drum seat. Deen had been a big fan and follower of Smith and had been playing with Neal Schon for years. So, the inclusion of Castronovo felt like a great fit. They recorded a few albums and built up their fan base again. I was actually excited about this new music. The band even played in my hometown of North Platte Nebraska at the annual celebration known as “Nebraskaland Days”. To add to that was the fact that my childhood friend Mick and his band were the opening band for Journey. I could only imagine the thrill that might have been.
I kept track of the what was happening in the band. Steve Augeri began to struggle with life on the road and keeping up with the demands of the band. They hired journeyman vocalist Jeff Scot Soto to fill in for some live gigs. Drummer Deen Castronovo actually sung some of the old tunes as well. Not only could he play drums like Steve Smith, He can also sing very much like Steve Perry. But, they didn’t have a permanent lead singer.
The band seemed lost without a lead singer yet again. The band was becoming popular in the public’s eye yet again. It was becoming somewhat cool to like Journey again. The band’s iconic song Don’t Stop Believing was used in the last episode of the critically acclaimed HBO drama The Sopranos.
This was the next push to put them back into the public eye. But, they had no singer. Neal Schon began scouring the internet for singers to fill the open spot in the band. He began looking up Journey type singers and Journey tribute bands and eventually found Arnel Pineda from the Philippines. It was a rags to riches story of how a man who had spent his youth on the streets of Manila and suddenly was recording and touring with one of the biggest bands of the 70’s and 80’s. This became such a big story. Ellen Degeneres featured the band on her talk show. CBS Sunday Morning ran a story on this new singer. The band set out to release new album to be distributed exclusively through Wal-Mart stores. This CD package also featured a CD of newly re-recorded songs with Arnel on vocals and a live DVD performance of this new lineup. I loved it all. Arnel sounded wonderful. Did he sound like Steve Perry? Yes, he did. Could you tell the difference? The listener could tell a little by Arnel’s broken English and a bit of his accent that crept in. For me, his vocals had an added raspiness to it. When he sang Faithfully, he had a subtle way of making it his own. Their song Any Way You Want it was even used for the promotional campaign for the movie Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. You could hear the song used in commercial campaigns on TV. Even my son knew this song and would sing along as I would play it in the car. I loved to hear my son singing along. So, I recorded him singing along with the CD and eventually edited the song with some other video footage my son in all his musical glory.
I loved the new music on the CD. I loved the newly re-recorded songs. There was a new energy to the band. It felt exciting to be a Journey fan again. Even in the midst of the tour that saw Arnel Pineda adjusting to life in this spotlight, an independent filmmaker produced a documentary of this new singer. The documentary is called Don’t Stop Believin’: Everyman’s Journey.
I finally had a chance to watch the documentary this past summer as it was available on Netflix. I watched it with one of my new San Antonio roommates this past summer. He and I both share a love for music and music related documentaries. I asked Jeremy(my roommate) what he thought of Journey. He’s about 12 years younger than me and he had nothing but praise for the band. We both enjoyed the documentary and the performances by the band.
As I look up Journey videos on YouTube, there’s always a ton of comments about how great singer Steve Perry is and how terrible Arnel is. I guess that is human nature to compare old with new and different people in similar roles. There’s always questions about who is “the best” or “favorite” or whatever. Since I had that brief time of dislike for Steve Perry and how he treated one of my favorite drummers, I’m not one of those to praise him. Bands are made of a bunch of musicians that work or “band” together. Don’t get me wrong. Steve Perry was a vital element to the band’s sound that many have come to know and love. But, sometimes it’s hard for classic bands to mend their problems and reunite with the classic members.
In early 2014, a list of top songs to drive to and Journey’s Don’t Stop Believin’ was at the top of the list. So, I realize that my friends aren’t the only ones who appreciated the music of this band. But, it goes beyond that. For me, it starts with a handful of friends and kept growing with more friends and more music that I’ve come to love.
By the way, those friends are still in my thoughts and hopefully one of these days we’ll get together again.
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