Steve Perry - Against The Wall (1988 Full Album)

#journey #steveperry #againstthewall Steve Perry - Against The Wall (1988 Full Unreleased Album) Timestamps: 00:00 - Against The Wall 04:43 - Summer of Luv 09:10 - If You Need Me, Call Me 14:59 - What Was 18:57 - Forever Right or Wrong (Love’s like a River) 23:28 - Can’t Stop 27:37- Once in a Lifetime, Girl 32:31 - Melody 36:37 - When You’re in Love (For the First Time) 40:46 - It Won’t Be You 45:12 - Friends of Mine About Steve Perry’s “Against The Wall“ Album: His solo debut Street Talk was released in 1984. During the ten years between that album and Medicine, Perry also worked on another solo album in 1988 (shortly after Journey temporarily broke up in 1987). Perry recorded 11 tracks for this album, which was to be titled Against The Wall, but the album was shelved by Sony after that company acquired Columbia Records, and it has still never been properly released. However, the 11 tracks later turned up in different places: three of them were issued as bonus tracks on the 2006 reissue of Medicine, seven were included on the 1998 Perry compilation Greatest Hits Five Unreleased, and the other – “It Won’t Be You” – was a B-side on the 1994 “Missing You” maxi-single. Ultimate Classic Rock suggests a sequence (listed below) in which to play these tracks to piece together the album. The intended Against The Wall album was mostly made up of emotion-laden ballads that bear less resemblance to Journey than to Rod Stewart’s ‘80’s hits. This would seem to be a good way to showcase the indescribable range and emotional power of Perry’s vocals, which are among the most impressive in rock music. Most of these songs have a bombastic presentation that makes them sound like they were recorded for movie soundtracks. The instrumentation tends to be synth-heavy, although these songs are generally not as bland as the synth-pop tunes found on Street Talk. However, they do often suffer from overblown slickness, and (not surprisingly) Perry sometimes tends to over-emote. Among the heart-aching ballads, the ones that work the best are “What Was” and “It Won’t Be You”, on which Perry’s vocals are more controlled, and the piano and string arrangements are more tasteful. The album does sometimes show a sense of humor, particularly on “Can’t Stop”, a rhythm-and-blues number where Perry playfully expresses an obsessive love for a woman. Unfortunately, the song’s excessive production polish makes the instrumentation sound slippery when it ought to be a bit gritty. The same can be said for “Friends Of Mine“, the hardest-rocking track in the bunch. The Against The Wall album tracks are generally too melodramatic for their own good. If the album had been properly finished, some of its flaws might have been ironed out, and it probably would have achieved at least moderate commercial success if it had been released in 1988.