(I know that's a Who reference on a Journey album. Now that that's out of the way...) Journey has been through a rollercoaster of a career. After beginning their days as a middling jazz-fusion band that aspired for greatness but had no idea how to accomplish that goal, they recruited Steve Perry, who once upon a time had one of the most magnificent voices in rock music, and the rest was history. Their 9-year layoff between 1986 and 1995 made little difference, commercially, as their reunion album 'Trial By Fire' did quite well commercially (even though, well, except for two, maybe three songs... well, yes this album sucked, I'll say it).

A funny thing happened after the release of Trial By Fire, though. Steve Perry, due to physical and personal reasons, found himself unable to tour and support the album, thus, it withered and died on the charts, and once again, Journey was all but forgotten. Neil Schon, the founder of the band, was torn, and finally decided to do what many thought was impossible, recruit a new vocalist. That man is Steve Augeri.

Augeri was introduced to the world on the Armageddon soundtrack with a song called 'Remember Me', and they couldn't have picked a better way to do so. 'Remember Me' could've sat side by side with any of the hits of Escape, it's that killer of a song. Augeri demonstrated his uncanny, if not intentional, similarity to Perry, and if it wasn't for a certain Diane Warren ... er... Aerosmith song that was also on that sountrack, this song wouldn't have been so overlooked.

The next step was a concert, and on a live-via-satellite special, Augeri proved that he was more than up to the task of singing the classics, equalling, and often bettering, Perry at certain points. And then, 2001 came around and Journey finally had a full album with Augeri ready for the public.

But was the public ready? Looking back, it may seem that Journey has finally exhausted it's commercial appeal. Only one song from the album got any significant radio play, and that is the power ballad 'All The Way'. A rehash of the Trial By Fire hit 'When You Love a Woman' through and through, 'All the Way' is nonetheless a great song, I would say better than the song it copies, due to Augeri's strong vocals, right down to the ultimate Perry-ization, the ever famous 'oh woah ooo woah oh woooooaahhhhh oh'.

One big problem with Arrival is this; while 'All the Way' is a fine ballad... there's too many other songs on this album that try to be 'fine ballads'. There's too many attempts to create another 'Open Arms' here and ultimaltey they drag the album down, especially during the ultra-ballad heavy second half of the album, where there's a good three or four of them in a row. 'Kiss me Softly', 'With Your Love', 'Lifetime of Dreams', and 'Loved by You' are all simply filler. They don't stand out in any way, shape, or form from each other and very much sound like a band TRYING to sound like Journey. It's not good. The album could've lived without any of these songs.

Just listening to these songs, one would think that Journey had no gas left, but there are plenty of highlights on this album that are worth finding (and they may take a bit of finding, this album is 15 tracks long, much like Trial By Fire, and well, padding a CD this full didn't work then, why would it work here?)

'Higher Place', the typical driving album opener, does indeed work very well and kicks this album off with a bang. It doesn't flat-out rock quite as hard as 'Message of Love' or 'Seperate Ways' but it definitley does it's job. The verses are a bit unorthodox in structure, and the chorus is lock-stock-and-barrell Journey. Schon lets fly with a nice guitar solo, and Augeri really carries a lot of power in the higher registers. He's for real.

For a real flashback to Frontiers, check out 'World Gone Wild' complete with a hard-hitting Schon riff and some atmospheric, stinging synthesizer work (that is wisely placed towards the back of the mix this time around). Schon throws in some nice harmonic licks between the verses, and Augeri really sings his rear off here. For a real change of pace as opposed to other Journey rockers, this song doesn't end in the conventional way... rather, after the vocal bridge, Schon lets fly with an absolutley stellar, heavy, wah-wah inflected, layered guitar solo that clocks in at over 2 minutes long. This killer solo takes the song home and closes the first half of the album.

It's obvious thus far that Schon feels liberated by the absence of Perry and his radio-conscious ear. His solos are longer and more realized, and he overall sounds revitalized.

The highlight of Arrival, and the one that shows the best use of Augeri, and the most difference from previous, recent Journey material, is 'Livin to Do'. This is the 6th track on the album, coming after 'Higher Place', 'All the Way', the wannabee-pop single 'Signs of Life', the refreshingly rocking 'All the Things', and the filler ballad 'Loved by You'.

After a couple good tracks and a couple tracks that stand out in no way whatsoever, 'Livin to Do' kicks off with a slow-burning, blusey guitar intro that seems to come out of almost nowhere. The rest of the band kicks in with a slow, jazzy tempo and Augeri comes in with his most emotional, vocal performance of the album and he doesn't seem to be intentionally imitating Steve Perry here either. Midway through the song, Schon emerges with a solo that's simply jaw dropping, very reminiscent of a Brian May solo with it's guitar layering and classical stylings. I believe this song is about the passing of Neil Schon's father and you can feel the pain in his every note. Through and through, 'Livin to Do' is the best, and by far the most unique song on this album.

There's a couple more moments worth noting, such as the album-closing 'We Will Meet Again', which isn't quite a rocker or a ballad, but a great, midtempo closer to wind the album down. 'Nothing Comes Close' has a corny lyric here (but hey, it's not like Perry didn't have those moments) and there but is quite catchy and is the best 'Typical Pop-rocker' of the album.

Overall, Arrival simply suffers from being too much. There's too many attempts at a hit here, and about 5 or 6 of these songs could've been cut. If this album would've carried only the highlights, plus, perhaps, adding 'Remember Me' from the Armageddon sountrack (which stands alongside 'Livin to Do' as the best song written thus far with Augeri) it would've been much more concise, and much more of a success.

As far as Augeri vs. Perry goes, perhaps, Augeri isn't quite up to par with Steve Perry.... circa 1979. Have any of you LISTENED to Trial By Fire? The man's voice is a shadow of what it used to be, period. I would've highly doubted his ability to pull off classic material. At any rate, Augeri has more than proven himself, and he has proven that he's willing to be a team player, as well. I applaud this man for stepping into some VERY difficult shoes and filling them admirably.

As it stands, plenty of highlights abound that more than prove that Augeri is the real deal. Perhaps Journey's commercial appeal isn't nearly what it was, but hopefully they'll put out a more concise album than this one in the future, and Augeri's uncanny similarity to Perry will keep people coming to the concerts.



Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: Driving