Fantastic album--can't stop listening

I bought this CD after hearing "Feeling That Way" and "Anytime" on classic radio in my car. I already owned "Greatest Hits" and didn't realize those songs weren't on it. The entire album has wonderful melodies and passionate and melancholy lyrics.



This is a great album--a must-buy!

Great Album!!

"Wheel in the Sky" and "Lights" are the best tracks. This release really helped define who Journey is..a very talented group of people making music. Thanks for the great songs.

What ever happened to Steve Perry?

The beginning of classic Journey

Journey's fourth album Infinity was released in January of 1978.

After the failure of their first three albums(1975's self-titled, 1976's Look Into the Future and 1977's Next), the members of Journey(guitarist Neal Schon, keyboardist/vocalist Gregg Rolie, bass player Ross Valory and drummer Aynsley Dunbar) were faced with being dropped from Columbia Records as no one were buying their first three rock-jazz fusion efforts.

As a result, the band went on the hunt for a fifth member, a new singer.

First, they tried Robert Fleishman who was a screamer but manager Herbie Herbert remembered hearing a demo tape of Steve Perry singing with his own band and the other members balked but were persuaded by Herbert to give Perry a go.

Then, after spending time with each other, the band composed ten tracks and went into the studio with producer Roy Thomas Baker(famed for his work with the legendary rock band Queen) and produced the album that took the band to superstardom.

How is Infinity years on, read on!

The album begins with the ballad Lights which has gone on to become one of Journey's monster hits and was the second song that Perry and Schon wrote together. Feeling That Way is next and starts with Gregg singing thinking it was back to the jazz-rock fusion of the early days before it goes into a solid rock song with ballad elements and Steve's voice showing this new lineup meant business before it segues into Anytime which kicks off with a Queen-esque sounding harmony(thanks to Roy Thomas' production techniques) leading into a heavy bass beat and vocals from Gregg with Steve singing the bridge. Very great song, again containing a very solid rock beat. La Do Da is next and has a nearly thrash metal intro (the guitar lead-in sounds very thrash) and morphs into another solid rocker that has no hint of ballad, and ends with a Perry scream with the phased sounding drums before segueing into the first song that Steve and Neal wrote together Patiently. The song is a ballad with minimal backing instrumentals save guitars and some keyboards. The interesting thing about this track is that it switches in the middle from a quiet vocal to a hard rocker with a crunchy guitar solo and heavy bass and killer drumming before returning to its original nature in the last 30 seconds. A very interesting musical changeup.

The second half of the album starts with the album's first single and the world's intro to Journey as we know and love them Wheel in the Sky. When this track was released some said it was a new Queen single but were shocked that an American band could play something akin to what the British bands could. We then go to the ballad Somethin' to Hide which explores how high Steve Perry can sing (really high with that high A note that most metal screamers(like Ian Gillan, Rob Halford and so forth) would scream) and is still a great ballad. We then segue into the album's best cut The Winds of March. This song starts off with an extended instrumental C Minor ballad introduction. Much of the first half of this song feels a lot like Elton John, except with Steve Perry singing. As the song goes on it was one of the band's last prog-rock epics because after the ballad section it switches to a hard rock section with solos from Rolie and Schon before ending as it began with the slow beat and classical guitar outro. The rocker Can Do follows and sounds like Roy Thomas Baker's most famous clients Queen the way the music and the vocal harmonies sound. We then close the album with the ballad Opened the Door. The music is soft and the lyrics are sung beautifully and ends with a triumphant guitar outro.

Infinity, as a result, became Journey's first US Top 20 charting album and not coincidentally their first album to go Platinum(over a million copies sold in the US alone). Also, the band broke out big as they toured with Van Halen in 1978 and that double bill tour broke both bands out into the big leagues of success.

However with success, came tension. Drummer Aynsley Dunbar would be fired from the band after the Infinity tour.

In 1996, Columbia Records re-released Infinity in a digitally remastered edition CD and Bob Ludwig did a superb job restoring the sound of the album which sounded shoddy on the first CD issue. Also, Columbia Records restored all of the artwork on the original vinyl release which was awful on the first 1980s CD issue.

Infinity is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!