Foreigner's new album & other things...

I still lurk at MelodicRock (Andrew's is the most reliable Journey et al. related website); I was reading Gunbot's review of the new Foreigner album and I picked it up today at Wal-Mart.

It's fucking amazing.

As big of a fan as I am of Arrival, Generations, and Revelation, Can't Slow Down really is better. Only perhaps one or two filler tracks IMHO with fantastic production and terrific vocals by Hansen. Hansen may not have Pineda's pipes, but he's clearly a more refined and polished vocalist. I wish Journey would take a page out of Foreigner's book and start to produce more progressive tracks than straight-forward ballads. Foreigner's set up during songs (and any fan probably understands what I mean) is phenomenal. It's not just rhythm guitar and keyboards, the music is layered and it seems like all of the musicians are given a lot to do. Great stuff!

On another note, I popped in Live in Houston, Live in Manila, and the Arrival DVD and watched each of them twice -- once for enjoyment, the other for critique. Before I jump into my assessment of each, I'm wondering how much post-show enhancement was done for each concert. I was told that Augeri's performance was beefed up considerably in the studio; is this true for Arnel or Steve P.?

One thing's for damn certain, I definitely prefer the band's overall sound post-Perry (but that might just be due to the improvement in the quality of instruments), though they occasionally stray into the realm of completely artificial. I refer you to Jonathan Cain's lifeless keyboards during "Escape" or the backing vocals of just about every song.

Its fucking something ..but i wouldn't call it amazing by any standard.

I saw Kelly open for Saxon in 87.

The Foreigner album has its moments, particularly "In Pieces" and "When It Comes to Love," but I'd call it an average effort at best. Kelly is amazing. But, there are just too many slow ballads and not enough ballsy rockers on there for me.

Gideon wrote:I
On another note, I popped in Live in Houston, Live in Manila, and the Arrival DVD and watched each of them twice -- once for enjoyment, the other for critique. Before I jump into my assessment of each, I'm wondering how much post-show enhancement was done for each concert. I was told that Augeri's performance was beefed up considerably in the studio; is this true for Arnel or Steve P.?

The Houston dvd conatins some enhancements done by Perry himself, but they're minimal. The Arrival dvd can't even be considered "live." There was a lot of work done (That's the word on the street) to make it sound that good. Manila, for better or worse, is a true live dvd. There are many minor imperfections that any studio clown could have cleaned up, but they decided, for whatever reason(s), to leave it as is. I'd rate them Houston, Arrival and Manila ... with the last 2 being interchangeable.

Ehwmatt wrote:The Foreigner album has its moments, particularly "In Pieces" and "When It Comes to Love," but I'd call it an average effort at best. Kelly is amazing. But, there are just too many slow ballads and not enough ballsy rockers on there for me.

I listened to the album a second time driving back to campus and you're partially right: it wasn't nearly as great as I thought it was. But I'd still rate it higher than Revelation, even though I thought that was a pretty solid release.

I'm told that you've gotten more outspoken against Arnel, and Kelly's performance lends merit to such an argument. While I think an analysis of their voices would conclude with Arnel having greater raw goods, Kelly's a polished, controlled vocalist. Great stuff; Arnel should take a page out of Kelly's book.

Saint John wrote:

Gideon wrote:I
On another note, I popped in Live in Houston, Live in Manila, and the Arrival DVD and watched each of them twice -- once for enjoyment, the other for critique. Before I jump into my assessment of each, I'm wondering how much post-show enhancement was done for each concert. I was told that Augeri's performance was beefed up considerably in the studio; is this true for Arnel or Steve P.?

The Houston dvd conatins some enhancements done by Perry himself, but they're minimal. The Arrival dvd can't even be considered "live." There was a lot of work done (That's the word on the street) to make it sound that good. Manila, for better or worse, is a true live dvd. There are many minor imperfections that any studio clown could have cleaned up, but they decided, for whatever reason(s), to leave it as is. I'd rate them Houston, Arrival and Manila ... with the last 2 being interchangeable.

I'll comment on this later.

Arrival DVD is all piped in vocals. And the reason the 30th anniversary DVD never got released, as the band needed/needs to hire Steve to come back to do studio vocals to finish it off.
Current live audio unusable.
Yes, that's 100% correct.

