Customer Reviews

Frontiers (Exp) (Dig)

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"Frontiers" was Journey's follow-up monster 1981 smash "Escape" and proved to be just as commerically successful,peaking at #2(held back only by Michael Jackson's Thriller)and spawning four Top 40 hits, including "Seperate Ways(Worlds Apart)","Faithfully","After The Fall" and "Send Her My Love".The album is just as good,if not better,than its predeccesor,containing other standouts(besides the hits) like "Chain Reaction","Edge Of A Blade" and "Rubicon".The only poor song on this album is the grating "Back Talk".Luckly,this 2006 reissue contains four bonus tracks that strenghten this effort much more by including "Only The Young"(a top 10 hit from the "Vision Quest" soundtrack in 1985),"Ask The Lonely"(which was featured on the "Two Of A Kind" soundtrack in 1983)"Only Solutions"(featured on the 1982 "Tron" soundtrack)and the short but outstanding "Liberty".The remastered sound(by Dave Donnelly,NOT Dave Collins as one reviewer said)is a vast improvement over the previous CD editions,making Steve Perry's vocals,Neal Schon's guitar and Jonathan Cain's keyboard's sounding more powerful and clearer than ever before.It also includes a cool booklet containing photos and tour dates from the "Frontiers" era.Essential for any Journey fan or 80's pop/rock lovers!

THE BAND: Steve Perry (vocals), Neal Schon (guitars), Jonathan Cain (keyboards, guitars), Ross Valory (bass), Steve Smith (drums & percussion).

THE DISC: (1983) Originally 10 tracks clocking in at approximately 44 minutes. This 2006 digi-pak version contains 4 bonus tracks making the total listen just over 58 minutes. Included with the disc is a 14-page booklet containing song titles/credits, numerous band photos (all original album artwork), Frontier '83 tour dates, and thank you's. All songs written by Journey members (with Cain receiving co-writing credits on all 14 tracks, and Perry on 13). This is the band's 8th studio album. Recorded at Fantasy Studios, Berkeley, CA. Label - Columbia / Sony.

COMMENTS: "Frontiers" was a solid follow-up to the 9x platinum "Escape". In the scheme of things though, it would be extremely tough for "Frontiers" to duplicate the success of its predecessor. After all, "Escape" (1981) was a #1 album, with three #1 hits ("Who's Crying Now", "Don't Stop Believin'", and "Open Arms"). "Frontiers" did reach #2 and it garnered 4 big hits at the time - "Separate Ways (World's Apart)", "Faithfully", "After The Fall" and "Send Her My Love" - all Top 40 hits with "Separate Ways" peaking at #8 on the Billboard charts. Stepping back and looking at the big music picture, there were several rock/pop albums that were hugely popular in 1983 ("Synchronicity" - The Police, "Let's Dance" - David Bowie, "Cuts Like A Knife" - Bryan Adams, "Metal Health" - Quiet Riot, "90125" - Yes, "Uh-Huh" - John Cougar Mellencamp, "Pyromania" - Def Leppard, "War" - U2), but none larger than Michael Jackson's #1 "Thriller". Perhaps some of these albums (especially "Thriller") were holding "Frontiers" back. I'd go far as saying the incredible achievements of "Escape" lessened the punch on this follow-up as well. For me, two things hindered "Frontiers". Number one was too much of an overall emphasis on Cain's piano/keyboards and not enough on Schon's guitar. Secondly, where "Escape" was solid track after track, "Frontiers" had some questionable material. Where side-1 of the vinyl record was grade-A meat (tracks 1-5), side-2 was strictly hit and miss. While there were 2 good tunes here that never saw the light of day on the FM airwaves (some great guitar work on "Edge Of The Blade" and "Troubled Child"), there were 3 songs that were filler at best - "Rubicon", the title track, and perhaps their worst song of the decade "Back Talk". Had Journey put the cut tracks recorded during the same sessions (the digi-pak bonus tracks here) on this album to start, it would have been measurably better. As for the bonus tracks - they definitely add to the album experience. "Only The Young" (released on "Vision Quest" movie soundtrack) and "Ask The Lonely" ("Two Of A Kind" soundtrack) turned out to be fairly big hits for Journey. "Liberty" is a nice acoustic guitar & piano ballad (released only on "Time 3"), and the rarely heard melodic mid-tempo "Only Solutions ("Tron" soundtrack). Only thing better would be more photos of Steve Perry in those cheesy tight muscle shirts, or the band in their skydiving suits. "Frontiers" is/was a very good album. Side-2 though keeps me from giving it the best possible rating (4+ stars).

