Freedom is Journey's 15th studio album offering and third with Arnel Pineda. They released it on July 8, 2022. Freedom was going to be the title for the Raised on Radio, but Steve Perry changed it.
The album came out after a failed coup d'état from longtime bassist Ross Valory and drummer Steve Smith and after the Covid-19 lockdowns. Controversies still plague the band with the most recent between Jonathan Cain and Neal Schon regarding credit card charges. There is always something. Anyway, the main thing is the music and Freedom is an outstanding, high-quality album.
We have Narada Michael Walden filling in for Steve Smith. On a side note, Deen Castronovo is back on the throne behind the kit. We also see the return of Randy Jackson, who last played bass on Raised on Radio. Plus, we continue to have the current core of Journey, Neal Schon, Jonathan Cain, and Arnel Pineda.
Freedom has 15 songs and clocks in over an hour, 1hr 13min. Even for the long runtime, the album does not have a lot of fillers. Even the songs that are supposedly fillers are killers. There are some songs I liked over others, but that does not mean they aren't good. Just a different vibe and quality.
On this release, we see Arnel Pineda coming into his own. On this recording with his voice, he seems to have more freedom. He still has that Steve Perry sound, but we hear him putting more of himself into the vocals and not sounding like Steve Perry on certain songs. He is using other elements and techniques with his voice to add different colors and textures to the songs.
And Neal Schon's guitar playing is still as blistering and passionate as ever.
"Together we Run" starts the album. It begins with a hypnotic keyboard riff and picks up the pace slowly during the pre-chorus. A nicely crafted, melodic hard rock song. "Don't Give Up on Us" is a solid, melodic rock tune with a great catchy chorus. Great mixture of guitar and keyboards. Neal, Jonathan and Narada do a superb mix of these two instruments throughout the entire record. This song is sure doubtlessly a new concert staple.
"Still Believe in Love" is a seductive, atmospheric ballad. It has elements of jazz and rhythm & blues. Neal Schon's guitar licks color the song brilliantly. Full of slow, aching, burning passion. Definitely a standout track. "You got the Best of Me" is an expressive rocker and picks the pace up. It reminds me of "Keep on Running" from Escape.
"Live to Love Again" is a luscious, classic, Journey ballad. This song could work well in the classical pop realm. I can see a group like Il Volo covering this song with classical instrumentation. It would be amazing if they covered this and invited Arnel, Neal, and Jonathan on the recording. "The Way we Used to Be" is another great journey euphoric rocker with some fierce Neal Schon riffs.
"Come Away with Me" is a heavy riff based rocker. "Afterglow" is a vaporous ballad sung by Deen Castronovo. "Lit it Rain" is a loud, thumping, bluesy, leaden rocker with gritty vocals from Arnel. Good song and an engaging change of pace. A lot of these heavy rocker on the record look to be going back to 70s Journey along with "Holdin On."
"All Day and All Night" continues the 70s heavy rock, blues songs. It starts off with a funky bass line from Randy Jackson and some heavily accented power chords for Neal Schon.
"Don't Go" changes back to more of the melodic, catchy, hook oriented rock songs typical of Journey. It is a fun and uptempo song and reminds me of "Be Good to Yourself" from Raised on Radio. "United we Stand" keeps up with the rock tunes while "Life Rolls On" is a neat little jangly, folky, type of song that morphs into a soulful rocker.
"Beautiful as You Are" closes out the album and clocks in at 7 minutes and 9 seconds. The longest song on the album but is nice ending. It starts off as a beautiful ballad with a tender, lyrical acoustic guitar arpeggio. Then it morphs into a moderate paced lifting rocker.
The production on the album reminds me of Frontiers. With tight yet spacious arrangements for the melodic rock tracks, while nice, thick and heavy for the rockers which harken back to Journeys early years.
Overall, it is a well crafted melodic rock album. One would expect nothing less from Journey. Even though the album is over an hour, I found it quite enjoyable to listen and it is one of their best efforts in years. Definitely the best with Arnel on vocals. Also, I really like Arnel taking in the reigns for Steve Perry. He is an outstanding vocalist and doing an incredible job.
Rating 4 guitar picks out of 5.
Band
- Neal Schon–guitars, backing vocals, keyboards
- Jonathan Cain–keyboards (except "All Day and All Night" and "Don't Go"), backing vocals, synth bass on "Still Believe in Love"
- Arnel Pineda–lead vocals (except "After Glow")
- Randy Jackson–bass (except "Still Believe in Love"), backing vocals
- Narada Michael Walden–drums, backing vocals, keyboards
Additional Musicians
- Jason Derlatka–backing vocals on tracks 5, 6, 9, 12, 14, 15
- Deen Castronovo–lead vocals on "After Glow"
Produced by Neal Schon, Jonathan Cain, and Narada Michael Walden
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