Journey have released You Got the Best of Me, the latest single from upcoming album, Freedom.
Accompanying the legendary rock outfit’s latest track is the news that Freedom – Journey’s first studio LP in over a decade – will arrive July 8. When it drops, it will be the group’s 16th studio record in total, and follows 2011’s Eclipse.
Like the previous single – The Way We Used to Be, which arrived almost a year ago – You Got the Best of Me is classically Journey, dripping in luscious synth soundscapes, quirky keyboard motifs and anthemic electric guitars.
Resident guitar titan Neal Schon delivers the six-string goodness in spades, serving up hard-panned arpeggios, open-string-heavy chord voicings and unrelenting palm-muted chugs that keep the track ticking along towards its speaker-smashing finale.
It’s quintessential Journey to its core, with the oversized vocal harmonies and call-and-answer lyrics preceding a Journey-appropriate guitar solo that sees Schon delve into his bag of tricks for some scintillating fretboard action.
Freedom has been a long time coming, and has been heavily teased by Schon over the past 12 months or so. When the band dropped the effort’s first single, the guitarist revealed the rest of the album was sounding “phenomenal” and that it explored a musical direction that “we have not gone before”.
“There's nothing we really can't play,” he continued. “We aren't afraid to go to new places. It's easy to stay safe and write where we have always been. We have a bit of that so we don't lose everyone, but at the same token, this is a new chapter of Journey. I want to go where we have not gone before.”
In a later update, Schon amped up the hype and appealed directly to fellow guitar lovers, saying players would especially like it “because I’m just unleashing on it”. “It’s ballistic, man,” he said. “And there’s no lack of guitar on this record.”
“I think any guitar player out there is gonna love this record,” Schon continued. “I'm listening to it [Freedom] now, and many others that have known our music for a long time have said, 'Look, this is the modern-day-and-age Escape. I think this could be the next Escape for you guys.'
“And I think that's a bold statement, but honest to God, I feel like it's that good.”
In February, Schon took to social media to reveal the album’s tracklist, which can be found below.
- Together We Run
- Don't Give Up On Us
- Still Believe In Love
- You Got The Best Of Me
- Live To Love Again
- The Way We Used To Be
- Come Away With Me
- After Glow
- Let It Rain
- Holdin On
- All Day All Night
- Don't Go
- United We Stand
- Life Rolls On
- Beautiful As You Are
Journey are currently in the midst of their Freedom tour of North America, which is currently slated to conclude on May 17 at the Videotron Center in Quebec City. Their next show is on Thursday (April 28) at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.
For more information, head over to Journey’s website.
