JSS FB Chat 04-28

[The_Noble_Cause]

JSS said he has not spoken to Neal since he was in Journey, nearly 13 years ago. While Neal openly pines on social media for coffee dates with Perry, he can't even be bothered to pick up the phone and do right by a more recent vocalist that helped the band dodge a bullet. How do two people collaborate to create a great album, like Sirkus, and then never speak at all again? Very strange.

JSS also refused to comment on the recent sacking of Ross and Smith. He did say it was sad.

[Art Vandelay]

The whole Perry/Coffee thing really got out of hand. Just my interpretation, but seems to me like Perry was extending an olive branch at the hall of fame to sit down and just catch up as old friends. Neal exploited this immediately, posting about it on social media and even starting to talk about how he would like to collaborate with Perry again. He mentioned it in his interview with Sammy Hagar. Don't think it was intentional exploitation on his part, that's just Neal. But the two of them had different ideas on what getting together for coffee meant. Perry saw it as exploitation and moved on from it. Neal didn't.

And I agree with you and his lack of connection with JSS. Unprofessional.

[FamilyMan]

The whole Perry/Coffee thing really got out of hand. Just my interpretation, but seems to me like Perry was extending an olive branch at the hall of fame to sit down and just catch up as old friends. Neal exploited this immediately, posting about it on social media and even starting to talk about how he would like to collaborate with Perry again. He mentioned it in his interview with Sammy Hagar. Don't think it was intentional exploitation on his part, that's just Neal. But the two of them had different ideas on what getting together for coffee meant. Perry saw it as exploitation and moved on from it. Neal didn't.

And I agree with you and his lack of connection with JSS. Unprofessional.

I do think you're spot on about how Neal took the coffee thing too public. But that said, I don't think Perry ever really intended to have that coffee. I think he was being polite and friendly, trying to make the evening less uncomfortable. Every time he was asked about the coffee date in his 2018 interviews, he made it clear that he will never again trust the motivations of his former bandmates.

[youkeepmewaiting]

I think (in regards to Perry/Coffee/Exploitation) ... Neals' life is music - for better or worse - so anything regarding meeting up with Perry will always come back to making music.

[The_Noble_Cause]

I think (in regards to Perry/Coffee/Exploitation) ... Neals' life is music - for better or worse - so anything regarding meeting up with Perry will always come back to making music.

Fair enough. Part of Neal may be savant-like and only Jon knows how to deal with him.

[Ehwmatt]

I think (in regards to Perry/Coffee/Exploitation) ... Neals' life is music - for better or worse - so anything regarding meeting up with Perry will always come back to making music.

Fair enough. Part of Neal may be savant-like and only Jon knows how to deal with him.

I think Neal is definitely a savant. The way he plays guitar and composes parts/solos (especially vintage Neal) shows an unbelievable knack for music theory and melody. And yet, Neal claims that he really doesn't know at an intellectual, music theory level what he's doing on the guitar. While plenty of guitar greats didn't know how to read music and didn't know much about theory, a lot of those guys were largely playing in well-treaded blues boxes on the guitar or other fairly simple stuff.

Neal's playing is much more sophisticated in terms of his scale/note choices. The way he puts it together, allegedly without much if any deep understanding of music theory concepts, tells me that he does have a savant-like knack for his craft.

[Journey/Survivor]

I think (in regards to Perry/Coffee/Exploitation) ... Neals' life is music - for better or worse - so anything regarding meeting up with Perry will always come back to making music.

Fair enough. Part of Neal may be savant-like and only Jon knows how to deal with him.

I think Neal is definitely a savant. The way he plays guitar and composes parts/solos (especially vintage Neal) shows an unbelievable knack for music theory and melody. And yet, Neal claims that he really doesn't know at an intellectual, music theory level what he's doing on the guitar. While plenty of guitar greats didn't know how to read music and didn't know much about theory, a lot of those guys were largely playing in well-treaded blues boxes on the guitar or other fairly simple stuff.

Neal's playing is much more sophisticated in terms of his scale/note choices. The way he puts it together, allegedly without much if any deep understanding of music theory concepts, tells me that he does have a savant-like knack for his craft.

Usually great guitarists from a "technique" standpoint can read sheet music, Neal says that he can't. But Neal is one of those rare guitarists that isn't a trained musician who is a great "technical" guitarist.

