I have a more natural and not so strained relation to Robert Fleischman than Steve Perry´s successors, Steve Augeri and Arnel Pineda in Journey. Fleischman is in fact the first original lead singer in Journey before the band decided to go with Steve Perry and the rest is history. Fleischman has a completely different voice compared to Perry and therefor I can accept him a bit easier than the others, and I would rather be in Fleischman´s shoes because Augeri or Pineda didn´t co-write "Wheel in the sky". By now, you should know that Journey is my favorite band on this planet and I´m a true follower of all the band members projects like The Storm, Bad English, Hardline plus their solo albums.
Fleischman is no exception, I have followed his musical career ever since his days in Journey through his solo albums and bands, Channel and Vinnie Vincent´s Invasion. This week I listened to my own compilation of songs from his entire career so I would get in the right mood for his latest release, The Sky. And I am pleased to say the new album is his best so far, don´t expect an AOR album here because Fleischman has delivered an album of classy adult rock, think The Way meets Cheap Trick when they´re in their Beatles mood. There are moments when my thoughts go to Tom Petty and in others, Bad English. It´s a joy to hear him sing in a lower range instead of the high pitch we´re used to hear Fleischman, like on albumswith Vinnie Vincent. The best tracks are "Boomerang", "All I want" and "In and out".
