RAISED ON RADIO

Two years after Frontiers came Raised On Radio. And by then, boy, the musical scene had changed a lot, with most AOR groups disbanding and/or losing ground quickly to British new wavers like Duran Duran and Culture Club or to heavy metal bands, from thrash to glam. ROR sounds a lot like the band trying hard to adapt to the new styles, with lots of synths and a very slick production. So much so that they found that they didn´t need a jazzy drummer like Steve Smith, who was dismissed during the recording sessions (although he was credit on 3 songs). Bassist and founding member Ross Valory claims that, tired of ego clashes within the group, decided to leave before the sessions started. Both places were taken by session musicians.

So the band was reduced to the hardcore trio of Steve Perry, Neal Schon and Jonathan Cain, all prime songwriters of the band. Production duties were taken by Perry, who pretty much ran the show here. And it comes as no surprise when Raised On Radio sounds more like Perry´s solo project than actually a Journey album. The savior factor was the fact that the songwriting department still retained much of their former magic: songs like Girl Can´t Helped It, I´ll be Alright Without You and Be Good To Yourself are typical Journey stuff, full of great melodies, power and stunning performances of all involved. Suzanne, Once You Love Somebody and It Could Have Been You are nice, but quite different and maybe a little too close to the 80´s pop cliche. Still, none of the tracks are crap and the fact that Perry is singing better than ever do help matters a lot.

After several spins you get the feeling that Raised On Radio does not achieve that energetic and fresh approach Journey used to a few years before. It´s the first Journey album since Next that sounds a bit dated. As good as the songs are, the plastic synth sounds and the monochromatic drums on much of the tracks take away some of the former charm they once had in spades.

Rating: 3 stars. Good melodic album, but they have done better ones.