Push Comes to Shove (©1994 Geffen)

Push Comes To Shove / Headed For Destruction / My Life / I Could Never Touch You Like You Do / Dixieland / I Want It / Private Hell / I Am The I Am / Secret Of The Bottle / Rock-A-Ho / Back Down In The Dirt / Chinatown

This is some pretty serious kick ass party music. Like is says in the liner notes "No Ballads." Jesse has a voice like razor blades, and gives Brian Johnson a good run for his money - heck Brian wishes he sounded this good. Lyrically these guys are total red necks, who should have their mouths washed out with soap. The boys dig out the chainsaw again on this one, and it's pretty cool but wears thin.

I like this kind of music, but the prude in me keeps me from liking it too much. There are some right killer songs on this one. Starting with the title track, and working it's way through to the end. The louder the better - whooo. Man, I think I'm gonna go upstairs and grab me a beer, and see if I can find some monster truck races on the television.

Reviewed February 16, 2003

The Best Of Jackyl (©2003 Geffen)

1: I Stand Alone 2: Dirty Little Mind 3: Down On Me 4: When Will It Rain 5: Redneck Punk 6: The Lumberjack 7: Push Comes To Shove 8: Headed For Destruction 9: I Could Never Touch You Like You Do 10: Secret Of The Bottle 11: Rock-A-Ho

I only got this because I wasn’t able to find their first album on CD. The first six songs are from Jackyl, and the back end is from their sophomore release Push Comes to Shove (see below for review). To call this a best of is reaching, since it's just a "best of" from the two Geffen releases.

Jesse James Dupree is one wicked ass sumbitch, he may be the chainsaw swinging wild man in a G-string, but he’s surrounded by some great players.. I suppose songs like Dirty Little Mind – which won’t play around my kid’s, should offend me, but dang it, it’s so cartoonish I can’t help but grin a little (and then peek around to make sure no one was looking). This is good old-fashioned hillbilly redneck shotgun toting muscle rock and roll. Don’t go confusing these good old boys with any of their hair brained metal contemporaries - heck them bunch of taters ain't worthy enough to clean these guys strings (uh oh, I'd better stop listening to this stuff - it may be bad for me).

Yeah, they got a lot of attention for their “novelty” tune "Lumberjack" (which is a great 12 bar blues tune, although their best chainsaw song is the too short Cut the Crap) - is a righteous rock anthem, but these boys aren't a one trick pony - this is a great rock band - they should have been the heir apparent to AC/DC. Really, this is good old fashioned juvenile rock Angus and his cronies would be proud to write.

I still think I should be offended by their stuff.

Reviewed June 23, 2003

Presence (©1992 A&M)

1: Every Little Tear 2: This Love Is Forever 3: Close My Eyes 4: Stand 5: I Won't Cry 6: Send Me A Miracle 7: Rocket To My Heart 8: Go To Pieces 9: Hold Me Tender 10: Believe In Me 11: Don't Cry Tonight 12: High Strung 13: I'll Be Your Eyes

Presence catalogs Paul's singles from 1985 - 1992, with a new song added in for fun. Hard to imagine that is was only a short seven year period where Paul was active releasing some of the finest pop music of the 80's.

Many people know of Paul Janz for his ballads - and they were great tunes, but for me his defining moment is Go to Pieces from High Strung. I still remember when I first heard it driving in my car. I almost pulled over so I could concentrate on the song. It remains to this day one of the best pop songs I've ever heard.

When I first bought this collection, his albums were out of print and so I consoled myself with this collection. As far as a greatest hits package goes it covers all of the bases. You have to remember he only released three albums on A&M, so to take 13 out of 30 or so of his songs, this CD covers a lot of ground.

Of course if you were looking for any of the songs from Trust, you were out of luck, but hey - nothing is ever perfect. I always wished for more from this guy, but this was it as they say. Who knows he may be active as an indie, but I haven't found anything.

Too bad.

