Hear Neal Schon pour out the licks on Journey’s new single, Let It Rain

Neal Schon
(Image credit: Brian Ach/Getty Images)

AOR icons Journey are gearing up for the release of new album Freedom this summer, and now you can check out the third single to be taken from the record, Let It Rain. The song follows on the heels of The Way We Used To Be and You Got The Best Of Me.

“We didn't immediately work on the song,” comments guitarist Neal Schon. “It just sat there as a jam for a long time, and then every once in a while, I'd come in to work on something, and Narada [Michael Walden] would play it for me, and I’d go, ‘Wow, we should really fucking work this thing up, there's something there.’”

You certainly get the sense of a jam session writ-large with Let It Rain. It shares the same confident, widescreen melodic rock landscape as its predecessors, but distinguishes itself in its slugging pace and the constant, menacing guitar interplay that bubbles under the blues-y central riff.

Freedom will be the band’s first new album in 11 years and sees the current lineup completed by longtime keyboardist Jonathan Cain, vocalist Arnel Pineda, drummer Deen Castronovo and bassist Randy Jackson. 

They’ve already completed the first leg of the Freedom tour and will quickly follow the July 8 release date with a four-night residency at the Resort Worlds Theatre in Las Vegas, NV, beginning July 15.

Head to the band's website to preorder Freedom.

Matt Parker
Features Editor, GuitarWorld.com

Matt is Features Editor for GuitarWorld.com. Before that he spent 10 years as a freelance music journalist, interviewing artists for the likes of Total Guitar, Guitarist, Guitar World, MusicRadar, NME.com, DJ Mag and Electronic Sound. In 2020, he launched CreativeMoney.co.uk, which aims to share the ideas that make creative lifestyles more sustainable. He plays guitar, but should not be allowed near your delay pedals.