It's quite difficult to write down the impact of this band on what we - the last years - refer to as Melodic Rock. I guess none needs further explanations anyway, 'cause - in such circumstance - your musical taste lies miles ahead from the so-much-misunderstood (even by the majority of such fans these days) genre of AOR (acronym for Adult Orientated Rock). If I could only 'catch' the smile of Frontiers Records' boss (the band's new 'associate'), since both the name and 80% of the roster of this label are proud to exist due to the worldwide 'stretch' of Journey's music the last - at least - 27 years (even if the band exists for 30+ years; see ending note).
Generations - another one word title for this multi-million selling U.S. quintet - marks the band's second full length studio album with ex-Tall Stories frontman Steve Augeri (the first one being 2001's Arrival). I like this man's voice, he's in a Steve Perry singing mode and he cries his heart out when performing live. It's sad that this vocalist joined Journey in a slow journey of their - so far - career. Well, the way was shown after the Raised On Radio (1986) album, when the band called it quits with Schon and Cain forming (one of my all-time faves) Bad English with the essential John Waite (ex-The Babys). With the weak Trial By Fire (1996) effort - mainly because its many slow moments, added by Perry's feeble performance - no colorful day would rise up and the replacement of ill Perry (with Augeri) seemed inevitable. Arrival was fresh-sounding and, it's the truth, Journey toured a lot to promote it. Still, the Red 13 (2002) mini-LP was a little bit weird, due to its music in perspective, and the future was fuzzy for these pioneers of night-driving Rock...
Generations makes its entrance through the main door! Even if I couldn't imagine it happening so early (in terms of 'volumes'), Frontiers IS the label that should set this album out for circulation! Apart from that, yet, let's deal with the music: Opening with the interesting riff of Faith In The Heartland it's obvious that there's fresh air in the band. Well, it's been four years since their previous 'full' album and a new - continuously 'upcoming' - label can place the right motive. And what would this be? The return to the successful Escape (1982) and Frontiers (the album - 1983) era of tunes like Separate Ways and Don't Stop Believin. Don't expect to 'catch' this vibe from the very beginning - Schon and Cain are one genius and surely know the art of covering the good ol' 'formula' in endless combinations of notes and sounds - but I feel this is the basic factor in this album.
It's interesting that all band members sing - at least - one song. Castronovo's A Better Life is not that notable (even though he reminded me of Perry), whereas Every Generation finds Cain in a great mood! Schon's In Self-Defense runs smoothly and Gone Crazy is simply far away from the general 'spirit' of the album. The basic singer, Steve Augeri, is simply excellent, with full passion and a certain scope to drive the band upwards. Out of Harm's Way - dedicated to the U.S. troops - presents a frenzied Schon guitar work, while, from the remaining tunes, The Place In Your Heart became my personal fave (this fuckin' 80's vibe) and both Butterfly... and Knowing That You Love Me are pretty good ballads.
Generations: surely not a classic album but I think better than Arrival. More 'hardrocking', more 'focused' and - surely - less experimental. If you feel safe with this, just enjoy it!
(A note, to make things straight: Journey - prior to Perry's arrival in 1977 - had already released three interesting 'jazzy' Rock albums; check 1975's Journey first chance you get...)