Frontiers (Journey album)
Frontiers is the eighth studio album by the American rock band Journey, released in February 1983 on the Columbia Records label. This was the band's last album to feature bassist Ross Valory until 1996's Trial by Fire.
The album reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart and would garner four top 40 singles: "After the Fall", "Send Her My Love", "Faithfully", and "Separate Ways ", and a rock radio hit in "Chain Reaction". The album would later achieve the RIAA certification of six times platinum.
The album had been sequenced and prepped for pressing when, in a last-minute conference with Journey's A&R man Michael Dillbeck, two songs were pulled from the original lineup, "Ask the Lonely" and "Only the Young". These two tracks were replaced with "Back Talk" and "Troubled Child". "Ask the Lonely" was utilized in the soundtrack for the film Two of a Kind. "Only the Young" would find its way into the Top Ten two years later, as part of the soundtrack of the movie Vision Quest.
The band recorded a song called "All That Really Matters," with keyboardist Jonathan Cain singing lead, during the album sessions. It didn't see release until the 1992 release of the "Time3" box set.
Frontiers was the band's highest-charting album in the United Kingdom, reaching No. 6 on the UK Albums Chart in 1983.
Album Artwork
From an exclusive interview via E-Mail with Jim Welch by Scott Sullivan of the Journey WWW Page: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
In 2005, Frontiers was ranked number 363 in Rock Hard magazine's book of The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time.Track listing
Personnel
;Band members- Steve Perry - lead vocals
- Neal Schon - lead guitar, backing vocals
- Jonathan Cain - keyboards, rhythm guitar, backing vocals
- Ross Valory - bass guitar, backing vocals
- Steve Smith - drums, percussion, backing vocals
- Randy Jackson - bass guitar on "After the Fall"
- Mike Stone - producer, engineer, mixing
- Kevin Elson - producer, mixing
- Wally Buck - assistant engineer
- Bob Ludwig - mastering
Charts
| Year | Chart | Position |
| 1983 | Billboard 200 | 2 |
| 1983 | UK Albums Chart | 6 |
| 1983 | RPM100 Albums | 10 |
| 1983 | Norwegian Albums Chart | 12 |
| 1983 | Swedish Albums Chart | 21 |
| 1983 | German Albums Chart | 30 |
| 2006 | Oricon Japanese Albums Charts | 143 |
;Singles
| Year | Title | Chart | Position |
| 1983 | "Separate Ways " | Billboard Hot 100 | 8 |
| 1983 | "Separate Ways " | Mainstream Rock | 1 |
| 1983 | "Separate Ways " | RPM100 Hit Tracks | 11 |
| 1983 | "Faithfully" | Billboard Hot 100 | 12 |
| 1983 | "Faithfully" | Adult Contemporary | 7 |
| 1983 | "Faithfully" | RPM100 Hit Tracks | 36 |
| 1983 | "After the Fall" | Billboard Hot 100 | 23 |
| 1983 | "After the Fall" | Mainstream Rock | 30 |
| 1983 | "Send Her My Love" | Billboard Hot 100 | 23 |
| 1983 | "Send Her My Love" | Adult Contemporary | 27 |