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ARTIST: Journey
TITLE: “Never Walk Away”
DEBUT: April 24, 2008
ONE-LISTEN VERDICT: Journey’s first new track with Perry-doppleganger Arnel Pineda fits seamlessly into the band’s body of work; it’s an uptempo rocker with a fairly gigantic guitar hook and lyrics about the power of love. But it’s hard not to think of it as sorta inferior to the band’s other monster hits thanks to its lack of a really big chorus; I kept waiting for Pineda to turn the “never walk awa-ee-yay” in the song’s chorus into a triumphant moment, the sonic confirmation that he knew that love would in fact be staying quite put in the lives of the eloping lovers he’s singing about. It never happened, which makes me think that Mach 2 Journey really needs to have Mutt Lange walk into their lives–otherwise, they’ll just ride out the rest of their career making songs that sound like they’ve been written expressly for retail-therapy montages in Lifetime original movies.
(Also: the song’s closing chord makes me wonder if this track was actually built to be the first jab in a one-two punch encore of their new single and “Don’t Stop Believin’.” Seriously, they’d segue together perfectly.)
WHERE TO FIND IT: Glad you asked:
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Apropos of nothing, I always lurved the “one-two punch” of “Feeling That Way” seguing into “Anytime”.
Wow, am I old…
Geez, is that a radio rip from WPYX in Albany? I haven’t thought about that station since about 1988 …
Was this song written to ensure that Pineda would have dozens of chances to sing the syllable-combo “ay-ee-yay”?
Honestly, the kid’s got a fine voice, but they need to stop giving him material that makes him sound like a Steve Perry drag queen.
WTF? This is just “Be Good to Yourself” with different lyrics. They’re stealing from themselves!
@brasstax: Hey, it worked for Nickelback.
@Rob Murphy: Heck, I remember putting on Journey’s “Frontiers” album and turning on random MTV videos (#include WowIMustBeOld.mp3) to see how closely we could synch the music to the actions in the video. Those were the days.
Absolutely not. I do not believe in fairy tales. It’s just karaoke baby. Augeri, Soto and now Pineda. Get back the real deal, babe. Steve Perry IS Journey. Say your sorry and hug.