Reviewed September 23, 2004

Louder Than Words (©1990 Capitol)

The songs: Heads And Tails / Unspoken / I Love Her Now / The Hard Way / And The Music Still Played / The Bridge Is Burning / Too Late / 'Til The Fever Breaks / Never Gonna Be That Way Again / If I Could Be There / Now I'm Free / Thanks To You

The Jitters are one of those little Canadian bands who never really found an audience, although they gave it a pretty good try. Their brand of infectious pop should have caught on. Backed by Capitol, and produced by Jules Shear it really had all the right ingredients. Musically I’ve always pictured the guys as a cross between Huey Lewis and Blue Rodeo. I still put this one occasionally and tap my feet and smile. They made good summertime feeling music. ‘Til The Fever Breaks got some airplay, and still holds up well. Oh well, they were a good thing while they lasted.

Reviewed May 21, 2002

Welcome to Earth (©2000 Roadrunner Records)

1: Sliver 2: Body Be 3: Already Gone 4: What Am I 5: Move 6: Violin Song 7: P.K. 8: Hey Johnny 9: Talk Show 10: Beautiful Face 11: Today 12: Welcome To Earth

This new modern alternative rock stuff is pretty good at times, and Johnny Q Public although offering nothing really new, are having a lot of fun, and their stuff is punchy, crisp, and generally better than I expected. I found these guys in the cheap bin, which is always sad for the band, but good for the cheap consumer (me). I bought this one a few months ago along with a dozen other discs, so initially this one received a cursory listen and was pretty good – mainly due to the riffs on Body Be, and P.K., so it was then relegated to my “listen more later” pile. Which is a good thing, because the other pile is close to the trash.

Today was deep dive time. Which means this album received my undivided attention for a couple of hours while I played it through a couple of times, and reflected upon my listening experience. Hmmm, tastes a little like chicken. Actually, I really liked this one. It wasn’t a detuned growling D throughout which was a pleasant surprise – there was actually some (gasp) variety to the arrangements and the songwriting was solid throughout.

The downside is, that as good as it was throughout it’s still pretty much a paint by numbers collection of songs, which doesn’t bode well for the future of the band. After all, if the sound is interchangeable so are the musicians.

Reviewed January 17, 2005

Dust (©2000 Moon Town Records)

1: To Turn Back Now 2: Voice Of Eujena 3: I Lie In The Bed I Make 4: And Fools Shine On 5: Workin' Man's Blues 6: Does She Think About Me 7: Believe In Me 8: Got No Shame 9: Borderline 10: Woman 11: Pieces Of You 12: The Truth 13: If It Happened To Be 14: Make Your Play

Brother Cane front man Damon Johnson strips down and delivers an acoustic set that delightfully showcases his abilities as a singer songwriter. Calling this dust is a bit of a stretch, we all know the “ashes to ashes” bit, but hinting that he has reduced his arrangements to dust is grossly underselling this collection. I could go on about Brother Cane, a band in my opinion that should have been huge. This about Dust – not the near rise and fall of the band. Life is unfair, and that’s just the way it is (baby).

I’ve had this album kicking around on my shelves for about 5 years now, and it sees the light of day now and then. It isn’t a perfect album – the sound quality is good but not exceptional, which is no big deal really. It sounds like Damon is playing in your living room which is cool. He does a really good job of minimizing his songs, and they translate well to a single guitar, with the occasional use of supporting percussion and bass on a few of the songs.

There is some banter, and it’s fun to hear a guy who admits to being nervous in an intimate setting. All of the songs are solid, and his cover of “Working Man Blues” is good fun, and “Got No Shame” rocks almost as hard as the band version.

Albums like Dust are guilty pleasures for both the artist and the fan.

Reviewed Nov 3, 2005

Trial By Fire (©1996 Columbia)

The Songs: Message Of Love / One More / When You Love A Woman / If He Should Break Your Heart / Forever In Blue / Castles Burning / Don’t Be Down On Me Baby / Still She Cries / Colors Of The Spirit / When I Think Of You / Easy To Fall / Can’t Tame The Lion / It’s Just The Rain / Trial By Fire / Baby I’m A Leaving You (hidden track)

Close your eyes and imagine it’s 1986. Journey was a musical force to be reckoned with. They were a veritable hit machine, at home playing the rockers, and of course the ever sucky power ballad. Fast-forward to 1996 and the boys are back together for the first time in a decade, including drummer Steve Smith and bassist Ross Valory. The old farts try their hand and catching lightning in a bottle twice. And you know what? They picked up where they left off. Sure time has moved on without them, but there are plenty of fans out there who snapped this up, and put them once again into platinum territory.

