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Trial by Fire

Journey - Trial by Fire Audio CD

A fair review of the Journey "Trial by Fire" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Journey reviews here, or go back to the Journey tabs.

Band: Journey
Title: Trial by Fire
Rating:

Release Date: 1996-10-22
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Message of Love 2: One More 3: When You Love a Woman 4: If He Should Break Your Heart 5: Forever in Blue 6: Castles Burning 7: Don't Be Down on Me Baby 8: Still She Cries 9: Colors of the Spirit 10: When I Think of You 11: Easy to Fall 12: Can't Tame the Lion 13: It's Just the Rain 14: Trial by Fire 15: Baby I'm a Leavin' You [Hidden Track]

Very Under-rated. A splendid album of tunes
Perry is again in the compositional seat and this can be felt. Very Strong & well thought out music is here. When he is moved by the music, it is felt to the listener. He has a dramatic way of singing all of these tunes with real conviction.

It makes no sense to downplay this effort because Steve Perry left just before the schedule of a World Tour was to occur. I can only imagine the level of performance he needed to be at to be able to sing these and past Journey tunes every night. Also, from what I gathered, he had a hip issue which needed to be taken care of. The other members were pressuring him to tour before it could be taken care of, then went on without him. Shame.

Uneven and inconsistent
I always counted myself among the latter group, but tried to review it objectively here. Depending on your perspective, Journey's 1996 album Trial by Fire is either a triumphant swan song for the Steve Perry era of Journey, or a lackluster album from a band capable of so much better.

The album certainly starts strongly enough, with the rocking Message of Love and the dramatic One More, but then comes the single When You Love a Woman, a saccharine sweet ballad Michael Bolton might have thought twice before recording. I know it was a fairly big hit for the band, but I have no idea why. Next is If He Should Break Your Heart. It's another ballad, but a very strong one. The rest of the album continues down the same path. There are songs like Can't Tame the Lion and the title track that can only be described as vintage Journey, but they are mixed with mediocre rockers like Castles Burning and ballads like Colors of the Spirit that sound like Disney soundtrack rejects. Top it off with what is the band's worst album cover artwork since Next, and you're left with an album that is inconsistent at best, and hardly worth the 10-year wait.

All of this leaves the impression that Trial by Fire is a very uneven album. When it's good, it's really good. But when it's bad, well you get the idea. Had they trimmed trimmed this thing down to 10-11 songs, it would be a 4-star album. As is though, 3 stars is the best I can give it. Their follow-up album (2001's Arrival) had the same problem, though it was a much stronger album overall. .

Their best work.
Caine's Piano is simply amazing, and the same can be said about Schon's guitar; not to mention Mr. I have to say this Journey work is so good I have bought it four times: one for me and three as presents cause I want them to know which for me is their best work. Perry's voice, better than ever. It is a flawless album that can be heard once and again and still find something new everytime you listen to it.

Bad Mix, Neal "Schines"!!
It takes away alot of the energy. My biggest gripe with this album is that the vocals are mixed too far in front of the music. I agree with alot of previous reviewers that the lyrics get rediculously sappy at times. The one thing that keeps this CD popping back in my car player is the SUPERB guitar work by Neil Schon! I tend to agree with a lot of other online reviewers about many aspects of this CD but I would forgive the lyrics and the mix to listen to Mr. Shon's incredible performance on this CD! On that merit alone I would reccomend it. And crank it!!.

Worst Journey album of all time.
The songs heavily lean towards sappy soft rock with terrible lyrics. This album was one of the worst Journey albums ever. I personally loved Open Arms, Faithfully, and most of Journey's Greatest Hits but this album is definitely NOT up to par. Perhaps it has a lot to do with Perry's voice no longer being a smooth golden sounding tenor. Instead it's unbearably raspy and sounds like he's straining for every note. Too bad he didn't classically train his voice to preserve his sound. Or maybe it was the drugs n' alcohol that did him in. Whatever the case, his voice is very rough and unpleasant sounding on this album.

1. Message of Love - nice new-wave instrumental intro but lyrics sucked "I walk alone in the dark without you . . . in the shadows of love" Terrible song, the catchy hook was horrid as well - "Baby can you hear my message of love" Could not get into this song at all.

2. One More - there's a trend to the songs on this album, the intros are deceiving, the songs start off with a nice beat but once Perry sings the first few banal lyrics, you're instantly turned off.

3. When You Love a Woman - the only decent sounding song on this album. This Grammy-nominated tune has nice hooks and Perry's raspy voice is somewhat pleasant to listen to. Lyrically, it's nothing special to write home about it other than your cheesy love song.

4. If He Should Break Your Heart - Again a nice soft rock start but then the chorus title is repeated so many times turns it into an unbearably lame tune.

5. Forever in Blue - This song sucked from the beginning intro. As soon as I heard Perry sing "When she walked into the room" I thought oh god, not another lame love song. Recycling their lyric "two hearts" doesn't save this song from the rubbish bin.

6. Castles Burning - Absolutely the worst song on the album. Perry sounding like Tina Turner with a painfully sounding strained voice. This song tries to be a rocker but ends up as pitiful noisy nonsense.

7. Don't Be Down on Me Baby - A failed attempt for a R&B song. Again the lyrics were terrible.

8. Still She Cries - Lovely guitar intro and nice "We were good" chorus. But the rest of lyrics didn't help the song stand out at all.

9. Colors of the Spirit - An unremarkable song that is quickly forgotten.

10. When I Think of You - By the 10th song on the album, I'm feeling like enough of the sappy love songs. Yet again, Journey or maybe Perry himself fails to make a memorable impact. Lukewarm lyrics and vocals.

11. Easy to Fall - Another false start with a bluesy start but the song disintegrates into yet another bland love song.

12. Can't Tame the Lion - Finally, a bit of a beat to wake me up from my coma after suffering through 11 tracks of soft rock. Sadly, the incredibly stupid lyrics - can't tame the lion just ruins whatever momentum the song started.

13. It's Just the Rain - I'm happy by this song, not because it's a wonderful song, but because it's nearing the end album and I no longer have to suffer through it to write this review. This song fails yet again due to horrid lyrics and a nondescript melody.

14. Trial by Fire - For a title song this song is not memorable at all. At this point, I don't feel like I can go on listening to this slow-moving tripe. So many talents in the band were wasted by poor songwriting and not a single hit song.

15. Baby I'm a Leavin' You - Finally, I've reached the end of the album. It's nice to hear Journey try out a reggae beat on their songs but UB40 they definitely are not. Perry's vocals and lyrics somehow destroy whatever pleasant sound this song could have been.

I'm glad I bought this CD cheaply as a used item otherwise I would have been mad if I paid full price for such an atrocious album.

You can see a complete list of all Journey discography, or go back to the Journey tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.