Signal Strength

Lately I've gone back to the songs and sound I loved in high school because I'm at that age where you do some looking back. The classic 80's Album Oriented Rock sound hit where I lived for the whole decade. This song is the epitome Reagan era power balladry.

Led by vocalist Mark Free, it looks like the band Signal released either one or two albums. I was interested in buying one until I saw it was listed for over $100.00 used at Amazon. So, I'll skip it for now. I debated on whether to treat this as a classic or new song because it was released around1989 but I never heard it until a few days ago. I've decided to treat it as a current song. Like the saying goes, if' it's new to me it's not a rerun.



Signal - "Does It Feel Like Love"

Number 44

Even then, this album cover sucked. It's an invisible hand touching, geez how literal. Didn't they know people wanted to see what a "Sussudio" looked like?

Another band on tour this year which I will not be seeing (only have so much money to see these bands. Nobody tours cheaply any more.) has an album at Number 44 in my favorite CD countdown.

Number 44 is... Genesis - Invisible Touch (1986)

Musically, there is a basic rule in distinguishing Phil Collins from Genesis. Phil Collins=horns, Genesis=synthesizers. Sometimes this rule is violated ("No Reply At All" is Genesis, "In The Air Tonight" is Phil Collins) but for the most part it holds true. Originally, Phil Collins was pop and Genesis was Art Rock and the idea of mixing the two was like oil and water. But, after Collins established pop chart dominance with his No Jacket Required (1984) album letting his commercial instincts run wild under the Genesis banner didn't sound so bad. So it came to be the album known as Invisible Touch and all of the old Genesis fans fretted over the jettisoning of prog rock complexity. There would be no more The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway or "Watcher of the Skies". There wouldn't be anymore "Abacab". There wouldn't even be a "Second Home By The Sea".

But what there would be was an actual legacy for the Collin's led version of Genesis. Like it or not, Invisible Touch made the trio version of the band the definitive lineup in the minds of the general public. It also created one of my favorite pieces of trivia, "What's the only band that was successful, had the lead singer and lead guitarist quit, did not replace those members and became even more successful as a result?" I can't think of any other band that became more successful because the rhythm section was left to it's own devices (I guess I could count Booker T and the MGs, but it just doesn't seem like the same situation to me).

Invisible Touch was initially a hard sell for me because I liked Abacab (1981) and Genesis (1983) for its combination of complex rhythms, art rock edginess melded with a slight pop sensibility. Based on the lead single, "Invisible Touch", I heard what was basically a solo Phil Collins song with keyboards and electronic drums. But, as that song and others became the soundtrack to my first year of college I came to like it quite a bit.

"Invisible Touch" with it's catchy, child like chorus and swirling synths became a huge hit song that would play as throughout the summer while I worked, spent time with high school friends and practiced driving. Driving in my parents car without anyone else in it, feeling a little independent, is what comes to mind when I hear that song. The second single, "Throwing It All Away" is one of my least favorite Genesis songs (it's boring) but it was one of the songs I bonded with a friend over who would become one of my best friends in college (he insisted Collins did this certain hand motion to someone who disagreed with him, I backed him up. It was true). The third single, "Land of Confusion" had the cool puppet video and reminds me of hot summer nights out with my new college friends. The pounding drums and urgent chorus made it a big hit. "Tonight Tonight Tonight" was one of the first songs to become a hit thru a beer commercial, the dark cool sense of desperation spoke to my Miami Vice influenced mind. The ballad "In Too Deep" brought reminiscence of a high school friend who loved Phil Collins and liked the line "Crying at the top of my voice" sung in a higher register from the rest of the verse. The watery texture of the keyboards was excellent

The last song to have a strong memory attached is the instrumental "The Brazilian". At a party I fell asleep in the living room and woke up to the sound of my friends getting laid in the other rooms. The next morning, one of the girls who lived there turned on the CD player and this song came on. So, "The Brazilian" is the sound of being the odd man out to me.

Invisible Touch was a huge hit album and made Genesis an arena rock attraction. It continued Collins' '80's hot streak that would not end until after the next Genesis album, We Can't Dance (1991). So many memories are attached to this album for me, I had to include it in the countdown. What it boils down to is: Cost of a Genesis tape in 1986 - $7.00. Cost of College - I don't know, I didn't pay for it. Cost of memories of being on my own for the first time - priceless.

Journey gets Mainit?

There's a big rumor going around Journeyland that they have found a new singer-Phillipine singer Arnel Pineda! The rumors range from an audition to a contract signing for the youthful looking 40 year old and there are pictures going around of him posing with the band. The reaction on the net has been mixed, ranging from positive support to slightly negative to flat out racist hatred (though the racists have downplayed it as they don't hate Asians, they just don't like when Asians sing with Journey). I guess the racism shouldn't be too surprising, some Journey fans mocked Randy Jackson when he was the bassist for the band in the mid '80's. I heard jokes and racist comments about Jackson when I attended two concerts during the Raised on Radio tour. There just wasn't an internet at the time where they could post their feelings publicly.

That's not to say all Journey fans are racist as I haven't run into any obvious trouble in the five Journey concerts that I've been to. I would like to think the majority of the fans, or the public in general, isn't racist. At least not to the point they feel they need to actively do something about it. And all of the hoopla over Pineda's nationality has detracted from what should be the main point: does he have talent?

Having never heard of him before tonight, I couldn't say offhand. So, I looked him up on You Tube. Overall, I would have to say what I saw was impressive-Pineda performed with energy and had a strong, soaring voice (sound familiar? Those were Steve Perry hallmarks). The only negatives I saw where he tended to push his voice hard to reach higher notes and he would sort of mimic the original singer of whatever song he covered. Not just copy the melody but the individual tics of the original singers. When he sang Journey he became soulful, when he sang Styx he went Broadway like Dennis DeYoung, when he sang Survivor he became heroic like both Dave Bickler and Jimi Jamison. Lack of an original approach can hurt a singer once they hit the big leagues (just ask Johnny Edwards. Who? The guy who temporarily replaced Lou Gramm in Foreigner for just one album in 1991). Then again, Journey made it clear they wanted someone who could copy Perry-um, I mean "perform their songs the way the fans remember them."

So hopefully the party's not over for Arnel Pineda and he'll be able to survive the backlash should he be selected as the new lead singer. I like what I saw of his performances on You Tube and think he can deliver what the band wants-a Steve Perry with limited say on anything other than singing. Sort of like when Van Halen chose Gary Cherone and forced him to sing like Sammy Hagar. I'm a little disappointed Kevin Chalfant wasn't selected, the guy just released a CD of Journey covers that sound great. But like the song goes, the Wheel in the Sky keeps on turnin...



Arnel Pineda (The Zoo) performing Survivor's "Ever Since The World Began"