Frontiers (Journey album)

Jim Welch designed the album cover. This was the first album cover since Next that did not employ the talents of Stanley Mouse and Alton Kelley. Welch, who has been Journey's art designer for more than 30 years (as of 2022), commented: "Frontiers was a subtle shift. Mouse and Kelley were not involved with that cover. My vision for Frontiers was based on "tunnels" and the relativity of time and motion. Light stays the same, but time bends. It was Einstein theories for artist interpretation. The alien in Frontiers wasn't really an alien at all, he was a connection to a higher level of listening to Journey." ==Critical reception==

Frontiers received mixed critical reception. J.D. Considine of Rolling Stone awarded it with two-and-a-half stars out of five and said: "It's hard to say what Journey is up to on Frontiers. With several of the group's members complaining to the press last year about how success had locked Journey into formula music, it seemed as if the band was signaling a shift to a less overtly commercial, more musically demanding sound. But as much as the sound on Frontiers has shifted, it's hard to believe that Journey thought there was any risk involved. Indeed, in some ways this is the band's most conservative effort yet." Mike DeGagne of AllMusic gave the album a positive review and 4 out of 5 stars, saying, "While they tried to use the same musical recipe as Escape, Frontiers comes up a little short, mainly because the keyboards seem to overtake both Schon's guitar playing and Steve Perry's strong singing. An overabundance of Jonathan Cain's synth work cloaks the quicker tunes and seeps into the ballads, slightly widening the strong partnership of Perry and Schon. 'Faithfully' tried to match the powerful beauty of 'Open Arms,' and while it's a gorgeous ballad, it just comes inches away from conjuring up the same soft magic." Robert Christgau of The Village Voice gave the album a D+ and said, "Just a reminder, for all who believe the jig is really up this time, of how much worse things might be: this top 10 album could be outselling Pyromania, or Flashdance, or even Thriller." In 2005, Frontiers was ranked number 363 in Rock Hard magazine's book The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time. ==Track listing==

;Band members • Steve Perry – lead vocals • Neal Schon – lead guitar, backing vocals • Jonathan Cain – keyboards, rhythm guitar, backing vocals, Roland Jupiter-8 (track 1) • Ross Valory – bass guitar, backing vocals • Steve Smith – drums, percussion ;Additional Musicians • Randy Jackson – bass guitar on "After the Fall" ;Production • Mike Stone – producer, engineer, mixing • Kevin Elson – producer, mixing • Wally Buck – assistant engineer • Bob Ludwig – mastering == Charts ==