STEVE PERRY
For the Love of Strange Medicine [Reissue]
Legacy Recordings 2006
www.legacyrecordings.com

Genre
Rock / Pop

The Good
The reissue of the ex-Journey frontman’s second official solo album comes with 5 bonus tracks and a note from Perry himself. The album features some really good guitar work. Three songs in particular stand out in that regard. “Stand Up (Before It’s Too Late)” combines the guitar playing with some sweet hooks to really make the song soar. The song “Listen To Your Heart” is probably my favorite track on the disc. It’s got the shining guitar work but features a terrifically awesome vocal take from Perry. The bonus track “If You Need Me, Call Me” is an excellent up-tempo number with some very strong guitar lines.

The live version bonus track of “Missing You” comes off far better than the studio recording of the track (see below). “Somewhere There’s Hope” is a full on serving of arena rock bombast, while “Young Hearts Forever” is deeply routed in the classic 1980’s up-tempo keyboard sound. The bonus track “Can’t Stop” has a solid bluesy groove to it.“You Better Wait” was the first single from For The Love Of Strange Medicine and it still retains that something special that made it such a great song in the first place.

The Bad
Six of the album’s tracks struck me as being a bit weak or left me with that “ehhhh” feeling. The ballads “I Am” and “Missing You” (the studio version) did absolutely nothing for me. “Anyway” was a weak way to close out the album in my opinion. I also was left cold by the title track and “Donna Please”.

The Verdict
I first listened to the album when it was originally released, but I was not impressed at all beyond the first single “You Better Wait”. When listening to the reissued disc, I was really surprised to remember 4 tracks in all. In all honesty, I haven’t really listened to the album all that much (if at all) since it first came out.
The album is a very hit and miss affair for me. I really liked the material I mentioned above but I feel that the songwriting was definitely not up to Perry’s usual high standards. Perry sounds in pretty good voice, that much didn’t change but to my ears he just wasn’t giving himself much to work with songwriting-wise.

The bonus tracks on the disc really provide some much needed improvement. If it were just the original track listing my grade for the disc would be lower.
I can’t give For The Love Of Strange Medicine a great review, but the album definitely has some very high points. You’ll want to investigate the album for those moments and skip through the lesser tracks.

Did You Know?
The originally planned second solo album was to be called Against The Wall. It basically got lost in the shuffle when Columbia Records was taken over by Sony Records.

Rating: out of 5

Related Reviews:
Steve Perry - Street Talk [Reissue]
Journey - Live in Houston 1981: Escape Tour DVD/CD

-- Jay Roberts