ROCK
"Revelation"
Journey. Nomota. 22 tracks on two discs.
Grade: B

From the late 1970s to the mid-'80s, Journey's hits were lavish pop bulletins conjuring amber waves of strip malls. Its melodies resolved quickly over four-four grooves, and the band didn't indulge much in suite form or rarefied instrumental interludes. Neal Schon was its front-and-center guitar player, bending notes into parabolas as big and sexy as rainbows. Steve Perry was its great theatrical tenor, hitting high notes with a likably strained, through-the-noise voice and Sam Cooke-type embellishments. Once it refined its formula, Journey was pure suburban-teen romantic inspiration.

Alex Solca (ENLARGE)
The 21st century version of Journey: Steve Augeri, Deen Castronovo, Jonathan Cain, Neal Schon, Ross Valory.
(ENLARGE)
'Revelation' operates with its own kind of Schillinger System, an almost clinical set of chord modulations, solo-lengths and emotional progressions.
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Perry hasn't worked with Journey since a reunion album in 1995, and after he left, the band, led by Schon, hired two other touring lead singers. Recently, Schon secured the services of another singer, Arnel Pineda, a 40-year-old from the Philippines whom he found on YouTube and who sounds a great deal like Perry.

"Revelation," produced by Kevin Shirley, is the resuscitated band's covering-all-bases album, with 11 new songs, 11 old songs and a live DVD. (It's available exclusively at Wal-Mart and the band's Web site, journeymusic.com.)

Despite the recent surge in iTunes downloads of the old hit "Don't Stop Believing" after it closed last year's final episode of "The Sopranos," this is a band with roughly the same audience it left behind about 25 years ago, a comfort machine with no subcultural clout. "Revelation" seems like a record to justify a tour, and there's one this summer, with Heart and Cheap Trick as supporting acts. (The bands play Chastain Park on Aug. 3.)

And though the album doesn't transcend this purpose, it is, actually, good. Pineda, who sings hard and with the appropriate vulnerability, gives it some distinction. Beyond that, the band seems to have taken rock vitamins: It feels alive.

With the exception of "Wildest Dream" — slightly modern-rock, slightly Foo-Fightery — "Revelation" operates with its own kind of Schillinger System, an almost clinical set of chord modulations, solo-lengths and emotional progressions. You find yourself reeled in exactly where the band wants you to be, to the degree that it wants you to be. Those lyrics! Within the first minute and a half, you're given a huge melody and a full story line: A pair of young lovers have run away, hit hard times and decided with finality that they won't give up on love. Journey, in a nutshell.

With this band, faith counts, and being an average person counts; hence the new song "Faith in the Heartland," about young lovers somewhere in the breadbasket who won't give up their dreams in a fading town.

As for the second disc of re-recorded hits — including "Only the Young," "Open Arms" and "Don't Stop Believing" — it sounds pretty much like old Journey, down to the vocal details, with more acrobatic and whammy-bar-enhanced guitar solos. If you're a fan, take the compliment: The members of Journey will not let go of you. They believe in you.

— Ben Ratliff, New York Times