Journey's Message Heard Loud and Clear

Journey has an abiding energy resembling the Energizer bunny. No matter what the decade the boys seem to crank it up for their multitudes of adoring fans. Even though Arnel Pineda does a commendable job as the current vocalist, it's Steve Perry's gymnastics that made the band such a mainstay on the concert circuit. The '80s and '90s found the guys going off in different directions. Whiz guitarist Neal Schon and keyboardist Jonathan Cain proved they could be successful without the Journey brand name backing them up when they joined up with Ricky Phillips, who had been Jon's mate in The Babys, John Waite, whose biggest solo success came with the tormented mid-tempo "Missing You", and Deen Castronovo who holds a special place in my musical Rolodex in my brain simply because Castronovo is a last name worthy of either a mob kingpin or the stud who just delivered your pizza, to form Bad English. Surely someone out there considers "When I See You Smile" one of their 1989 guilty pleasures. Meanwhile bassist Ross Valory, one-time Journey keyboardist Gregg Rollie, and drummer Steve Smith joined forces as part of The Storm which had only one mid-range hit, "I've Got A Lot To Learn About Love". Moving back on message, "message" being the key word for this post, The prime hit making Journey line-up (Perry, Schon, Cain, Valory, and Smith) reunited in 1996 for "Trial By Fire" an album that proved with its adult contemporary smash "If You Love a Woman" that creative embers were still very much set to sizzling hot. The first single from Side A was "Message of Love" an apt song to celebrate the anniversary of the first Morse Code message being sent way back in 1844. By the way said message traveled from Washington DC to Baltimore. "Message of Love" gave me reason to think all the old wounds that had cropped up in the '80s had healed. The song opens with what's the rock equivalent of a symphony orchestra tuning up. There's a synthesis of notes at play. Before you know it, bang! Steve Smith demonstrates he hasn't missed a beat. His work is aggressive beyond the pale but not screeching "Look at me! Look at me!" he's more than capable of keeping up with Steve Perry's impassioned story of how one minute he's in the dark, love by his side, the next the king of fools alone in the shadows. Steve's finest hour comes at the moments of chorus repetition. With Neal and Jonathan's voices to spur him on, the results are incredible. This is the outfit that reached the pinnacle of success between 1981-1983. There's one passage at the bridge where Jonathan's keyboards bear a striking resemblance to that on "Separate Ways (Worlds Apart). What separates the two compositions is in "Message" Jonathan doesn't include that last highest note. All five of them have a track team's way with timing. Drums rumble underneath guitar. Keyboards glide down from a place in the heavens. Journey knows what fans like in a Journey record. This song lost none of the studio sophistication which made '"Frontiers" such a heart stopping record. Somehow they managed to recapture the extra pep from the early '80s era. No kowtowing to the middle of the road, tail end of alt-rock/dregs of grunge period for them. There's enough room for all five of them to demonstrate what makes Journey last and last and last. Steve Perry's pipes occupy a top shelf spot in the pantheon of legendary. Neal Schon blazes dynamite trails with a guitar that hasn't failed him since the smoking Santana days. Jonathan Cain illuminates the band's suave mystique with keyboard touches that keep one foot on the gas at all times. Ross Valory's bass is the deadliest of weapons. Steve Smith, as was mentioned earlier leaps right out of the starting gate, a stick toting thoroughbred who can't wait for the race to get going. As "Message" pulls to its freight train speed of sound defying conclusion on the wings of Perry's echoing query, "Do ya' hear me?" you come to appreciate how this band is skilled at the fine art of taking all that pent up passion, unleashing it in just the right places, and then politely figuring out when they've said what they came to say. Anybody who's had to sit through a tune of any genre where you're struck by the fact said tune is about 2 to 2 and a half minutes too long to be a worthy listen knows that knowing when to say when isn't just an important facet of alcohol consumption. Heavy handed songs can give you a nasty hangover, too. Unfortunately, this fab five reunion wasn't meant to last. Steve Perry injured his hip in Hawaii while preparing for what was to have been the "Trial By Fire" tour. Impatient the other band members insisted that either he have surgery to fix the problem or come back with the band for the grueling stint on the road. Steve balked so they walked. In his defense I can see why surgery is one of those personal details that doesn't necessarily fall under the umbrella of "group decision". That probably will always be one of my deepest regrets as a music aficionado. Journey had managed to make its fans forget there was essentially an eight years plus absence by uncorking an album where none of what made Journey a special band (at least to the listening public) had rusted with age. "Message of Love" sends an abundantly clear message. "We're Journey." "We strut our stuff better than anyone." "We give you the heart stopping goods time and again." Zero argument coming from me.