Journey - Escape

This is one of my alltime favorite Journey albums! A flick of the switch and I am back in Jr. High going to the arcade with my friends and roller skating. A classic transport in time by one of the greatest rock and roll bands of the 80's. One that is good enough to translate easily to the youth of today as great music.

Journey does it with a basic formula for Arena-style Rock

While I am not the biggest fan of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, I do believe that the band Journey is a Hall of Fame band. One thing that the Hall of Fame seems to like in bands is stability among the composition of the band. This is something that has always been a problem for Journey. Journey was originally a spin-off band from Santana formed by Keyboardist/Vocalist Gregg Rolie and guitarist Neal Schon. They started out as a Progessive Rock band, but eventually would transform themselves into a mainstream band. This was due in part to two key additions - lead vocalist Steve Perry and keyboardist Jonathan Cain. Perry would join Journey in 1978 and become the lead vocalist on "Infinity" that would feature the mainstream Rock songs "Wheel in the Sky" and "Lights". The band would then release two more albums and was slowly beginning to establish themselves as s commercial force in Rock. By 1981, the band would put together what would be its strongest lineup when Jonathan Cain would replace longtime keyboardist Gregg Rolie. Journey now had its strongest lineup in Perry, Cain, Schon, Bassist Ross Valory, and Drummer Steve Smith. It would be this lineup that would form the basis for "Escape". This would be the album that would establish Journey as legitmate Superstars in the Rock and Pop World.



The additions of Perry and Cain are important because they were not just hired hands - they would become the main songwriting nucleus for Journey. Perry and Cain would collaborate on the songwriting for all ten songs on "Escape". Eight of those 10 songs would include Neal Schon. Perry and Schon actually started collaborating on the "Infinity" album. Part of the reason why "Escape" would be the album to put Journey over the top was the addition of Cain. Not only is he a sensational keyboard player - but he is one terrific songwriter as well as guitar player. The quality of the songwriting and music got much better following his inclusion into the band.



As mentioned, Journey started out as a Progressive Rock band. By 1981, they had become an early "Arena Rock" band. I classify "Arena Rock" as a good mix of Hard Rock and Ballads. "Escape" has all of the elements for "Arena Rock" and seems to do a good job at splitting the Hard Rock and Ballads evenly. Journey also perfects the "power ballad" - a good mix of soft music with its harder Rock moments. Steve Perry is one powerful vocalist who really shines on this collection. Schon's strong guitar playing gives the band a hard edge when needed And of course - they have the powerful songwriting trio. For the most part, the band does it with a very basic formula - just playing Rock and Roll. The quintet doesn't rely on horns, external musicians, or guest vocalists. They create all of the sound on this collection. I find it ironic that this album achieved commercial success during a time where the mainstream music world was heading toward synth-pop.



"Don't Stop Believin": This has become a legendary song. It starts out as a ballad, but grows into a harder Rock song. Cain's keyboards with Perry's vocals provide a terrific opening. Slowly Schon's guitar gets folded in for the harder edge. The lyrics are incredible as it deals with people searching for love.



"Stone in Love": It is going to be Schon's guitar that is going to be the dominant presence on this track. Most likely Cain also contributed guitars to this track. This is your classic "reminiscent" look back to the good old "young romantic days".



"Who's Crying Now": This is probably Journey's best power-ballad. Cain's keyboards provide a nice intro again and Perry shows outstanding vocal ranges on this track. Steve Smith has some power drum moments too. Neal Schon gets a nice guitar solo toward the end of the song.



"Keep on Runnin": This one starts off with what best be described as a classic guitar jam between Schon and Cain. Smith provides what can best be described as thundering drums. Perry's vocals are great, but the rest of the band provides terrific background vocals.



"Still They Ride": This is more of a classic ballad. This song will move you as you listen to it. This song starts out as a narrative with a bit of a reminiscent theme in this song as well. Cain's Keyboards set the tone for a good part of the song.



"Escape": This is a harder Rock song. A short guitar jam starts this song out. While this might not be the catchiest song, this song has some great lyrics. As the song starts "He's just a boy out of school; Livin his world like he wants to" - thus providing the impetus for "Escape". Listen to the Guitar solo about 2 minutes into the song - has a bit of the flavor of Ted Nugent's "Catch Scratch Fever".



"Lay it Down": The harder Rock edge continues on this song. Once again, heavy guitar work. Perry demonstrates some great range. Listen to how he belts out "Higher, higher, higher, ringin' in my head"



"Dead or Alive": More hard Rock guitar to start out with. Cain's Keyboards make a return on this song with subtle Jazz-like sound to it throughout the song (the only place where they deviate from a "basic" Rock formula). Not the catchiest song, but not bad.



"Mother, Father": Falls into the power-ballad category. Great lyrics as it deals with an estranged son trying to connect with his parents.



"Open Arms": This has become a classic ballad. Not my favorite Journey ballad, but certainly not a weak one either. Probably hurt by being overplayed on conventional radio.



The liner notes fold out and contain all of the lyrics and musician credits. Overall, this is Journey at their best - probably the album to have if you are a Journey fan or looking to get into them.

Journey's best album 23 years on

The year 1981 was a pivotal one for Journey.

First, founding keyboardist Gregg Rolie left the band at the end of the Departure tour as the band was mixing their first live album Captured released that January.

Second, the surviving members singer Steve Perry, guitarist Neal Schon, bass player Ross Valory and drummer Steve Smith hired ex-Babys keyboardist Jonathan Cain to replace Rolie. Cain not only could play keyboards but could play second guitar as well as he does on many of the tracks.

Third, Journey released their biggest selling album Escape that July.

Escape went straight to #1 on the Billboard album chart and sold an amazing TEN MILLION COPIES!!!!

Also, the album spawned three Top 10 singles and some rock radio staples.

The album kicks off with the Top 10 hit Don't Stop Believin' which was a midtempo tune that is laid back and catchy, at first I thought that this was a Styx song when I first heard this track as a 5 year old in 1981. The rocker Stone In Love follows and has both Schon and Cain on electric guitars. The album and the band's first big Top 10 hit Who's Crying Now follows. The track was a nice mid-tempo ballad with a solo that Neal Schon hated but the band loved. The rocker Keep on Running follows and was another track that got massive airplay on rock radio. The ballad Still They Ride closed the first half and was a pre-cursor to Faithfully two years later and was a Top 20 hit believe it or not.

The second half of the album begins with the title cut. The song was another rock radio staple with superb vocals by Perry and great guitar solos from Schon. Lay it Down follows and is a great rocker with superb work from Schon, Perry and rhythm guitar from Cain. Dead or Alive is another rocker that rocks on the album. The proggish Mother Father was actually co-written by Neal Schon's father and this song is about a troubled family, this is a beautiful song that brings tears in your eyes and had Steve Smith(a fellow Mass native of mine who graduated from the same High School I did and grew up in the same town as I did) perform his best drum track ever(no wonder he was nicknamed The Machine Gun by Steve Perry). The album closes with the classic ballad Open Arms which became the biggest hit single reaching #2 on the Billboard charts in early 1982. A few interesting facts about this song was that Jonathan Cain had a cold whilst recording the track and the band loved his performance despite the fact he didn't initially like it and also this song was in the animated movie called Heavy Metal.

I first heard this album as my mother and sisters each had record copies and after annoying them by hijacking their records as a child, my mom bought me my own cassette copy in December of 1984 and I now have the remastered CD.

HUGELY RECOMMENDED!