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From: brandx@ihuxa.UUCP (Howard D. Weisberg)
Newsgroups: net.music
Subject: Re: Neil Schon (I don't like Journey)
Message-ID: <513@ihuxa.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 17-May-84 09:55:03 EDT
Article-I.D.: ihuxa.513
Posted: Thu May 17 09:55:03 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 18-May-84 02:11:03 EDT
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Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Naperville, IL
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Yes, I like Neil Schon, although I think he's an asshole for selling
out.  Did you know that when he was 16, he turned down Eric Clapton's
offer to join Derek and the Dominos in order to join Santana?

I first saw Neil Schon with Journey on their last good tour (the
"Next" album in 1977).  At that time, the band was Neil, Gregg Rolie
(who was the original vocalist and keyboardist in Santana - remember
Evil Ways, Black Magic Woman, Persuasion, Everybody's Everything, etc.),
Aynsley Dunbar (the best musician out of the whole bunch) and
Ross Valory (he didn't do sh*t except play on a Steve Miller Band album or
two).  They tore down the Aragon Ballroom (6 standing ovations, 3 encores).
At that time, they played an almost fusion-y rock style. Remember, they
were loved by the critics at that time, although they only had a cult
following.  It was all downhill after that.

I remember sometime after that reading a concert review in Billboard,
where the writer thought that they needed a lead singer.  Shortly
afterwards, they hired Robert Fleischman to sing.  He was nowhere
as obnoxious as Steve Perry.  He did 1 tour with them.  I saw them
for $3 at Harper College.  They were still pretty good.  They did
a lot of old stuff and Aynsley did an incredible guitar solo.

Unfortunately, they later hired Steve Perry and we all know the story
since then.  They wanted Aynsley to play the same every night and
so he quit.  Steve Smith replaced him.  Steve played with Focus, Ronnie
Montrose and even played on "Enigmatic Ocean" with Jean-Luc Ponty.
He is quite good.  His solo album (very fusion-y, no wimpy Journey songs)
has Mike Stern (of Miles Davis' last group) on guitar.

Trivia question (if anyone cares):  Who was Journey's original drummer
and what was their original name?