Sporting one of the most recognizable voices in modern pop rock music, and being out of the music business for over two decades, former Journey singer Steve Perry ‘returns’ with his first album in nearly 25 years. Titled Traces, we get that unmistakable golden throat, a little scratchier with the passing of years, and a man who still knows his way around a ballad.
The single and lead off track “No Erasin” reveals lush harmony vocals, one of the stronger elements in all 10 tracks, in a mid-tempo mover. From the press he has been doing for this release, we have learned of Perry’s loss of his girlfriend Kellie Nash to cancer (she died in 2012), and one can’t help but listen to these tunes with that in mind. We can thank Nash for encouraging Perry to get back into making music. He promised her he would not go back into seclusion when she died.
Big power ballads like “We’re Still Here” deliver in that old Perry vocal and songwriting style, while he has fun in the organ wash and rim shot of 50’s tinged “Easy To Love.” He even manages a slow soulful MOR take on “I Need You,” an early George Harrison song the Beatles recorded.
While Perry manages a competent grown-up rocker with “Sun Shines Grey,” the best tunes on Traces are the soft sparse ballads. The piano and strings of both “In The Rain,” (showcasing Perry’s best vocal) and “You Belong To Me” are stand outs.
When Journey was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2017, Perry was ever so complimentary to his former band mates and even Journey’s latest singer, Arnel Pineda. If the crowd at that ceremony were any indication of the warm feelings we all have for Steve Perry still, the soulful and slow Traces should surely be welcomed with ‘open arms’.
~ Ralph Greco, Jr.
