Classic Rock Bottom

Disclaimer: All info that does not reside in my brain is gathered from wikipedia.com (mostly because Jon can't stand it) unless otherwise noted.

Welcome to 2018!  I truly hope all of my tens of readers enjoyed a joyous and safe holiday, but let's get back to the music we grew up on.  I'm starting out 2018 with an anniversary album.  Let's go back in time and enjoy Journey's 35 year old offspring, Frontiers.  The album was big, reaching the number 2 in the U.S.  And at 6 x Platinum, I'd say it sold pretty dang well too.  

Four big singles were released.  After The Fall (#23), Send Her My Love (#23), Faithfully (#12) and Separate Ways (Worlds Apart) (#8) were all Top 40 hits, and Chain Reaction was a radio hit.  That's half of the songs that were on the album.  

In my opinion, one of the all time bonehead moves took place at the last minute before the album's release.  The songs Ask The Lonely and Only The Young were plucked from the album and replaced by Back Talk and Troubled Child. The two songs that were pulled are truly phenomenal and would go on to be released on the soundtracks of Two Of A Kind and Vision Quest.  Ask The Lonely did not chart but Only The Young was a Top 10 hit (#9).  Personally, I like the former more than the latter, but they are both excellent.  I wonder if the person that made that decision lost his job?

I'm willing to bet that if you are reading this, you have memories, fond or not, of hearing these songs on the radio in 1983 and 1984.  And when you hear them today, you still do your best Steve Perry voice.  I know I do. Luckily, if you don't already own it, you can pick up the original album with four bonus tracks, including the two tracks mentioned above, for 5 bucks.  

Side One:

1. Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)

2. Send Her My Love

3. Chain Reaction

4. After The Fall

5. Faithfully

Side Two:

6. Edge of the Blade

7. Troubled Child

8. Back Talk

9. Frontiers

10. Rubicon

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Of course this was listed THIS PAST SATURDAY as one of the albums I listed to which was actually the week before Xmas and while I had to drive home during a huge snowstorm.  Just sayin'.

That's awesome news bro!!!

I could go into detail about this album but I think this says it best, "This is my favorite Journey album of all time!"

No, I don't try to impersonate Steve Perry. But it would be funny to hear you do that. Any recordings you may have?

The one thing I remember about this album is how quickly it came out after Escape. I think it was around 18 months which is a pretty quick turnaround, especially nowadays. Of course there's always that video.....

I like this album, especially the second side. I do like Escape a bit more though, but I have no problem slapping this on especially having to drive thru a snowstorm.

Rock fans must play air instruments when the opener comes on, its now a moral imperative, hard core fans do this to every song they hear anyway!

I see a lot of "this is their best album" comments on this one, I don't agree.  I cant lift it up over some of the Rolie era albums, Departure is just a stellar release, maybe my favorite though I go back and forth.  Don't get me wrong, this is a great great album, worthy of all the praise it gets, but I wonder if they were becoming a bit formulaic (is that a word?) with this one?  There is evidence Perry might agree as he shook up the band for the follow up.

With all that said, this album does have some great hidden gems which is pretty much all of side 2.  With the exception of Back Talk, which is just a weird tune, I really dig their exploration.  The title track is actually pretty cool and Rubicon sounds like it came straight out of the Escape sessions.  

The exclusion of Only The Young is a head scratcher since they put in a bomb of a movie.  Oh well, the song has a life of its own now.  I've seen Journey several times now (5 or 6) and Only The Young is probably the best crowd pleaser they play, its sing-along-ability is stellar, the riff instantly gets everyone on their feet and the chorus rings loud across the crowd, Great tune!  Speaking of Only The Young, Patty Smyth does a great cover of it, her stellar voice is lost in the mix of great female vocalists, but I digress...

Great start to the year!

I read that Only The Young was given to Smyth, and then when Journey did it, they had to pay her...

I'm not a fan of side 2.  But it would probably be a very different story if OTY and ATL would have been on the original album.  Ask The Lonely is one of my favorite Journey tunes and I'm sure that had those two songs been present, I would have listened to side 2 much, much more and the remaining tracks there would probably feel much different to me now.

I love Back Talk personally.

Oh and the remastered edition does include "Only The Young" as a bonus track.

Bomb of a movie??!! Vision Quest is a damn wrestling CLASSIC!!!!!! It made around 13 MILLION dollars!!! WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?????

Don't forget that Ask The Lonely was gifted to that other blockbuster, Two of a Kind.  You know, the Travolta/Newton-John movie that they released to capitalize on their on-screen chemistry!

And it was the 30th top grossing movie of that year! Beat out A Christmas Story, Krull, Revenge Of The Ninja, Strange Brew, Smokey & The Bandit III and The Evil Dead among others!!

That's a bonus track on the reissued CD as well.

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