Raised On Radio(1986). Journey's tenth studio album.

Journey, the corporate rock band that all critics _love_ to hate. Most everyone who is a serious aficionado of rock music usually cringes at the mere mention of the "corporate rock" moniker, one that is often tagged onto bands such as Styx, Eddie Money, Boston, Peter Frampton, Loverboy, Huey Lewis, Foreigner, Blue Oyster Cult, and countless others. I admit, you do have to wade through a ton of sludge to get to the good stuff, but there is in fact GOOD stuff released amongst all the aforementioned bands. I'm a serious listener of all sorts of rock music, and whether it be pop, heavy metal, progressive, punk, or whatever, good music is good music, and I tend to have a soft spot for Journey from time to time because of this. Like Loverboy, they know how to concoct good and catchy (albeit contrived) melodies that stick in your head long after the song ends. Written off in the 70s as a corporate rock act from the moment vocalist Steve Perry joined the band, Journey spawned many hits such as `Lovin' Touchin' Squeezin', `Any Way You Want It', and `Wheel In The Sky'. The early 80s continued to amass them fans with other radio staples like `Don't Stop Believin', `Faithfully', and `Only The Young'. `Separate Ways' has always been my favorite Journey tune with its sharp rocking sensibilities, and driving melodic keyboard tones. Now the year is 1986 and it's time for them to follow up their success with something even more akin to radio-play. Can they keep up the pace?

Well, not quite. But if you're a fan of some of Journey's catchier material, it's worth having it for a few songs. Much of the hard rock guitars have been stripped away in favor of a highly polished pop sheen, a standard thing in 1986. There's a couple of outstanding songs, several decent songs, and a few duds. So overall, a slightly above-average pop rock album.

Let's start with the best first. `Be Good To Yourself' has always been a great mid-paced rocker, sort of the swan song of classic Journey on their greatest hits album. The other highlight here is `Suzanne', which although somewhat un-Journey like in its poppiness, manages to capture everything that a good pop song needs, and is unquestionably my favorite track on the disc. It has a very upbeat quality with an awesome build-up into a full soaring chorus, the likes of which I haven't heard in a long time. Probably worth buying the disc used if you like it. `The Eyes Of A Woman' is a fairly standard melodic synth pop song in of itself, but for some reason I'm really drawn to its catchy chorus melody. Now, the good but not great songs. `Girl Can't Help It' opens the album on a light note, while `Positive Touch' has a bouncy but dated saxophone pop quality. Then there's the slower `Once You Love Somebody', which is just okay. The title track starts off promising, but it doesn't seem to go anywhere as the song moves along. `I'll Be Alright Without You' was a minor hit in the vein of some of Journey's earlier softer radio staples. The rest of the songs are either merely forgettable or below average.

So is ROR worth picking up? Sure, but only if you're already a Journey fan and you've checked out their earlier catalogue. It's neither essential nor a good starting point, but worth having for a few good songs if you can get into it.

Replayability: I'll break it out once in a while, if only for those few songs. The rest I can live without.

Recommendations:
-Any of Journey's earlier albums prior to this one
-Any of Foreigner's 70s and 80s albums
-`Reckless' by Bryan Adams
-`Third Stage' by Boston
-`Sports' by Huey Lewis