the promise unfulfilled

Journey through 3 (or at least 2) great early albums seemed to be the American answer to Led Zeppelin and Yes--virtuosic, urgent and boundless. Their first effort--Journey--included "Of A Lifetime," Topaz," "In My Lonely Feeling," and "Mystery Mountain." All of these great songs feature Neal Schon, with significant accompaniment by Dunbar and Rolie, in super high gear.

What Steve Perry has to do with all of this is mysterious--oh, yeah, that's right--CASHE!!!

Give me stereo-panned Schon solos anytime,
the original Journey kicked serious ass.

Their Best! And still sounds great

I was seventeen when I went to my first concert. Pablo Cruise, Journey, and Robin Trower at Winterland in San Francisco. I went for Trower, but the next day was at the Record Factory buying this Journey album. In the liner notes it has instructions to play the album at the highest possible volume to fully appreciate the sound of Journey. I did then and I still do now. In the Bay Area, I was lucky enough to see this version of the band nine times before Steve Perry and twice with him. Bless Perry for making everybody rich (which is great), but the original Journey, for my money was the greatest thing I have ever seen in Rock music. I've been to hundreds of concerts through the years and the best shows I've seen were the one's where they toured for the first three albums. Of a Lifetime remains my alltime favorite rock song. Neal Schon plays on this album with a brilliance and controlled fury unlike anything I've heard him or anybody else do since. And it isn't just Neal that makes this album so special, it's the toal interaction of the band on all instruments and vocals. I wore out three vinyls, an 8-track, and a cassette of this album with multiple listenings. Thank goodness for CD's. In my opinion, this is the best rock album of all time. Just my opinion, don't get excited everybody.

you had to be there...

This album obviously is not the same Journey who became multi-millionaires and left a legacy of saccharine pop music hits. This album and the next two (no pun intended - see the titles) are so much different than that later incarnation of the band, as to be unrecognizable, even without Steve Perry. The music on this album speaks for itself, i.e., this was one party-hard, kicka** rock band. However, the music LIVE was so much more effective than the album! The raw power of the musicians onstage imparted to the music an electricity and excitement just not possible on a studio recording. Not so for other bands like Zepp, whose live music was often, well, not as pleasing to listen to as their studio albums. Unlike the Sweet Steve Perry Journey, Original Journey had an intensity spawned of their love of playing hard rock music - not of desire for fame, money, and groupies. You had to be there to see and hear just how good this Journey was.



The BEST way to get an idea of how INTENSE this band was, is to put the CD into the carriage and TURN THE VOLUME KNOB WAY TO THE RIGHT! Doing anything less is, well, how you should listen to that later band with the same name...