Journey - Frontiers

Journey released Frontiers in '83 and the band was messing around with their winning recipe. The band had always been good, but the addition of Jonathan Cain, who took over keyboards from Gregg Rolie after 1980's Departure gave the band an extra gear. Jonathan co-wrote all of the songs on Frontiers except for "Faithfully" which he brought to the band. Heck he was all over Escape too, but that's another story. You can read it here if you want ... or not. The band had gone diamond with Escape, a nearly impossible feat to replicate and I'm sure there was more than a little tension in the studio as they cut the tracks.

I know that Journey was supposed to be Neal's band (according to Neal), and in many ways it is, but when Steve Perry arrived it was Neal and Steve, and then with Jonathan he became the third leg of the milking stool. I'm not dismissing Ross or the other Steve. Those guys were integral to the band's sound ... right up to when they weren't. Raised on Radio was a pretty sketchy Journey album ... I did love "Be Good to Yourself" but that was about it. Still it was Journey and I bought it.

As a kid I had no idea how many records the band sold. All I knew was Journey was a big deal, and a big deal was a big deal. It was as simple as that. When Frontiers released "Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)" as the first single it was a weird song. Neal's guitar was almost dissonant and the riff was front and centre. It took a bit to settle for me. It was "Faithfully" that got me hook, line, and sinker. This was early in the video age and the accompanying video just pushed all the right buttons. Many have called it a weaker version of "Open Arms." I do not care for "Open Arms" despite it being in the movie Heavy Metal.

Musically there was more grit and chugging guitar on Frontiers. It felt like Neal was pushing the band to rock harder to balance out the ballads. Who knows, maybe he was worried about losing his rock credibility.  Steve and Jonathan shared the lion's share of the writing credits, but Neil's guitar work threaded a song within a song. It seemed to work.

Frontiers is an odd album that seems to have two distinct sides, one side with the hits, one with the non-formulaic rockers (noise). The first side opens with "Separate Ways" and in many ways the songs is a great blend of the two battling sides of Journey. The band would release four singles from the album, all of which came from side one. I know "Faithfully" gets a lot of love, and rightly so ... it was the song and video that got me in the feels. However when I got the album it was "Send Her My Love" that really stood out. "Chain Reaction" was the only non single from the first side. This was representative of what I will refer to as noisy Journey, but it was still a pretty decent track with only a little noise.

The first side saw a lot more daylight than side two. The hits were on the first side. The lush harmonies and soaring vocals were on the first side. Tasty Neal was on the first side. I liked the first side. A lot of people, millions of them, liked the first side.

Side two is where the commercial Journey took a back seat to noisy Journey. The Journey who wanted to remind people they started out as rock and roll fusion band built on Neal's riffs. Most of the songs on the second side were co-written by Steve, Jonathan and Neal. If the first side was to sell records, the second side was the compromise to ease tensions within the band. Of course, that's all just armchair conjecture on my part and is most likely complete and utter nonsense. Maybe not complete as I'd bet there was tension thick enough to cut with a spoon in the control room as the band tried to escape (har de har) their own success.

It doesn't help my assertion that side two is the lesser side when the first song on side two is "Edge of the Blade" one of the better rock songs with some nice '80s keyboard flourishes. Steve kills it on this one. This was hard(ish) rock, but it was Journey. Neal's guitar work here is tasteful while still throwing in his usual array of blistering runs. If I was a betting man I'd say this is the Journey Neal wanted. The problem is this was good, but not single good. "Troubled Child" should have been on the first side and released as a single. It would have given the album a full side of hits.

So far, me saying that side two was noisy Journey hasn't got a lot of legs. That's okay, we're about to get to the part where I ask you to hold my beer. "Back Talk" is a song so bad that I have no idea how it made it onto the album. Steve Perry is practically spitting the words and the music has all the finesse a sledgehammer has as a dental tool. Any goodwill built up on side two just vanished. This is jarringly bad. The title track fares a little better as there are some parts I really liked, but then the song more or less collapsed under it's own weight. What was it about this song that was so special they had to name the album after it is perplexing.

I was curious about what Rolling Stone had to say on the album, so I took a detour and looked up their two star review from April 14, 1983 written by J.D. Considine. The review was more convoluted than one of my more disjointed meanderambles. Most of the review was spent juxtaposing Styx and Journey and how their new albums were a tad out of step with the current crop of new wave artists that were now dominating the airwaves. Let's be clear here, I LOVED STYX and I really liked Journey and both were commercial behemoths at this point. However, Journey's previous album sold seven million more copies than Paradise Theater and there are levels to success and Journey was on another level and had a lot farther to fall. He did though call out the musical dichotomy that was present on the songs. "Back Talk" he compared to "Everybody Wants Some" by Van Halen, which was interesting. The problem with that, was that one of those songs was awesome. Regardless, he did sum it up fairly accurately as it turns out, "In the end, the best that any of these albums can do is buy some time for these groups, for neither Styx nor Journey can afford continuing as before. Whether or not they can manage a transition that will maintain their commercial vitality remains to be seen. Judging from these albums, I wouldn’t hold my breath."

For a last gasp Frontiers and the six million units and the 100,000 here in Canada was a pretty good way for the band to hand the baton to the next generation of commercial rock stars. Anyways, that was a little diversion that may or may not have been worth the time, but hey it's my blog and you should be used to this by now.  

The album closes with the bombastic noise infused "Rubicon" that feels a little like being flipped the bird by a little old lady in a late model Oldsmobile when you honk at her for driving slow in the fast lane. Frontiers was an album that sought success while trying to eschew success, managed to attained success and then complained about what made them successful, because it was just expected to be successful.

As it turns out, none of those beloved bands from Foreigner, REO Speedwagon, Styx to Journey would not make the transition and maintain their commercial vitality. They managed to pull of a different kind of trick. Time would distill the band's catalogues down to their vital essence. THE HITS and there were a lot of them, and while the bands themselves have changed the music still remains, and in the end isn't that what really matters?