Jon on the "magic"
Apr 25, 2006 16:28:55 GMT -5
Post by arden on Apr 25, 2006 16:28:55 GMT -5
sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/04/24/DDGVRID9BV1.DTL&type=music
(April 24, 2006)
"I saw some of the most amazing things I've ever seen in a studio on that album," Cain said last week, speaking by phone from his Novato home. "Steve probably sang the 'Mother, Father' vocal in two takes. Done. It seemed like the whole band could just get up and fly away."
Along with adding the album's memorable keyboards, Cain saw himself as someone who could get the most out of his bandmates, who seemed to be heading in different directions. Cain said Schon had more than a dozen great cassette tapes filled with unused guitar parts and Perry was interested in singing more romantic songs. Both artists ended up getting their way.
"Steve said to me, 'I want to sing some ballads,' " Cain recalled. "There was this song I had written while I was in the Babys called 'Open Arms.' I had a Wurlitzer piano, 60 pounds, which I dragged into his house in Larkspur. I played it, and he loved it, and we immediately started writing the lyrics. I think we wrote that song in one afternoon."
While Journey had a reputation for manufactured hits, Cain said the band members, producers and technical crew were sincere about the songs, and manager Herbie Herbert gave them complete artistic freedom. They just happened to enjoy writing mainstream music and were willing to endure the ire of 50 critics if it meant 9.9 million fans bought and loved the album.
"When I came in I told them, 'You have no idea how lucky you are. These are gold-plated fans,' " said Cain, who had opened on tour for Journey with the Babys. "My message to Journey was: 'You need to write songs about your fans, to your fans, and it has to be from the heart.' "
"Escape" was scorched by critics, who saw surefire hits such as "Who's Crying Now" as inferior to music from some of the newer alternative groups such as R.E.M. The most recent Rolling Stone Album Guide still pans "Escape" -- and doesn't give any noncompilation Journey album better than a 2 1/2-star rating on its five-star scale.
But the fans loved the music then, and still love it today. With a recent spike in sales of the album -- last year, an "Escape" tour DVD was released and the World Series champion Chicago White Sox made "Don't Stop Believin' " its official song -- Journey is expecting it to reach the 10 million sales mark in the near future.
Cain said the follow-up to "Escape," "Frontiers," might have been an even better album, but it was dismantled at the last minute; the superb "Only the Young" and "Ask the Lonely" were removed so they could appear on the "Visionquest" and "Two of a Kind" soundtracks. Journey has considered re-releasing the album in its original state, but Cain says no one can remember the sequencing.
(April 24, 2006)
"I saw some of the most amazing things I've ever seen in a studio on that album," Cain said last week, speaking by phone from his Novato home. "Steve probably sang the 'Mother, Father' vocal in two takes. Done. It seemed like the whole band could just get up and fly away."
Along with adding the album's memorable keyboards, Cain saw himself as someone who could get the most out of his bandmates, who seemed to be heading in different directions. Cain said Schon had more than a dozen great cassette tapes filled with unused guitar parts and Perry was interested in singing more romantic songs. Both artists ended up getting their way.
"Steve said to me, 'I want to sing some ballads,' " Cain recalled. "There was this song I had written while I was in the Babys called 'Open Arms.' I had a Wurlitzer piano, 60 pounds, which I dragged into his house in Larkspur. I played it, and he loved it, and we immediately started writing the lyrics. I think we wrote that song in one afternoon."
While Journey had a reputation for manufactured hits, Cain said the band members, producers and technical crew were sincere about the songs, and manager Herbie Herbert gave them complete artistic freedom. They just happened to enjoy writing mainstream music and were willing to endure the ire of 50 critics if it meant 9.9 million fans bought and loved the album.
"When I came in I told them, 'You have no idea how lucky you are. These are gold-plated fans,' " said Cain, who had opened on tour for Journey with the Babys. "My message to Journey was: 'You need to write songs about your fans, to your fans, and it has to be from the heart.' "
"Escape" was scorched by critics, who saw surefire hits such as "Who's Crying Now" as inferior to music from some of the newer alternative groups such as R.E.M. The most recent Rolling Stone Album Guide still pans "Escape" -- and doesn't give any noncompilation Journey album better than a 2 1/2-star rating on its five-star scale.
But the fans loved the music then, and still love it today. With a recent spike in sales of the album -- last year, an "Escape" tour DVD was released and the World Series champion Chicago White Sox made "Don't Stop Believin' " its official song -- Journey is expecting it to reach the 10 million sales mark in the near future.
Cain said the follow-up to "Escape," "Frontiers," might have been an even better album, but it was dismantled at the last minute; the superb "Only the Young" and "Ask the Lonely" were removed so they could appear on the "Visionquest" and "Two of a Kind" soundtracks. Journey has considered re-releasing the album in its original state, but Cain says no one can remember the sequencing.
