
Neal Schön
So U
Frontiers Records
2014
Neal Schön, the iconic & legendary Journey guitarist, returns with a new solo record only two years after the previous “The Calling”. Too soon, in my opinion, if we consider the fact that a solo album should be a way for musicians to express themselves differently from their main band & music “style” and actually give them the freedom to do things their way without nay compromises.
Neal has the renowned drummer Deen Castronovo (Journey, Ozzy Osbourne, Steve Vai, Hardline) & the eminent bassist Marco Mendoza (Black Star Riders, Ted Nugent, Whitesnake, Thin Lizzy) by his side. The three musicians apart from sharing the vocals on this album have also co-written the songs along with the contribution of singer & bassist Jack Blades (Night Ranger, Damn Yankee etc.).
Unluckily, all the fun ends there. Undoubtedly, they are all celebrated musicians & songwriters but this album features nothing that can live up to their fame. If an unknown trio had delivered this album then ironic & poor reviews would have been all over the place. If they didn’t have a major label to back them up too, then this album wouldn’t have made the front news. The very lame songwriting with the repetitive and overdone ideas & themes along with insipid & tasteless melodies makes the final outcome quite uninteresting, dull and tedious. Not exactly what one would expect from 3 legendary musicians like Neal, Deen & Marco. I guess that’s what happens when you have no ideas or inspiration and you decide to release an album. I’ve been following Neal’s solo albums for many years and I think that apart from a couple of tracks that are somewhat OK, the rest sounds like b-sides that never make it to any actual album. The most listenable track here “Love Finds a Way”, with Deen’s very good vocals, could have easily been on a Journey album as a bonus track. Perhaps Neal’s worst moment along with “I on U”. When you see “U” on the album title you know that something ain’t right…
Neal has the renowned drummer Deen Castronovo (Journey, Ozzy Osbourne, Steve Vai, Hardline) & the eminent bassist Marco Mendoza (Black Star Riders, Ted Nugent, Whitesnake, Thin Lizzy) by his side. The three musicians apart from sharing the vocals on this album have also co-written the songs along with the contribution of singer & bassist Jack Blades (Night Ranger, Damn Yankee etc.).
Unluckily, all the fun ends there. Undoubtedly, they are all celebrated musicians & songwriters but this album features nothing that can live up to their fame. If an unknown trio had delivered this album then ironic & poor reviews would have been all over the place. If they didn’t have a major label to back them up too, then this album wouldn’t have made the front news. The very lame songwriting with the repetitive and overdone ideas & themes along with insipid & tasteless melodies makes the final outcome quite uninteresting, dull and tedious. Not exactly what one would expect from 3 legendary musicians like Neal, Deen & Marco. I guess that’s what happens when you have no ideas or inspiration and you decide to release an album. I’ve been following Neal’s solo albums for many years and I think that apart from a couple of tracks that are somewhat OK, the rest sounds like b-sides that never make it to any actual album. The most listenable track here “Love Finds a Way”, with Deen’s very good vocals, could have easily been on a Journey album as a bonus track. Perhaps Neal’s worst moment along with “I on U”. When you see “U” on the album title you know that something ain’t right…