ECLIPSE [AKA: ECL1P53]

Journey roll on with Arnel Pineda on the mic and sounding pretty good I must say. While this will not be embraced on ProgArchives as something resembling a prog essential work, it still is good listening to those attuned to the rock/aor format with just a tinge of progressive flavor. As usual, Neal Schon does a masterfull job on guitar. He has carried this band when other aspects of the lineup have floundered and, on this release, continues to forge great licks and enjoyable ambience.This release doesn't stray far from the tried and true Journey format and that's OK with me. For those times when one wants to simply relax and let the music take you on a "journey" this sounds just fine. Journey, as whole, doesn't fit the progressive rock mold and probably will find themselves mired in the 3 star range on this site.But I suspect this album will be a commercial success for them and will sell in volumes that many acts on the archives could only wish for. 4 stars because I like em, allthough in the true sense of "progressive rock" I would rate this album lower. It offers little to the hard core prog fan looking for that certain something that can make a album stand out, ala Close To The Edge, Dark Side, etc.