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by Dan Stacy
It's 6:30 a.m. and I wipe the sleep from my eyes and try to concentrate on the task my hands are performing. Yes, just a half hour ago I started work, and it seems I'm off on my merry way, my journey through yet another day of employment. Having spent the previous four years of my life employed in front of a computer, my hands now find their familiar place at work in the manufacturing field, creating something of value from various assorted components. My fingers nimbly assemble some pieces, and then find their way to a computer keypad where I punch in some values and see if the robotic endeavor before me will work, or if it needs some adjustment. When complete I will have helped to automate a formerly manual job, and helped to bring the future to the workplace. My ear perks, my attention is arroused, I hear the familiar lyrics pouring from the speakers overhead: "Winter is here again, oh Lord.....haven't been home in a year or so..." I can instantly feel a whole panorama of emotions and memories. At the same time I notice several others in this place are noticing the song and singing along, some with that familiar grin or look of satisfaction, as if greeting an old friend, or returning to a familiar place which feels like home. Journey songs have a certain special quality. As Jonathan Cain once said during the Trial By Fire era, Journey writes the soundtracks of our lives. Most of Journey's more familiar tunes never needed a video, the video was created in the mind of the listener, by listener and lyric interactively, which couldn't be more vivid if it were to be on a silver screen in front of their eyes.
But what makes the experience so real, so personal, so tangible? Journey's songwriters have always had a special way of reaching into our lives, and writing songs that all of us can relate to in some way. While at the height of their success and being accused by the music industry of being "sell outs" Journey showed new heights in song writing prowess. Never before had Journey's lryics so touched the listener's personal lives. The addition of Jonathan Cain was a turning point in the direction of the songs. As Jon mentioned in the past, now the band was writing songs that could be related to daily events in the lives of the fans, and that would make it personal to the fans. He was right.
Whether in solo or colaborative work, these men have produced some incredible songs, some powerful moments in time, and some haunting memories in our consciousness. Many times when the songwriter is feeling pain, he pours forth from his soul the bitter venom which is poisoning his mood, and he produces a new saga. Whether it be expressed in lyric, vocal expression, musical emotion, or whatever the case, the most powerful moments produced by the incredible selection of individuals seem to have come from painful moments. Several examples will convince you of this.
Once, while talking with Neal Schon, we were discussing some of his solo work, and the subject of Electric World came up. Neal was interested in what I thought about this particular project. I told him I was very impressed at the soulfulness, sadness, and triumph all embodied in this work. Neal said that this was a very interesting time in his life. He had been going through some personal issues, the trials of relationships gone bad, and had basically locked himself into his room and set himself aside with his feelings. He calls it a very dark album, a very dark period. Yet, Neal emerges from that room with a twin CD collection of thoughtful, emotion-filled, powerful songs. One can quickly identify the origin of these songs in painful experience, yet Neal somehow majestically works through his pain in these songs, in musical expression, and emerges with a note of personal satisfaction, as if everything is somehow going to be alright in spite of his sadness. Somehow there is a parallel in our own personal lives. In times of sadness we are alone with ourselves and we rely on what we all know deep inside, and we emerge alright in spite of our surroundings. In Neal's music you can hear him working these issues out, and emerging on a positive, self-assured note. Given the fully instrumental nature of these CD's, Neal's feat is all the more impressive, having accomplished what a select few can, communication without vocal expression.
Once, when talking to Jon about his Back To the Innocence CD, he mentioned that it had been a unique experience, and that he didn't know how well it would go over, but it was something he had to do. Jon had his own issues, which he worked through in this musical masterpiece. Many of us have come to know Jon through his songwriting oddysey with Journey, and some of us have come to know him more personally through his solo material. But Back To the Innocence was the bridge that Jon had to cross. It was his Rubicon, of sorts. Songs on this CD were all of personal experience in nature, and one does not have to second guess that. Jon once said of this album "You will either love it or hate it. It's an all or nothing effort." I have yet to find anyone who after hearing this CD did not love it. I believe that's because it is so real, so legitimate. Nothing could be more genuine personal Jon Cain than this.
