Journey's Neal Schon Shares New Album Details

Bruce Henne | 12-02-2020

(hennemusic) Journey guitarist Neal Schon is sharing the track list for his forthcoming solo album, "Universe." The 15-song set mixes original tunes written and produced by Journey drummer Narada Michael Walden with covers of songs by The Beatles ("Hey Jude"), Jimi Hendrix ("Voodoo Child", "Third Stone From The Sun"), Stevie Wonder ("I Believe"), Prince ("Purple Rain") and Journey ("Lights").

Schon has been working on "Universe" over the past few years; he released his version of "Purple Rain" as a tribute to Prince on the late musician's birthday in June of 2019.

"Prince, pancakes and Journey guitar riffs at 4 am.... late eighties and I am sitting with Prince on the floor in his apartment at Paisley Park," shared Prince associate Rick Barron at the time. "We've listened to Joni Mitchell, Peter Gabriel and I notice a worn Journey 'Escape' record in his collection. Surprised, I turned to him and said 'Never took you for a Journey fan'. He gave me that doe eyed look that always made me uncomfortable and said: 'Neal Schon is one of my favorite guitarists on the planet, he is a genius.'

"I thought it only fitting that Neal would return the respect by playing a fiery, inspired version of 'Purple Rain'. Having worked for Prince for the last few years of his life, Neal's beautiful interpretation makes the loss of the colossal talent of "P" a little less sad. They are each prodigy's that have woven themselves into the fabric of our lives and our lives are richer as a result" See the tracklisting and listen to the Prince cover here.

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