Beyond Journey: Ross Valory Brings All of the Above to Vinyl

For more than five decades, Ross Valory has been known as the foundational bassist and an original member of Journey. His playing helped anchor one of rock music’s most recognizable catalogs, but that history represents only part of his musical identity.

With All of the Above, Valory steps beyond the role most listeners associate with him and presents himself as a composer, arranger and multi-instrumentalist whose interests extend through progressive rock, jazz fusion, Latin rhythms, cinematic instrumentals and several musical ideas that have been developing for decades.

Originally released digitally in 2024, the album returns August 21 in a refreshed and remastered edition. It will also be available for the first time on vinyl and CD, with a purple swirl vinyl edition and autographed photo offered exclusively through Experience Vinyl. The expanded release includes the new instrumental track “City Lights.”

I recently spoke with the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee about why the album belonged on a physical format, the unfinished music that remained on his shelf for years and the creative life that continued outside Journey.

Finishing What He Started

The most revealing part of our conversation was not simply that Valory had unreleased music. It was how long many of these ideas had remained with him.

While Journey became the center of his professional life, Valory continued composing. Some pieces were complete, while others existed only as concepts, fragments or early recordings. Roughly a decade ago, he began returning to that material with a straightforward goal: finish what he had started.

That distinction matters because All of the Above does not feel like a calculated attempt to establish a new solo identity. It feels more personal than that.

Valory told me that commercial success was never the primary motivation. For him, success meant completing the work and finally allowing listeners to hear another part of who he is as a musician.

That perspective gives the album unusual weight. This is not a veteran artist attempting to recreate his best known work. It is an artist opening a musical archive that never stopped growing.

Why Vinyl Matters to Ross Valory

The physical release is more than a collectible variation of an existing digital album.

Valory has long appreciated high quality sound and once collected records himself. He also understands that vinyl encourages a different relationship with music. Rather than selecting one track and moving on, the format asks the listener to engage with sequencing, artwork and the full arc of an album.

That approach suits All of the Above particularly well.

The record moves between styles, moods and instrumentation, but it was sequenced to feel like a complete journey. Valory described the transitions as being connected through tempo, key and atmosphere, even when one composition sounds dramatically different from the next.

In a streaming environment, that variety could easily be broken into isolated tracks. On vinyl, it becomes the point.

The Other Side of Ross Valory

Listeners expecting a conventional bass driven solo album may be surprised.

Valory’s playing remains central, but he consistently serves the composition rather than turning every track into a showcase. During our interview, he described his greatest strength as being an accompanist, someone focused on what the song requires rather than how prominently the bass can be featured.

That philosophy carries throughout the album.

He plays several forms of bass, including fretless instruments, a low tuned four string setup and an electric upright bass. He also performs guitar and keyboards, further expanding the record beyond what many Journey fans may expect.

On “Windmill,” for example, the composition began on acoustic guitar, and Valory plays the guitar parts as well as bass and keyboards. Other pieces originated from bass lines or keyboard ideas. The instrument was chosen according to the song, not simply because bass is the instrument most closely associated with his name.

A Direct Connection to Early Journey

Although All of the Above is unmistakably Valory’s own statement, there is a connection to the earliest version of Journey.

Before the arena anthems and enormous commercial success, Journey was a more progressive and experimental band. Its early records drew heavily from jazz fusion and extended instrumental exploration, with Valory contributing more directly as both a writer and instrumentalist.

When I asked whether listeners should hear a link between that period and his solo work, he said the connection was direct.

The similarity is not necessarily in specific melodies or arrangements. It is in the freedom to move between genres, follow unusual musical ideas and allow instrumental passages to carry the narrative.

For listeners who know Journey primarily through its biggest radio hits, All of the Above may offer a path back to the more exploratory roots of the musicians who formed the band.

“City Lights” and Music as Cinema

The new addition to the physical release, “City Lights,” is one of the album’s clearest examples of Valory’s cinematic approach.

The instrumental evokes Manhattan after dark, with rain, romance and the movement of people through the city. Valory explained that listeners described seeing those images in their minds even before watching the accompanying video.

He performs the song on an electric upright bass and is joined by Eric Levy, Steve Smith, Bobby Strickland, Stevie “Keys” Roseman and Tower of Power horn player Mic Gillette, who created the horn arrangements and played trumpet and trombone.

Valory considers “City Lights” a companion to “Nightflower.” Both songs reflect the atmosphere of city nightlife while drawing from different musical periods. The resulting pieces feel less like conventional songs and more like scenes from films that have not yet been made.

A Remarkable Group of Collaborators

One reason the album can move so naturally between musical styles is the range of musicians involved.

Alongside Steve Smith, the record includes contributions from players connected to Santana, the Yellowjackets, the Doobie Brothers, Sly and the Family Stone, the Tubes and several other corners of rock, jazz and Latin music.

Valory did not assemble one fixed backing band and ask it to adapt to every composition. He selected musicians according to what each individual piece needed.

That decision gives the album its breadth. Different drummers, percussionists, horn players and guitarists reshape the personality of each track while Valory’s writing provides the common thread.

There Is More Music Coming

Perhaps the most exciting revelation from our conversation is that All of the Above may be only the beginning.

Valory said he already has another album’s worth of material awaiting final mixing and mastering. Beyond that, he has music created with an earlier band that has never been released, along with a newer project influenced by Americana and Appalachian music.

For someone who has already spent more than half a century making records, Valory sounds less interested in looking backward than in completing the work still in front of him.

That may ultimately be the most compelling story behind All of the Above. The album is not simply a retrospective from a musician with an extraordinary history. It is evidence that his creative story remains unfinished.

An Album Meant to Be Heard as an Album

Journey fans will naturally be drawn to All of the Above because of Ross Valory’s history. But the record deserves to be approached on its own terms.

It is a varied, largely instrumental collection built around atmosphere, musicianship and musical curiosity. It reveals the composer behind the bassist and the experimental artist whose ideas continued developing while the rest of the world knew him for something else.

The refreshed and remastered edition of All of the Above arrives August 21 on vinyl and CD. A special purple swirl vinyl edition with an autographed photo is available through Experience Vinyl.

More importantly, the physical release provides the format this music was waiting for: one that invites listeners to sit down, follow the sequence and hear the complete story.

Watch my full conversation with Ross Valory above, and visit the links below to explore the album and available vinyl editions.

Experience Vinyl preorder: https://experiencevinyl.com/products/ross-valory-all-of-the-above-w-autographed-photo-purple-swirl-vinyl-lp

Standard vinyl and CD preorder link: https://amzn.to/4pJvdYL

Watch “City Lights” on YouTube: