Daniel,

While I may be the complete opposite of you for the most part (I own every Journey CD ever released--pre-Perry, bootlegs, etc.), I do agree with you on one thing: I hate the Tall Stories CD. As a matter of fact, I can't stand Steve Augeri all together. I saw Journey twice with Augeri on vocals and, to be honest, he has less than great stage presence, and while his voice his fine, I don't particularly care for his style. The proof is all there. The Tall Stories disc was watered-down AOR with easily forgettable songs. How about Shine? Anybody remember this gem? Augeri replaced Danny Vaughn as Tyketto's vocalist. Shine was the result. It was awful. It wasn't so much his vocals as it was the songs. The songwriting on both of those albums (Tall Stories and Shine) was horribly below par.

I'm still looking forward to Arrival and I'm sure Augeri will do his best Steve Perry impression. However, his previous efforts are best left in the past.

Here's to Augeri's bright(er) future,
Robert