RAISED ON RADIO - Journey

YEAR: 1986

LABEL: Columbia

TRACK LISTING: Girl Can't Help It, Positive Touch, Suzanne, Be Good To Yourself, Once You Love Somebody, Happy To Give, Raised On Radio, I'll Be Alright Without You, It Could Have Been You, The Eyes of a Woman, Why Can't This Night Go On Forever

IMPRESSIONS: I guess Steve Perry was right all along because this is my favourite Journey album. This might come as a shock to some Journey fans who dismiss it as Steve Perry taking over the whole show and firing two long time bandmates in order to turn Journey into a carbon copy of his solo album STREET PARTY. However, while there are some songs on here which sounds like they could've come from the solo album, most of them sounds very much like contemporary Journey songs (and ALL the songs on the album were co-written by Steve Perry, Jonathan Cain and Neal Schon together). The fact remains that this is the only Journey album which I listen to all the way through without skipping any songs; the two monster-selling previous Journey albums FRONTIERS and ESCAPE have very strong songs but also quite a few you need to skip over. So despite it all, I find RAISED ON RADIO to be Journey's most consistent album to listen to and it contains some of my all-time favourite Journey songs: "Positive Touch", "Raised On Radio", "I'll Be Alright Without You" and especially "Why Can't This Night Go On Forever". Besides these, there are also the almost-as-good "Girl Can't Help It", "Once You Love Somebody", "Happy To Give", "It Could Have Been You" and "The Eyes of a Woman" which shouldn't be missed. So in all actuality, RAISED ON RADIO isn't as much of a departure (heh heh...get it?) as some would like us to believe. A good, solid 80's rock album from Journey.

MY FAVOURITE TRACKS: Girl Can't Help It, Positive Touch, Be Good To Yourself, Once You Love Somebody, Happy To Give, Raised On Radio, I'll Be Alright Without You, It Could Have Been You, The Eyes of a Woman, Why Can't This Night Go On Forever

FACT SHEET: RAISED ON RADIO is Journey's ninth album. After the firing of band members Ross Valory and Steve Smith, Journey consisted of Steve Perry, Neal Schon, Jonathan Cain and new members Randy Jackson (yes, THAT Randy Jackson) on bass and Larry Londin on drums (although Steve Smith did contribute to 3 tracks on the album). Steve Perry produced the album and also changed to title to RAISED ON RADIO from the original project title FREEDOM. The album reached #4 on the Billboard charts and went twice multi-platinum producing 4 top 40 singles: Girl Can't Help It (#17), Be Good To Yourself (#9), I'll Be Alright Without You (#14) and Suzanne (#17).