MR

Interesting interview. When asked about writing WCN, he mentioned Jon and himself, no mention at all of SP.
Looks like they haven't completely shut the door on Deen,, but as you say, it won't be any time soon. Wonder who they will be taking on tour with them next year?

Good interview. You can tell that the interviewer is a fan. I am surprised to hear that Neal thinks Eclipse doesn't sound good. I am equally surprised to read Neal speak so positively about Trial by Fire.

perryfan61 wrote:Interesting interview. When asked about writing WCN, he mentioned Jon and himself, no mention at all of SP.
Looks like they haven't completely shut the door on Deen,, but as you say, it won't be any time soon. Wonder who they will be taking on tour with them next year?

Neal must have selective memory ...

https://youtu.be/_ixcuNh9Fbg

The_Noble_Cause wrote:Good interview. You can tell that the interviewer is a fan. I am surprised to hear that Neal thinks Eclipse doesn't sound good. I am equally surprised to read Neal speak so positively about Trial by Fire.

What was it like reuniting with the classic Journey lineup for Trial By Fire, and are there any unreleased recordings from those sessions that might eventually see the light of day?

There’s no unreleased material (laughs). They’ve exhausted that. I’m certain that there isn’t; and if there is, I don’t even know about it.


Wasn't there an interview in which NS stated ' ...man you ought to catch the outakes of TBF ... '

Interesting notes on Eclipse also. I'm glad to hear Neal admit the record sounds lousy. That was one of my complaints from the get-go. Interesting also: "Arnel is with me. He's ready to go." Pretty clear it's Jon who's not interested in a new album

FamilyMan wrote:Interesting notes on Eclipse also. I'm glad to hear Neal admit the record sounds lousy. That was one of my complaints from the get-go.

And if Eclipse sounds bad, what does that make Generations? I think Eclipse is their most polished record since TBF.

The_Noble_Cause wrote:

FamilyMan wrote:Interesting notes on Eclipse also. I'm glad to hear Neal admit the record sounds lousy. That was one of my complaints from the get-go.

And if Eclipse sounds bad, what does that make Generations? I think Eclipse is their most polished record since TBF.

Everything they've released post-Perry has the same muddy sound, including Generations... which also suffered from plain ol' bad songs. Think it's about time they look beyond Kevin Shirley.

The_Noble_Cause wrote:

FamilyMan wrote:Interesting notes on Eclipse also. I'm glad to hear Neal admit the record sounds lousy. That was one of my complaints from the get-go.

And if Eclipse sounds bad, what does that make Generations? I think Eclipse is their most polished record since TBF.

It sounds great with headphones but muddy on everything else.

Journey could release Eclipse 2016 with the following tracks:
1. Edge of the Moment
2. Chain of Love
3. Tantra
4. Anything is Possible
5. Resonate
6. She's a Mystery
7. Human Feel
8. Ritual
9. Someone
10. A new rocker with lyrics
This would give Neal a chance to clean it up and also to make it tighter and a new song to finish it off.

The_Noble_Cause wrote:Good interview. You can tell that the interviewer is a fan. I am surprised to hear that Neal thinks Eclipse doesn't sound good. I am equally surprised to read Neal speak so positively about Trial by Fire.

IF your listening on an average to poor system you might not notice the difference as much, but its bad.
Revelations is hideous . (shame some good songs) The post Perry production went off a cliff.
most people could careless though.

FamilyMan wrote:Everything they've released post-Perry has the same muddy sound, including Generations... which also suffered from plain ol' bad songs. Think it's about time they look beyond Kevin Shirley.

Shirley had nothing to do with Generations. I'm not an audiophile, but TBF sounds great to my ears. Between both Shirley and Kalmusky, I think Eclipse sounds great too.

from a purely audio engineering standpoint.. Eclipse is very well recorded and mixed... It's deviation from classic journey songwriting is its only real flaw...


Pre Journey.. Perry was studio rat, learned engineering.. and when in Journey learned a load from Roy Thomas Baker, especially about stacking vocals...

He got really good at getting vocals to shine...

FamilyMan wrote:

The_Noble_Cause wrote:

FamilyMan wrote:Interesting notes on Eclipse also. I'm glad to hear Neal admit the record sounds lousy. That was one of my complaints from the get-go.

And if Eclipse sounds bad, what does that make Generations? I think Eclipse is their most polished record since TBF.

Think it's about time they look beyond Kevin Shirley.

Maybe my ears aren't quite as fine tuned as some of yours, but I don't really take issue with the majority of the post-Perry releases. Generations and Red 13 don't sound very good, but I can still enjoy them. Kevin Shirley makes Iron Maiden sound pretty good, and I love the remasters he did for H.I.M

tater1977 wrote:

perryfan61 wrote:Interesting interview. When asked about writing WCN, he mentioned Jon and himself, no mention at all of SP.
Looks like they haven't completely shut the door on Deen,, but as you say, it won't be any time soon. Wonder who they will be taking on tour with them next year?

