Ok, this sounds a little familiar ...

[uwe]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=51&v=Oawl9e-tFVM

Don't knock the guy, he's a great singer crooner.

[westen44]

What the hell is that?  Pretty trite to say the least.  On the other hand, at least during the 80s this did have some merit whether someone was a fan or not (and I wasn't.)  But let's give credit where credit is due. 

[uwe]

Separate Ways was a cracker of a song when it came out, the way they laid that majestic vocal line over that stomping rhythm was really something. It really grabbed me and I wasn't even much of a Journey fan at that point, I had lost track of them after Rolie's departure.

Perry has always been in danger of sounding a little too sugary when he does ballads - that's just him.

[westen44]

This ballad would definitely make the list of unappealing songs for me. 

[TBird1958]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=51&v=Oawl9e-tFVM

Don't knock the guy, he's a great singer crooner.

 I don't know how old Steve is now, but I'd say he, as a person and his voice have held up very nicely. The production is slick (maybe trite is the right word?), and I really dislike the bass tone a lot, but for a modern pop song it's better to my ear than most anything I hear from current pop artists. People grow and change as they age, as an artist being stuck in 3-5 decades in the musical past isn't a lucrative career path.

[uwe]

Perry, by his own admission, was always more Sam Cooke than Robert Plant. That is why I wrote "crooner". But he has a one-of-a-kind voice that made Journey even at their most anodyne stand out from other AOR bands.

As for the song, it could just as well be (very) late era Journey, by the time of Raised On Radio (the album), Journey's Departure (pun intended) from even AOR rock was in full flight and they began to appeal to people who also like Hall & Oates.

Perry has obviously had personal issues for decades which kept him from rejoining Journey and made him a recluse. He was extremely gracious at the comparatively recent Journey induction at the RnRHoF (lauding his successor - Arnel Pineda - and not stealing his limelight by not performing with Journey). It's nice to hear that he is back doing anything at all. It don't see him returning to Journey, but a Michael Bolton career is still in for him. Time for that Sam Cooke tribute album maybe?

[uwe]

This ballad would definitely make the list of unappealing songs for me. 

Poison were always good fun and never professed to be anything more. Compared to Vince Neil, however, Bret Michaels is Pavarotti. I liked that song when it came out and is has become an enduring hair metal ballad classic, but it's been overplayed.

[westen44]

It isn't Brett Michaels or his voice, but the melody of the song itself that's the problem for me.  If that comes on while you're in a waiting room, there's not going to be anyone who can save you from it. 

[TBird1958]

Poison were always good fun and never professed to be anything more. Compared to Vince Neil, however, Bret Michaels is Pavarotti. I liked that song when it came out and is has become an enduring hair metal ballad classic, but it's been overplayed.

 I saw them with Ratt, they were pure fun onstage and I really enjoyed them a lot as they engaged the crowd on put on a pretty spirited show, it wasn't supposed to a Yes concert! Ratt was a bit tame and badly mixed by comparison, my ex-wife I actually left early.   


 

[westen44]

I used to work with a girl in New Orleans who knew some members of Ratt.  She liked them, but after getting to know them was somewhat surprised that they were a bit tame off stage, too.  I always liked this song.  I remember sending it to a friend a few years ago and she said this was way too 80s for her.

[Dave W]

^^^
That was way too 80s back in the 80s!

[westen44]

^^^
That was way too 80s back in the 80s!

LOL.  True. 

[uwe]

When I first heard that song I thought it was Dokken with a new singer! It's catchy and musically not too dumb, but in my book Ratt's songwriting skills were not too consistent. I saw them once at a metal festival in 1987



and they were - for a band not really known in Europe at that time - very blasé and suffered for it. And Metallica - with new boy Jason - had incredible timing issues on stage, more than I have ever experienced with any professional band, perhaps they couldn't hear themselves or were still shell-shocked from the loss of Cliff, it was a mess and a far cry from the perfectly honed "machine" they are today.

[gearHed289]

I was never a Journey fan, though I did like some of their stuff and learned to appreciate them a little more later in life. Perry seems like a cool guy. This is a great, recent interview that really made me respect the guy.

http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/steve-perry-opens-up-about-leaving-journey-i-was-like-a-wrung-out-sponge/

[Pilgrim]

^^^
That was way too 80s back in the 80s!

How did they get Uncle Miltie to show up in that one?  That was a surprise.