Andrew wrote:Arrival DVD is all piped in vocals. And the reason the 30th anniversary DVD never got released, as the band needed/needs to hire Steve to come back to do studio vocals to finish it off.
Current live audio unusable.
Yes, that's 100% correct.

There's places where Steve is pitchy on 01, I find it hard to believe that's piped in. I believe they overdubbed vox, but not to that extent.

Andrew wrote:Arrival DVD is all piped in vocals. And the reason the 30th anniversary DVD never got released, as the band needed/needs to hire Steve to come back to do studio vocals to finish it off.
Current live audio unusable.
Yes, that's 100% correct.

Am I crazy for seriously wanting the Generations DVD, even if it's not 100% authentic?

Gideon wrote:
Am I crazy ?

Gideon wrote:

Andrew wrote:Arrival DVD is all piped in vocals. And the reason the 30th anniversary DVD never got released, as the band needed/needs to hire Steve to come back to do studio vocals to finish it off.
Current live audio unusable.
Yes, that's 100% correct.

Am I crazy for seriously wanting the Generations DVD, even if it's not 100% authentic?

I want that fucker bad... if for nothing else than to have the first half of the setlist on a DVD. That was GREAT.

Behshad wrote:

Gideon wrote:
Am I crazy ?

Ehwmatt wrote:

Gideon wrote:

Andrew wrote:Arrival DVD is all piped in vocals. And the reason the 30th anniversary DVD never got released, as the band needed/needs to hire Steve to come back to do studio vocals to finish it off.
Current live audio unusable.
Yes, that's 100% correct.

Am I crazy for seriously wanting the Generations DVD, even if it's not 100% authentic?

I want that fucker bad... if for nothing else than to have the first half of the setlist on a DVD. That was GREAT.

Tell Andrew to pull some strings!

Gideon wrote:
Tell Andrew to pull some strings!

You and Ehwmatt should simultaneously pull the pins on fucking hand grenades for wanting that DVD. What are you homos gonna do ... duct tape your cocks together and listen to Mystery Mountain?

Saint John wrote:

Gideon wrote:
Tell Andrew to pull some strings!

You and Ehwmatt should simultaneously pull the pins on fucking hand grenades for wanting that DVD. What are you homos gonna do ... duct tape your cocks together and listen to Mystery Mountain?

Actually, Kohoutek and Of a Lifetime. That first set was AWESOME... the People and Places intro floored me the first time. I can't imagine how good it woulda been with Rolie singing those tunes instead of Friga.

Ehwmatt wrote:

Saint John wrote:

Gideon wrote:
Tell Andrew to pull some strings!

You and Ehwmatt should simultaneously pull the pins on fucking hand grenades for wanting that DVD. What are you homos gonna do ... duct tape your cocks together and listen to Mystery Mountain?

Actually, Kohoutek and Of a Lifetime. That first set was AWESOME... the People and Places intro floored me the first time. I can't imagine how good it woulda been with Rolie singing those tunes instead of Friga.

For sure. I'm just busting your balls. That particular concert was a good time, man. was a fucking iron man that tour. He had a lot of blazing guitar work night in and night out. I thought it was incredibly stupid to put Augeri on guitar and have him miss his vocal warm up. Or did he even need it?

Saint John wrote:

Ehwmatt wrote:

Saint John wrote:

Gideon wrote:
Tell Andrew to pull some strings!

You and Ehwmatt should simultaneously pull the pins on fucking hand grenades for wanting that DVD. What are you homos gonna do ... duct tape your cocks together and listen to Mystery Mountain?

Actually, Kohoutek and Of a Lifetime. That first set was AWESOME... the People and Places intro floored me the first time. I can't imagine how good it woulda been with Rolie singing those tunes instead of Friga.

For sure. I'm just busting your balls. That particular concert was a good time, man. was a fucking iron man that tour. He had a lot of blazing guitar work night in and night out. I thought it was incredibly stupid to put Augeri on guitar and have him miss his vocal warm up. Or did he even need it?

At that point, I was JUST discovering their pre-Perry stuff as I knew they were playing it on tour, so it was really something extra special to hear songs like those live that really let Neal just rip it. That's when he cemented himself as my co-favorite guitar player of all time.