 JOURNEY
Frontiers [Reissue]
Legacy Recordings 2006
www.journeymusic.com
Read the Ross Valory interview
Live Journey Pics
What’s the 4-1-1?
The arena rock masters get their masterpiece album reissued with
4 bonus tracks.
Genre
Rock / Pop / Classic Rock / Arena Rock
The Good
Neal Schon is certainly at the top of his game with this album. The guitar
work is outstanding. He particularly shines on “Separate Ways (Worlds
Apart)”, “Edge Of The Blade” and “Back Talk”.
The latter song is actually the song where each individual part of the
band steps it up into high gear to bring a full throttle edge to the song.
In the era of the power ballad, it’s hard to argue against the notion that
the Jonathan Cain penned “Faithfully” is among the contenders for
best power ballad ever. The song could certainly have spilled over into schlock
but manages to stay a solidly crafted love song that I’m sure is a big
request at weddings everywhere.
If that isn’t enough for you, my own personal favorite Journey song “Send
Her My Love” is on this album.
The bonus tracks come from 3 movie soundtracks and the Time3 box set. “Only
The Young” was in the Vision Quest movie and it’s definitely the
biggest of the four songs. It’s a solid, slightly flashy up-tempo number
with a nice little guitar riff running through it. “Ask The Lonely” from
the Two of a Kind movie and “Only Solutions” from the movie Tron
are also up-tempo numbers.
The Bad
The lack of an overview of the band’s history in the liner notes
is a drawback. These reissues really need that kind of brief biography
because new potential fans that pick up this album will want to know
more about the band. The long time fans of the band know all that
information, but reissuing the band’s back catalog isn’t
entirely for the people who are already into the music. The good news
about this bad section is that this is the only thing I find wrong
with the disc; my rating below will reflect only my thoughts on the
music.
The Verdict
I happen to believe that Frontiers is the masterpiece album that all Journey
fans should use to introduce people to the band. It’s got three
huge hits on the disc, and heck, even the deep tracks could’ve
been hit singles. This album is the arena rock champion unleashed!
Did You Know?
The current singer for Journey, Jeff Scott Soto, used to be the frontman
for metal guitar god Yngwie Malmsteen’s band.
Rating:  out
of 5
Related Reviews:
Journey - Live in 1981 Live DVD
Journey - Generations
Neal Schon - I on U
-- Jay Roberts
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