Steve Perry proves again he’s a singer’s singer. Neal is as brilliant as ever. From the opening track the band is announcing their intention to not fade away quietly. Musically they aren’t cutting any new ground, which is great. Although there are too many mid-tempo songs. But they aren’t kids anymore so I guess they’re allowed to mellow a little. The hidden track wasn't buried deep enough, since it was still found. What a way to end an otherwise fine album. Journey as a reggae band? Yeah, it's as good as it sounds.

Sadly this didn’t mark the return of the band. Steve’s health problems would mark his retirement from the band, leaving us with an impressive body of work.

Reviewed March 12, 2002

Arrival (©2001 Columbia)

The Songs: Higher Place / All The Way / Signs Of Life / All The Things / Loved By You / Livin’ To Do / World Gone Wild / I Got A Reason / With Your Love / Lifetime Of Dreams / Live And Breathe / Nothin’ Comes Close / To Be Alive Again / Kiss Me Softly / We Will Meet Again

As a Journey fan I bought this album sight unseen. It had been a number of years since the last one, so I was curious. Let me start by saying I’m not going to make very many cracks about Steve Augeri their new vocalist. Although when I first looked at the booklet I thought Kenny G had joined the band. He does sound a fair bit like the other Steve. For all I know he was cloned from Steve Perry’s dandruff. This is almost a Bad English album now that drummer Deen Castonovo is on board. The album starts off with the very promising Higher Place. But after fifteen songs, I’m almost ashamed to say that less in this case would have been more. The songs are okay, even good at times, but there’s nothing special here and I can rarely listen to the whole thing.

My biggest complaint is the sound quality. The album was produced and mixed by Kevin Shirley the same guy who helmed Trial By Fire, so how come this one is such a bass heavy muddy mess? It’s unlistenable at times. Where are the brilliant highs and crisp clear vocals? The liner notes boldy state - WARNING: THIS MUSIC HAS BEEN SPANKED FOR YOUR ENJOYMENT – I thought you only get spanked when you’re bad … Or if you’re into fetish stuff. Some pretty good songs are buried as a result. Overall a big disappointment from one of my favourite bands. They should have called this one Departed.

Reviewed March 12, 2002

Additional November 2005

Well, I was certainly feeling a little pissy when I wrote this one. To prepare myself for Generations I thought it would be cool to compare it to Arrival. I know I made a huge stink about the muddy aspects to the album, and it is a bit thick, but I tried to ignore that, and lo and behold this is a really solid album - it was certainly better than the shit kicking I gave it a few years ago.

Generations (©2005 Frontiers)

1: Faith In The Heartland 2: The Place In Your Heart 3: A Better Life 4: Every Generation 5: Butterfly (She Flies Alone) 6: Believe 7: Knowing That You Love Me 8: Out Of Harms Way 9: In Self-Defense 10: Better Together 11: Gone Crazy 12: Beyond The Clouds 13: Never Too Late

Call me late for dinner.

Here I am once again bellying up to the bar for another helping of rehashed Journey. “Why?” You may be asking.

“Why not?” I sheepishly reply.

This is Journey after all, once an unstoppable behemoth juggernaut of blazing guitars, catchy hooks, and sappy ballads. Over the years the USS Journey has become something of a ghost ship where every so often little snippets will catch you off guard and give you the musical shiver the Journey of old used to frequently deliver. I guess this is where the phrase Journeyman comes from. Although Generations has nothing new to offer in the way of kick you in the nuts standout tracks, it is a pretty solid rock album.

Now that I’ve taken my critical dump on the guys let me bring up the pluses here: There is a sense of musical camaraderie and cohesiveness on Generations. Everyone gets a shot at taking a turn behind the microphone. The big surprise was Deen Castronovo – man he has a great set of pipes … although he too falls into the Steve Perry mould. Ross Valory manages to channel a bit of John Lee Hooker on “She’s Gone Crazy”.

This won’t go platinum, or gold – and for those who can’t get past the loss of Mister Perry this will only strengthen their convictions. However, Journey was always about the songs, and at the centre of the songs was Neal Schon. He’s still there, but we all know times stands still for no man.

At its worst Generations is a tired retreat that only manages to capture an echo of their past glory. At its best Generations is a hold out against the ever changing musical landscape, where the musicians have all drawn their line in the sand and will continue to play their own brand or rock and roll as long as there’s an audience willing to listen.

Reviewed September 13, 2005