Neal must have selective memory ...

https://youtu.be/_ixcuNh9Fbg

Revisionist history indeed .... WCN was a SP/JC composition. Neal was not involved in the writing of the song in any way... unless he was referring to the extended outro he played in the recording.

tater1977 wrote:

The_Noble_Cause wrote:Good interview. You can tell that the interviewer is a fan. I am surprised to hear that Neal thinks Eclipse doesn't sound good. I am equally surprised to read Neal speak so positively about Trial by Fire.

What was it like reuniting with the classic Journey lineup for Trial By Fire, and are there any unreleased recordings from those sessions that might eventually see the light of day?

There’s no unreleased material (laughs). They’ve exhausted that. I’m certain that there isn’t; and if there is, I don’t even know about it.

Wasn't there an interview in which NS stated ' ...man you ought to catch the outakes of TBF ... '

Yep.. exact quote...from the "turkey talk" satellite interviews with radio station dj's across the country. ('96 Bootleg cds)

I think outtakes refers to parts of songs that got cut rather than whole songs that didn't make the cut.

Good read.
Seems like he hasn't given up on Deen. Not surprised by the 2 or 3 year comment, if found not guilty he needs time to get his head together.

Abitaman wrote:Good read.
Seems like he hasn't given up on Deen. Not surprised by the 2 or 3 year comment, if found not guilty he needs time to get his head together.

Which begs the question: Who will be behind the kit on the next tour?

ebake02 wrote:

Abitaman wrote:Good read.
Seems like he hasn't given up on Deen. Not surprised by the 2 or 3 year comment, if found not guilty he needs time to get his head together.

Which begs the question: Who will be behind the kit on the next tour?

I wish Steve Smith

ebake02 wrote:

Abitaman wrote:Good read.
Seems like he hasn't given up on Deen. Not surprised by the 2 or 3 year comment, if found not guilty he needs time to get his head together.

Which begs the question: Who will be behind the kit on the next tour?

Omar Hakim makes the most sense unless he has other things going on.

Archetype wrote:

ebake02 wrote:

Abitaman wrote:Good read.
Seems like he hasn't given up on Deen. Not surprised by the 2 or 3 year comment, if found not guilty he needs time to get his head together.

Which begs the question: Who will be behind the kit on the next tour?

Omar Hakim makes the most sense unless he has other things going on.

Virgil Donati wouldn't be a bad choice either if Omar and Smitty are both occupied.

I posted this in another thread already. But I'll post it again.


If Deen can't be the drummer, then I would want it to be one of these guys....

#1 Steve Smith

Then in no particular order...

Aynsley Dunbar
Prairie Prince
Omar Hakim
Marc Droubay
Virgil Donati
Mugs Cain
Michael Shrieve

I would be highly disappointed if it's not one of those guys.

Never been a big fan of Dunbar.

Michael Baird anyone? We know he knows the songs...

FamilyMan wrote:Michael Baird anyone? We know he knows the songs...

He wasn't a bad drummer by any means. In fact he was a fairly highly sought after sessions drummer outside of Journey.

But he was never in the same category as Smith, Dunbar or Castronovo.

Abitaman wrote:Never been a big fan of Dunbar.

He was a phenomenally talented drummer. In fact, I consider his drumming on the first 3 Journey albums to be the most impressive drumming that has appeared on Journey albums. And that's saying a lot considering all of the great drumming that Smith and Castronovo have done on Journey albums. I consider Smith to be the better all around drummer over Dunbar, but Smith rarely got to shine on Journey albums the way that Dunbar did on the first 3 albums.

The potential problems with Dunbar being in Journey now are the fact that there were past disputes with him when he was in the band and then when he was fired. Also, back in the late 70's he seemed largely uninterested in playing on ballads or other lite Rock songs, and not interested in playing for the song in general unless it was progressive Rock.

Also, Dunbar is kind of up there in years now. You have to wonder how he'd hold up to a long tour these days? Plus, can he still play with the same speed that he did in the 70's and 80's?

I would love to hear him play with Journey again on a hard Rocking album! I always hoped that Neal would have Aynsley play on one of his solo albums.

I would also love it if Neal did one solo album where he had almost all of the great drummers that he's worked with over the years perform on it. I can't think of anyone who has worked with so many great drummers as Neal has.

Neal has worked with...
Steve smith
Aynsley Dunbar
Deen Castronovo
Michael Shrieve
Prairie Prince
Greg Errico
Omar Hakim
Jan Hammer
Mike Baird
Larrie Londin (Although he can't work with him again, seeing as he died)


I think that he may have also worked briefly with Lenny White? But I'm not sure about that one?

Neal could do a solo album where he has most of those drummers guest on one or two songs each.

Fact Finder wrote:Jan Hammer on drums?????

I don't think so.

I wasn't naming him for Journey.


But actually, he is an excellent drummer, even though he's first and foremost a keyboardist. I just meant that he could play drums on one of Neal's future solo songs. Not an entire album, but just one song. And I only meant that if Neal were to do an album having all of the past great drummers that he has worked with perform on it.


When I named Jan Hammer, I expected someone to question that. But he really is a good drummer.

If you listen to Steve Smith's drumming on the song "NS Vortex," IMO he intentionally played those drums in a style that Jan Hammer played drums on some of the Schon & Hammer songs.

Fact Finder wrote:Jan Hammer on drums?????

I don't think so.

He could do it. But it would make more sense to have a drummer who can sing.