Journey - Raised on Radio Exp Dig (13 tracks) +Album Reviews

Why the critics hated journey

king wolf | Jotunheim | 06/11/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This album is a shimmering, glimmering, moody, mystical masterpiece. The wonderful Cain keyboards are in front of the mix creating atmosphere, there is a little less of the great Neal Schon but what is here is as good as always, and the incomparable Steve Perry's voice is lower in the register than it was through most of his career, which actually makes him sound even better. Indeed, it is just about impossible to sound much better than Perry did at this stage of his career. He was truly the voice of his generation of pop-rock singers.

Raised on Radio is, in short, the best album of its type -- which is not the style Journey is most known for, but something very similar to late Roxy Music, mainly their great album Avalon.

It says much that Roxy Music was a critics' darling, whereas Journey was, and is, panned by critics. I don't know about Roxy, but I know why critics didn't like Journey or Foreigner or the like. Virtually all pro or semi-pro music critics are part of a far-left political culture and they wear their agenda on their sleeves. They hardly understand or care about music; their interest is that bands promote leftist politics one way or another. Any band that is very popular but apolitical will be perceived as an enemy and attacked relentlessly, in order to focus attention on bands the politically correct deem more acceptable. Journey concentrated on actually making music, so the critics hated them. The "music" rags had more power in those days, but these things never change. They branded Journey "corporate", whatever that means. I didn't realize that corporations wrote these sugary melodies and sang them like an angel; I thought that was Steve Perry. And as far as I can tell, he sings better than any Beatle (just to compare them to the all-time boomer generation critical favorite), Schon plays guitar better than any Beatle, this band wrote better melodies than any Beatle, and they were darn near as popular as the Beatles. They just didn't write better, or more importantly, more agressively left-wing lyrics than the Beatles, so the twentysomething lit-major socialists who write music reviews don't like them.

I do. I like them better than the Beatles. By a lot. They're less annoying and far superior sonically. If you're reading this review, I bet you think so, too. Don't feel guilty about it. Feel guilty if you've been brainwashed so badly that you don't have Raised on Radio (and the equally superb albums that preceded it) in your collection. At least you can remedy that situation as soon as possible; there's no remedy for rock critics."

Cool Reissue With Great Remastering!

B. J O'Connor | Holmdel,NJ USA | 03/14/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

""Rasied On Radio" has been called "too pop" by some fans,but I like this album very much,thank you.The main reason to pick up this reissue is the the remastered sound( by Dave Donnelly),since it is a vast improvement over previous CD editions.The bass and midrange are increased,giving songs like "Once You Love Somebody","Positive Touch","It Could Have Been You" and the hits "The Girl Can't Help It","Be Good To Yourself","I'll Be Alright Without You" and "Suzanne" a kick and punch that wasn't there before.Its also contains two live tracks(I'll Be Alright Without You" and "The Girl Can't Help It") and is packaged with a cool booklet featuring photos and tour dates from the "Raised On Radio" period.Unfortunatly,this would be the final album for Journey until a short-lived Steve Perry-led reunion CD("Trial By Fire")appeared in 1996."

Raised on Radio

C. Kastanek | Central Minnesota | 03/08/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I am a 'Journey with Steve Perry' fan. This is my favorite of all of their albums. The bands energy and artful flair are very evident in this CD! The CD has two live performances at the end.....something the original album did not have. Since Journey is one of the few bands that sounded as good 'live' as they did in the studio, I found the two additional songs a wonderful addition to the CD."

Steve Perry Produces An Upbeat Journey Experience...

Chris Jordan | Surrey, B.C. Canada | 11/27/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"As I tried to assess which of Journey's album's included their best songs recently I came up with "Escape" and "Frontiers". With the biggest hits "Don't Stop Believing", "Open Arms" and "Faithfully" etc being on those two releases, no one can really argue with those picks. Those two releases were more-or-less melodic hard rock releases, as well, which Steve may not have always been 100% pleased with.

When Steve left the band after his attitude difficulties began to come to the forefront (his issues with the bass player, the drummer, his own personal insecurities, and his longtime girlfriend, Sherrie), he did continue to lend arguably the best vocals in rock history to some memorable hits within his solo work. His work had taken on a more jazzy, cheerful tone that lent itself to high energy pop without having the "hooks" restricted to the context of a ballad like it had been before. He was definitely the forerunner to Michael Bolton and many others during the mid 80's adding more keyboards, but still incorporating excellent guitar playing at key moments along with a jazz element...

I feel that "Raised On Radio" is likely in a tie with the "Revelation" release (with singer Arnel Pineda) as Journey's third best album of all time. With songs like "Girl Can't Help It", "I'll Be Alright Without You" and "Suzanne" (which got neglected from Journey's greatest hits collection) and several others, this album, again, has a "cheerful" tone to it, a dose of melancholy and a TON of emotion from Perry. One can sense that he is the one directing the course of the album and that passion is surely evident. This stands to be supported by the fact that he is credited as the album's main producer. To me, Perry's songwriting grew in leaps and bounds on this CD, sounding more educated in personal relationship dynamics and philosophy than previously. Case and point his storytelling on "Girl Can't Help It".

Overall from both a solo and harmonies, strictly vocal standpoint, this has to be considered Journey's best album. As far as the overall songwriting, though, it is in number three position. Journey's third best of ten or so good albums; not bad at all, I'd say! It is my personal favorite Journey CD. Check out my website jordansjournaldotnet! Thanks for reading."

A Great Collection of Songs

micdus | California | 08/04/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I love "Raised on Radio." It is without a doubt my favorite Journey record because each track is great. I put this CD on and play it from start to finish and never tire of it. Steve Perry's vocals really shine on these well crafted songs and the guitar work gives each song an edge. Perhaps it's not for people who are looking for hard rock songs, but for people looking for a full collection of well performed, melodic rock songs, it's among the best there is."

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