Frankie Sullivan is a great guitarist who also can not read sheet music and who is also self taught. But as great of a player as Sullivan is, he's not the technical monster that Schon is. Sullivan does share some similarities with Schon in terms of being absolute top-notch melodic players who play with tremendous emotion, great tone (I know that some of you no longer like Schon's tone, but I think we all agree that it was great back around the time of Escape) and great Blues players.

Plus, Schon and Sullivan both list Clapton, Beck and Paige as being 3 of their biggest influences back when they were starting out as guitarists.

Of course we all know that Schon was also heavily influenced by Hendrix, I don't know if Sullivan was or not? And Sullivan was also a fan of Blackmore, and I've never heard Schon say one word about Blackmore.

[JourneyHard]

I think (in regards to Perry/Coffee/Exploitation) ... Neals' life is music - for better or worse - so anything regarding meeting up with Perry will always come back to making music.

Yes. What do people want Neal and Perry to talk about over coffee? Baseball? No. They will talk about music.

Journey should have made one album with JSS. It might have been full of energy and been a lot of fun.

[bellairepark73]

JSS said he has not spoken to Neal since he was in Journey, nearly 13 years ago. While Neal openly pines on social media for coffee dates with Perry, he can't even be bothered to pick up the phone and do right by a more recent vocalist that helped the band dodge a bullet. How do two people collaborate to create a great album, like Sirkus, and then never speak at all again? Very strange.

JSS also refused to comment on the recent sacking of Ross and Smith. He did say it was sad.

Ha! I so whole-heartedly agree with you TNC. And some think that Steve (who knows about JSS and sort of recommended him in round about way) would even think of going back to this mess??? Ha, ha, ha.

[FamilyMan]

https://ultimateclassicrock.com/jeff-scott-soto-queen/

[Monker]

Frankie Sullivan is a great guitarist

There is this game called "Rocksmith" that I have for the PS4. It's kinda like the old Guitar Hero games but you play along with a real guitar, playing real notes and chords. Anyway, I downloaded "Eye of the Tiger" and it is the easiest song I've tried. I have like %90 mastery on that song. There are NO hammer on's or pull offs, slides, or even bends. It's just chords and single notes...and sometimes the same note repeated 20 times or so.

Compare this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bexxFIHTzcs

To Terry Kath and 95 or 6 to 4:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjnfyF4Q_og

You get to those solos and it's impossible. I suck. I have 0 mastery and can only get like %6 of the notes.

I just don't think Frankie Sullivan is "great"...maybe "acceptable" or average...not great.

[Journey/Survivor]

Frankie Sullivan is a great guitarist

There is this game called "Rocksmith" that I have for the PS4. It's kinda like the old Guitar Hero games but you play along with a real guitar, playing real notes and chords. Anyway, I downloaded "Eye of the Tiger" and it is the easiest song I've tried. I have like %90 mastery on that song. There are NO hammer on's or pull offs, slides, or even bends. It's just chords and single notes...and sometimes the same note repeated 20 times or so.

Compare this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bexxFIHTzcs

To Terry Kath and 95 or 6 to 4:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjnfyF4Q_og

You get to those solos and it's impossible. I suck. I have 0 mastery and can only get like %6 of the notes.

I just don't think Frankie Sullivan is "great"...maybe "acceptable" or average...not great.

Sullivan is not at the level of Schon as a soloist, although I prefer Sullivan's riffs and rhythm playing to Schon's. But yes, I say that Sullivan is a great guitarist. Like I mentioned, there are certainly guitarists that are superior to Sullivan from a "technique" standpoint. But Sullivan is one of the better melodic players, plays with great emotion, has great tone, plays great riffs. From a listening enjoyment standpoint, Sullivan is second on my personal list only behind Schon.

Eye Of The Tiger has a great riff, but it's definitely not the song to judge Sullivan by. EOTT is about a pulse or rhythm to work out to,it's not intended to be a song for Sullivan to flash his guitar abilities on.

Here's a list of the top 40 most under-appreciated guitarists of the 80s that Sullivan is on.
https://musicplayers.com/2017/07/the-to ... -deserved/

For Sullivan playing hard Rock listen to "She's A Star" "Children Of The Night" "Rhythm Of The City" "Caught In The Game" "Too Hot To Sleep" "Take You On A Saturday" "Slander."

For Sullivan playing melodically listen to "Is This Love" "I Can't Hold Back" "High On You" "I Never Stopped Loving You"
"Everlasting" "I'm Not That Man Anymore" "Across The Miles."