Just came across with the remastered "Frontiers," and boy am I impressed. It sounds so much crisper, clearer are stonger here. And the two unreleased songs Liberty and Only Solutions are just hidden gems, plus you've got two more extras: Only the Young and Ask the Lonely in the same package! Are you kiddin' me!

Personally, I've favored Frontiers over fan favorite Escape, but haven't listened to the cd for a long time. Can't stop listening to the remastered version.

If you have the boxed set "Time", you really don't need to bother with any of the Journey reissues. All of the bonus tracks on this album as well as just about all the other reissues are already included in the boxed set. What's nice in this case is that the two tracks that wound up in the films "Two of a Kind" and "Vision Quest" ("Ask the Lonely" and "Only the Young" respectively; both of which are also on the 1988 "Greatest Hits" collection...and that too has been updated to include "When You Love a Woman" from their 1996 "Trial by Fire" disc) are reunited with the rest of the album they were originally recorded for. Kudos also for the inclusion of "Only Solutions" from the computer game flick "Tron" from 1982, and the track "Liberty". If you have the Journey catalog albums already, your best bet to get all the bonus tracks included in this 2006 round of reissues is to just get "Time" and you'll find a treasure trove of stuff that was, for whatever reason, left off the original releases. To be fair, this is a nice reworking of a great labum and it's nice to have the two big movie songs back where they always belonged.

I have the Time 3 set but also bought this because I was collecting the 2006 reissues. I was disappointed when this came to me in a regular jewel case instead of the collectible digipak case. It was the expanded version but the case wasn't in line with my collection so I have yet another extra copy of a Journey album. It did have the picturesque booklet with tour dates. But I'm disappointed that none of the 2006 reissues had the lyrics printed. I love most of the songs on this album. They all had catchy hooks and they were very listenable. The only song I didn't like was Back Talk which was too rocking for my tastes. All the songs are so good that I feel like this is the best Journey album even over escape and infinity. perry's voice is a bit raspy on this one but not as bad as trial by fire. my favorite songs were faithfully, liberty, ask the lonely, troubled child, separate ways, rubicon, only the young. i'm amazed how different perry's lower voice sounds on Ask the Lonely versus his earlier Infinity songs. It doesn't even sound like the same person.

Following closely behind Escape's success was Frontiers which I like for a little different reasons than Escape. But in the end, they (along with Trial By Fire and Infinity) are Journey's best albums. This album has probably the crispest sound of all the remastered discs but never-the-less, they all sound good. Perry voice is at it's best on this album (It's at the largest range he'll get and it sounds very refined and mature compared to Infinity (Which isn't bad at all! It's just interesting to hear how much his voice matured!)). Schon has a very solid guitar sound now and Cain's wizardry of keys is also in its top form here. Ross is still alive in this album and Smith's drumming didn't reach it's highest point until Trial By Fire but it's pretty close here. It's a very well-written album and the bonus tracks enhance it.

The music:

1. Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)- Widely considered one of their best ever songs. I agree if you don't include the songs that weren't singles. It's got a cool key part and it's a very good song but the rest of this album is better than it (give or take 2 other songs).

2. Send Her My Love- A jazzy ballad that has some really cool drums, mellow but still cool keys, and Perry's powerful voice. I didn't really like it, but now I do. Pretty cool song.

3. Chain Reaction- One of the better songs on here. It's probably the coolest sounding of the 1st 5 songs because of the riff, Schon's backing vocals, and just the feel of it. A Very good song IMO.

4. After the Fall- A power ballad that not one really remembers but was very good back then. I really like the song! It's got a nice melody and a good beat behind it. A good job to Mr. Perry for his vocals on this one!

5. Faithfully- I believe that along with Still She Cries off of Trial by Fire, this is their best ballad ever. A very memorable piano part, their most powerful ballad lyrics, and just overall extremely well done song. I will always be faithful to Journey.

6. Edge of the Blade- This is one of those songs that was experimental and for me, it turned out to be really good. This is one of those reasons I like this album; Experimentation! I hate it when bands don't really change their sound from album to album unless it's a darn good sound (Not that Journey isn't a darn good sound, but they push their sound alot and I love them for that). Schon's guitar is the main feature of this song, but lyrics don't fail to please either!

7. Troubled Child- A ballad but in the harder rock style of "Edge of the Blade". Not as guitar-oriented due to being a ballad and the vocals are a lot stronger than the previous track as well (not that the vocals were weak on the preceding song but just more focused and forefront than the previous).

