Recorded & Mixed in Little Falls, Mastered in Colts Neck, Steve Smith’s Vital Information has a ‘New Perspective’

Steve Smith & Vital Information

Steve Smith & Vital Information

Two New Jersey recording studios—Mozart Studio in Passaic County and Absolute Audio in Monmouth County—have finished mixing and mastering the New Perspective of Steve Smith & Vital Information. Although the album won’t be released until this Friday, the first single is a complete undoing and putting-back-together of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’.”

Smith, the longtime Journey drummer, ever since starting Vital Information in 1983 as the title of his solo debut away from Journey, and continuing the band after he left Journey, had been asked for years to do a jazz-rock fusion version of “Don’t Stop Believin’” (still the largest-selling song ever on iTunes). He has steadfastly always refused. But keyboardist Manuel Valera was so hot on the idea, he went and wrote a radical arrangement that he got Smith to try on tour in 2023. The crowd went nuts. Thus, Smith, Valera and bassist Janek Gwizdala hit Jersey running and recorded more new perspectives on older songs from their catalog including Michael Brecker’s “Sumo,” Journey’s “Who’s Crying Now” and a tribute track to the great Joe Zawinul of Weather Report, “Josef The Alchemist.”


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Mike Greenblatt

MIKE GREENBLATT has been writing for Goldmine magazine and New Jersey's Aquarian Weekly for more than 35 years. His writing subjects fill the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

He's interviewed Joe Cocker, Graham Nash, David Crosby, Carlos Santana, Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney, Johnny Cash, and members of The Rolling Stones and The Beatles. He was 18 when he attended Woodstock in 1969.

In addition to writing about music, Greenblatt has worked on publicity campaigns for The Animals, Pat Benatar, Johnny Winter, Tommy James and Richard Branson, among others. He is currently the editor of The Jersey Sound.

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