Journey
(Columbia) 1975
1. "Of a Lifetime"
(6:49)
2. "In the Morning Day" (4:24)
3. "Koboutek" [instrumental] (6:47)
4. "To Play Some Music" (3:16)
5. "Topaz" [instrumental] (6:10)
6. "In My Lonely Feeling/Conversations" (4:59)
Wow! How did I miss this album all my life. Growing up in the 80's, I guess I had just always assumed that Journey were a prissy pop band that you were forced to listen to at high school dances. What we have here is some genuine 1970's progressive rock and roll. Journey was formed when Santana's lead vocalist and keyboardist Gregg Rollie and guitarist Neal Schon left following the "Caravanserai" album. You can certainly hear the Santana influence in this album, albeit without all the latin percussion. Journey's debut actually has more in common with early Rush or Nektar. The songs are filled with cool intros, powerful instrumental breaks, bluesy sections, melancholy acoustic passages and full tilt guitar shredding. The vocals are also far and away different from the sticky sweet vocals of Steve Perry. Original vocalist Gregg Rollie has a darker sounding voice that works well for this style of rock. The thing is, he doesn't spend that much time singing. Of the forty minutes of music, I would be willing to bet that less than 15 minutes features vocals. There are even two songs without any vocals. Both the instrumental tracks on this album are quite good and feature dynamic songwriting, fluid guitar playing from Schon and George Tickner and nice keyboard work from Rolie. It should also be mentioned that the drummer on this album was Aynsley Dunbar (of Frank Zappa, Jeff Beck fame). Journey may be known as a pop, radio, ballad band, but this album is pure rock n roll.
Journey - Look into the Future (Columbia) 1976
1. "On a Saturday
Night" (4:01)
2. "It's All Too Much" (4:06)
3. "Anyway" (4:12)
4. "She Makes Me (Feel Alright)" (3:12)
5. "You're on Your Own" (5:55)
6. "Look into the Future" (8:12)
7. "Midnight Dreamer" (5:13)
8. "I'm Gonna Leave You" (7:01)
For me Journey brings up thoughts of high school dance, cheesy love ballads, and glitzy 80's radio hits. However, long before Steve Perry transformed Journey into pop radio stars, they were a serious rock and roll band. The sophmore offering from Journey is some seriously heavy rock. "Look Into the Future" combines Gregg Rolie's masculine, smooth voice, Neal Schon's unapproachable mastery of the guitar, and the tight rhythm section of Ross Valory and drummer Aynsley Dunbar. One listen to the title cut should leave most fans of heavy 70's rock smiling. Of course no one knew at the time just how good this band was, but as time went on they proved themselves to be a force to be reckoned with, at least within pop rock circles. This album gave us only the slightest glimpse of those pop leanings though. This release is more bluesy than anything the band would do in the future (or had done in the past).
Journey - Next (Columbia ) 1977
1. Spaceman" (4:01)
2. People" (5:21)
3. I Would Find You" (5:54)
4. Here We Are" (4:18)
5. Hustler" (3:15)
6. Next" (5:28)
7. Nickel and Dime" [instrumental] (4:14)
8. Karma" (5:07)
"Next" is the best of the pre-Steve Perry, early Journey albums. By this time, Journey were a full fledged progressive rock band sounding like a combination of E.L.P., Deep Purple and The Beatles. The band combined heavy guitars, progressive keyboards and progressive songwriting to create something far and away different from what Journey would become known for. Aynsley Dunbar (Pat Travers, UFO) is a fantastic drummer and puts forth some of his finest work here. Unfortunately this would be the last album to feature vocalist Gregg Rolie.
Journey - Captured (Epic) 1981
1. "Majestic"
[instrumental] (0:41)
2. "Where Were You" (3:21)
3. "Just the Same Way" (3:36)
4. "Line of Fire" (3:18)
5. "Lights" (3:30)
6. "Stay Awhile" (2:17)
7. "Too Late" (3:41)
8. "Dixie Highway" (6:53)
9. "Feeling That Way" (3:14)
10. "Anytime" (4:25)
11. "Do You Recall" (3:21)
12. "Walks Like a Lady" (7:06)
13. "La Do Da" (7:02)
14. "Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'" (5:09)
15. "Wheel in the Sky" (5:01)
16. "Any Way You Want It" (3:40)
17. "The Party's Over (Hopelessly in Love)" [studio track]
(3:42)
A decent live album from Journey. There some good rockin' songs included here as this album was released prior to hits like Faithfully and Open Arm. The first three songs and the intro are actually very cool, as is "Wheel in the Sky". Personally I think these live versions have a bit more gusto than the lighter weight studio versions. There are two previously unreleased tracks on this album: "Dixie Highway", and "The Party's Over". This song turned out to be their last studio recording with Gregg Rollie. Reading through HeavyHarmonies.com you'd think this album was the be-all and end-all of live records. Looking around other places on the net, I found comments such as,
"This album belongs in the same league as Strangers In The Night, Tokyo Tapes and Live And Dangerous."
"One of the top 10 live albums ever."
"Without any doubt, this is the greatest live arena rock album, EVER."
OK, so maybe my lukewarmness is due to the fact that I wasn't really into Journey in the 80's. I am sure there is some nostalgia for many fans. As for me, I find this CD to be enjoyable, but I don't tend to put it in the same league with "Strangers In The Night", "Tokyo Tapes", "Live And Dangerous" or the outrageous "Double Live Gonzo."