8. Back Talk- A lot of reviews beat this song up! I really like this one! It has a VERY GOOD drum beat, an infectious guitar part, and Perry uses some edge in his voice! I think it's a very good song! Why do so many say it's not really good?! They probably don't like experimentation in music like I do.

9. Frontiers- Another experimental rocker but it's very good in my opinion. A very cool sounding song, but the Escape title track was (and always will be) their best title track on an album from them.

10. Rubicon- I used to rock out to this one, but it doesn't stand the test of time like the rest of these songs sadly. A good one but not as good as the other ones.

Bonus Tracks:

11. Only the Young- I actually don't really like this one. I thought it was cool, but I'm not a big fan of it. Good song but eh...ok IMO.

12. Ask the Lonely- I like this one a lot better than the previous one. I really enjoy Cain's keyboards and Perry's strong vocals on this one! Great job on this one!

13. Liberty- A nice acoustic song with nice lyrics and a great guitar part.

14. Only Solutions- Fave song on the album and one of my fave Journey songs ever! I love the beat, the guitar, and the lyrics! GREAT SONG!

Verdict- I think that fans of 80's music should get this album and Escape! Those 2 are timeless, classic Journey albums that everyone will love! The bonus tracks add a lot to the already excellent album. Enjoy it if you purchase it!

Although not as good and timeless as Escape, this is still a great CD, with nice bonus tracks (even though they were available previously, it's nice that they are now where they should be - on this disc with the rest of the album). I wish all the Journey CD's got remastered like this one for the Legacy reissues.

FYI: Here's the mastering scoop on the Journey CD's I like and own:

Infinity (not remastered for 2006 Legacy reissues, old 1996 remastering)
Evolution (not remastered for 2006 Legacy reissues, old 1996 remastering)
Departure (remastered for 2006 Legacy reissues)
Escape (not remastered for 2006 Legacy reissues, old 1996 remastering)
Frontiers (remastered for 2006 Legacy reissues)

They should have all been re-remastered.

Journey's 1983 Frontiers album is one of the band's best, featuring many of their most memorable singles, like "Separate Ways," the quintessential arena rock opener. "Send Her My Love" and "After the Fall" are two extraordinary power ballads on which Steve Perry's vocals and Neal Schon's guitar take center stage. The best track here is "Faithfully," a gorgeous ballad written by Jonathan Cain. Steve Perry's sincere delivery of the lyrics is perfect; the track surpasses even "Open Arms." The second half of the album loses some steam with songs like "Edge of the Blade" and "Back Talk," but guitar-heavy tracks "Troubled Child" and "Frontiers" help take up the slack. The 2006 re-release vastly improves upon the original by including "Only the Young" and "Ask the Lonely," two songs recorded for Frontiers but used for film soundtracks. They rank among the band's best recordings, and it's great to hear them back where they belong. 4 Stars.

This album, especially after the inclusion of the 4 bonus tracks for this edition, is one of the best of the 80's along with Journey's other smash hit "Escape". On most days I would agree with another reviewer's opinion of the one "bad" song on this disc "Back Talk". However, sometimes when I listen to it I can almost get to the end of the song before it drives me nuts. It sounds like Steve Perry was attempting to sing in a completely different style and even talking through some parts of it. In any case, this is an excellent album and I would recommend buying it to anyone who loves great music where you can actually understand the words. On a side note, I would also recommend buying all of Journey's albums rather than getting any of the compilation discs, especially after they reissued many of them with additional tracks. Why? Because, unlike some bands who rarely had anything besides singles on their albums worth listening to, just about everything Journey ever put on an album was great music if not necessarily being worthy of a top ten smash hit("Infinity, 1978" through "Trial By Fire, 1996" only).

This silver Grammy-winning classic is Journey's #1 album of their legacy. Frontman Steve Perry delivers his powerful vocals on the Top 20 hits SEPARATE WAYS,SEND HER MY LOVE and FAITHFULLY. The latter,composed by lead guitarist Jonathan Cain,is a popular favorite heard worldwide on various easy listening and adult comtemporary radio stations. This re-issue features several bonus tracks,one of them being ONLY THE YOUNG. OTY was obviously an outtake for the original 1983(US) track line-up,but was later saved to be featured in the 1985 film VISION QUEST. OTY appeared on the soundtrack album and debuted on the radio in January 1985(in the US). OTY was recycled for the 1988 GREATEST HITS compilation. After this album,the band,with the exception of Perry,took a break from recording. In 1984,Perry put out his solo debut STREET TALK,another Grammy-winner. During the recording break,the band began writing songs for 1986's RAISED ON RADIO.