Steve Perry, what could be said about this man? Oh the golden voice! The man who transformed Journey, that's how I look at it. Journey was a success story waiting to happen. Steve was an integral part of that story, and success was achieved with Steve's golden voice crooning, careening, and soaring across the airwaves and into our memories. To untold millions, the Voice is Journey. It is the part of Journey they recognize most quickly. When I first heard Faithfully, back in 1983, I went out and bought the Frontiers album. I spent countless hours listening to it. I was amazed at the voice, at the inflection, at the soaring capabilities. The majesty of the sound, that big, bold Journey sound, with that golden voice. The voice seemed to have a strength, a passion, a high reaching, soaring ability, and yet at the same time, it seemed the voice of an ancient, wise old Indian chief. That's the mental image, the video in my mind, when hearing Steve doing the oh oh ohh ohhh's of Faithfully. I could picture this younger man, Steve, singing these incredible vocal acrobatic feats, and I could also picture the aged wisdom of a tribal chief, wise beyond years, showing in his eyes a million stories untold, singing with his voice displaying youth, power, softness, gentleness, grace, and wisdom all at the same time.
Most of us are familiar with the story of Steve's broken heart, watching a lover being dropped off by another man, getting out of the car after kissing him goodnight. Steve turned this lover's torment into a brainstorm. He penned the words to the song Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin' and the "na na na na na"'s are so well related to by all who hear. Steve's sadness, transformed into a revengefull song of sorts, became one of the all-time standards of Journey, a staple classic rock radio air play, and a regular at any Journey concert.
Yet in his brilliance, Steve's solo work showed an even more personal and intricate side of him than even the Journey standards for which he is best known. On his Street Talk album, Foolish Heart was very successful, and for all of the songs at his disposal for airplay, this sad song was the one with which most of the general listening public could relate. Somehow we could hear the sadness and resignation in his voice, coupled with the lyrics. This brilliant piece was a bit of self-indulgence many of us would listen to in it's entirety every time it was played on the radio. Why? Was it because we liked to listen to sad songs? No, not at all, but it was because we could relate. We've been there, or at the very least, we could picture being there ourselves.
Then along comes his 1994 effort, his For the Love of Strange Medicine album. Plagued by personal health issues, fatigue, and a series of postponed and cancelled concert dates, Steve hit a home run with a this album, at least in my book. Steve's series of video outtakes from this CD were especially poignant. According to Steve, he didn't start writing and singing again just because it was time to make money, or to get into the game again, but because he had something to say, and inversely he hadn't done so previously because he hadn't anything to say until that point in time. And say it does he ever in this album. Some criticize this album as being formulaic, but in this album I see some powerhouse emotional hits that Steve had yet to produce the likes of. You Better Wait, with it's slow, agonizing beginning, enjoyed lots of air play, and even charted well. For the Love of Strange Medicine, that title track of the CD, was full of emotion and mental imagery. It painted a picture of hoplessless, remoteness, forboding. And then my favorite, Stand Up (Before It's Too Late). This song releases a torent of emotion, pain, and a plea for action. The vocals are stunning, and the emotion is complete and realistic. The guitar work even seems to be speaking the same message as the song.
So the next time you wonder what exactly it is about a Journey song that catches your ear, could it be that you can relate to the words? Could it be you hear some message in the lyrics that fits a situation you have encountered or are involved in? Could the music bring you a familiar sense or emotion which you just haven't identified yet, but you're sure that you've had before? Journey has a powerful effect on folks. In analyzing the new material, don't you think it's fair that you hold these same critera to the new music? I have, and I've found that the formula holds true. There is special meaning and self-identification in even the newest of the tunes, those off Arrival. I can relate to I Got A Reason, and more than a few other songs.
Journey is, and continues to be a group of incredibly talented individuals who continue to reach us even to this day for a simple reason: relevance. The songs written are real, they spring from real experience or emotion. The songs are not written for the band to perform, but rather the band writes the material and then performs it. You don't find the slick advertising machinery, the promotional, corporate world of generic song writers churning out teen standards and staples for the "boys" to spew back at the faceless youth that so many of the new pop and boy band acts have done. What you find is genuine, relevant, real.....Journey. As long as Journey continues to be this way, it will continue to amaze and please all of us who care to notice.
Copyright © 1994-2006 Dan Stacy, Journey Digest, JourneyDigest.com
No portion of this article may be reprinted without express written permission from the author and JourneyDigest.com