Frontiers by Journey (Columbia 1983)
Putting hope in front of fears
Tracklist:
Side One, Vinyl
1. Separate Ways (Worlds Apart) (Steve Perry, Jonathan Cain) 5:23 - Single one
2. Send Her My Love (Perry, Cain) 3:55 - Single four
3. Chain Reaction (Perry, Neal Schon, Cain) 4:21
4. After the Fall (Perry, Cain) 5:01 - Single three
5. Faithfully (Cain) 4:27 - Hit single two
Side Two, Vinyl
6. Edge of the Blade (Perry, Schon, Cain) 4:30
7. Troubled Child (Perry, Schon, Cain) 4:29
8. Back Talk (Perry, Cain, Steve Smith) 3:17
9. Frontiers (Perry, Schon, Cain, Smith) 4:10
10. Rubicon (Perry, Schon, Cain) 4:19
Bonus Tracks, Reissue 2006
11. Only the Young (from the soundtrack of Vision Quest) (Perry, Schon, Cain) 4:18
12. Ask the Lonely (from the soundtrack of Two of a Kind) (Perry, Cain) 3:55
13. Liberty (Schon, Perry, Cain) 2:54
14. Only Solutions (from the soundtrack of Tron) (Cain, Schon, Perry) 3:33
Lineup:
Steve Perry - Lead Vocals
Neal Schon - Lead Guitar, Vocals
Jonathan Cain - Keyboards, Vocals, Rhythm Guitar on 'Back Talk'
Ross Valory - Bass, Vocals
Steve Smith - Drums, Percussion
Also
Randy Jackson - Bass on 'After the Fall'
Produced, Engineered and Mixed by Mike Stone
Journey began life when former Santana members, guitarist Neal Schon and keyboard player Gregg Rolie, joined bassist Ross Valory and rhythm guitarist George Tickner, from the less well known Frumious Bandersnatch. Prairie Prince completed the lineup on drums, but soon rejoined The Tubes, so British drummer Aynsley Dunbar, from Frank Zappa's band, became the drummer. Gregg Rolie was lead singer with Schon, Valory and Dunbary singing harmonies. Journey released a number of fine jazzrock albums, but when Steve Perry joined on lead vocals in 1977, they became a full-on commercial AOR/ melodic rock band. Frontiers was their eighth album and followed their commercial high point, Escape (1980) a number one album in the US album chart, and was itself a massive commercial success, almost matching its predecessor by reaching no. 2.
Frontiers starts as it means to go on with the now well known Separate Ways, the first hit single from the album, with its stomping riff, majestic production and Steve Perry's wonderful voice to the fore. Jonathan Cains' keyboards give the song a hymnal quality and Neal Schon's faultless guitar is the icing on the cake. Send Her My Love, hit single number four, is an unashamed mid-tempo ballad to showcase the heartfelt Perry, but Cain and Schon add their customary flourishes. Perry's screams deserve better than the chug of Chain Reaction, which squanders a strong riff. But, all is not lost with Shon's solo and the beat did have me tapping my foot.
We are back on track with After the Fall, a vehicle for Randy Jackson's snappy bass playing and the Eagles-ish harmonies. Steve Perry's voice snarls and swoops in equal measure, as does Neal Schon's guitar. Annoyingly, the guitar fades on an interesting passage, possibly having something to do with it being hit single three. By the follow up album, Raised on Radio, original bassist Ross Valory was gone, to be replaced by Jackson. Faithfully, hit single number two, is another spiritual sounding piece and all credit goes to Perry for finding the emotions for a song written by Cain about the break up of his marriage while on the road.
I came to Edge of the Blade after playing Jorn Lande's cover version (from Starfire 2000) until I wore out the tape and, sadly, the original now suffers as a result. Journey open with driving guitar, bass and cowbell, to be joined by a restrained growl from Perry. The layered keys are reminiscent of Geddy Lee's on Subdivisions (Signals 1982). Journey's original differs from Jorn's cover, in that Starfire's keyboard player and producer, Dag Stokke, plays his instrument as a lead instrument, while also encouraging more of an attack from Lande. Cain's keys, on the other hand, wash around the track and Perry is more ironic in his delivery. A stroke of genius was in Stokke and Lande adding a pounding Journey-style baa-ba-ba-baa-baa harmony phrase to the track, which is entirely absent from Journey's original.
Troubled Child is a slow ballad and contains all of what became the Journey cliches, with the jangling guitar and keys, the soaring voice and the rising finale. However, it is no less beautiful for all its recognisable features; the melodies, the chorus and the lyrics are all sublime. Steve Perry is that rare creature, an original lead singer (even if he occasionally sounds like Rod Stewart). If Troubled child is the introspective chalk then Back Talk is the rhythmic cheese, being a take on the Bo Diddley beat. Frontiers is also rhythmic (both songs were co-written with drummer Steve Smith), but has a complexity more in keeping with the early jazzrock incarnation of the band. Schon's retrained guitar and the intricate vocal parts are a joy to behold. The vinyl version of Frontiers closes appropriately with Rubicon, which has an intriguing lyric, perhaps about the band's change of style(?), and an unusual time signature.
There are four bonus tracks on the 2006 remaster, Only the Young, Ask the Lonely and Only Solutions are from the soundtracks of Vision Quest, Two of a Kind and the excellent Tron Respectively. Liberty was previously only available on the compilation of rarities, Time3. All are strong and worth owning. To conclude, Frontiers is a very good album in spite of its huge commercial success and in the face of the band changing their style from a jazzrock Santana spinoff to AOR/melodic rock pioneers.