They're a band who get a lot of hate from a lot of different quarters, possibly because people keep putting them into what I feel is the wrong boxes. I mean, a heavy metal band? Surely not. A pop band? No. I think the only proper label that fits Journey is AOR, and in that sphere they have flourished and grown to be one of the biggest stadium-fillers in the US, perhaps the world, over a career spanning forty years, but really only beginning in earnest in 1981, with the release of this, their most successful and best known album.
Escape --- Journey --- 1981 (Columbia)
With the arrival of keyboard whizz Jonathan Cain from The Babys (which had also featured John Waite, a relationship they would renew when they and most of the rest of Journey would form Bad English in 1987), the scene was set for a cosmic shift in the fortunes, and indeed the music of Journey. While they had had six albums previous to this, none had really done much, although
Departure and the two previous albums had made some inroads on the charts and given them some hit singles. However Journey, generally, were still a well-kept secret for the most part. They had their fans, sure, every band does, and they had their hits, but their albums only began shifting massive units after this behemoth hit.
Straight into songwriting went Cain, with Neal Schon and Steve Perry, and together they crafted not one but four huge hit singles, two of which were to go on to become total rock classics, and the stuff of many a drunken karaoke night. The album became their breakthrough in a commercial sense, putting them firmly on the map. People like Unknown Soldier will probably argue that Journey were already well on the map, and they were, but if you like, this album put them in the sat-nav rather than just being a place on a printed map. In other words, though Journey had had hits in the US before, it was only after this album that people all over the world suddenly began to know who they were. And so the hate began.
But I love Journey, though many of their albums I feel struggle by on some incredible tracks paired with some pretty poor ones, of which perhaps more later. If any of their albums can be said to be a classic though, it has to be this, and it would lead to other gems like
Frontiers and
Raised on radio, as what was almost the perfect AOR band lineup took shape. What I said above does not however holds true for this album: there's hardly a sub-par track to be found among these nine perfectly-crafted songs? And what else would you expect of an album that was voted as number one AOR album ever by the readers of that venerated metal mag, “Kerrang!” indeed? Not bad.
If there's anyone alive who does not know “Don't stop believin'” then I have yet to meet them. If only through the latter efforts of “Glee”, the song has become a standard even if some people don't realise who wrote it. With a haunting piano line that immediately lays down Cain's marker as the new guy taking control it features a bluesy vocal from Steve Perry, arguably the best ever Journey vocalist, before Neal Schon's searing guitar line bursts through and the song takes off. “Don't stop believin'” is somewhat of an oddity in Journey's catalogue, as it really doesn't feature a chorus, or indeed the title, until the last minute or so, with the verses all played one after another. The end result is a buildup that just makes you want to punch the air in exhilaration when Schon's guitar solo peters out and ushers in Perry's hopeful, defiant vocal
”Don't stop believin'/ Hold on to the feelin'!" Classic, and a a great way to open the album.
A loud, raucous staggered guitar riff takes in “Stone in love”, Steve Smith's thumping percussion merging with Ross Valory's powerful basslines and Perry's vocal coming in with a raunchy, sleazy delivery quite different to the song he's just finished. Great vocal harmonies, another hallmark of Journey's music, and very much more guitar-driven this time, as Schon gets given his head, Cain tailing back into the background and waiting for a chance to shine, as he does in the buildup to the instrumental section, where he puts a Yes-like spin on the music. He leads in the second hit single, “Who's crying now?” as his soon-to-be familiar piano notes lay down the background for one of rock's most powerful ballads. Again, there may be few among you who don't know this song. A passionate vocal from Steve Perry and just the right amount of punch from Smith takes the song along in a perfect path. Those vocal harmonies are back and so very sweet, Valory putting a superb little twist on the bassline that forever marks the song with his unique signature.
This is only one of two tracks on which Perry and Cain collaborate without Schon, but the sublime breakaway guitar solo that ends the song leaves you in no doubt that he has more than contributed to it. Journey would get a lot of stick --- still do --- for the amount of “soppy rock ballads” they write, and indeed this album has three, but if you thought they were not a rock band then “Keep on runnin'” should show you the error of your ways. Not the best of Journey songs certainly, but it has a real punch and drive about it, and Schon goes particularly crazy on it. Perry sings his heart out and again Cain takes something of a backseat to the guitar man, but as ever he's only waiting, gathering his strength and his energy for the lush ballad to come. “Still they ride” begins on soft acoustic guitar and will always be recognised for Perry's first two words,
”Jessie rides” before Cain builds the soundscape with sonorous organ and powerful piano, Perry wringing every ounce of emotion out of the song. It's devoid of the usual vocal harmonies this time, but rather than suffer for it their absence seems to make it better, almost as if they would be superfluous here.
A soaring guitar solo screams off Schon's fretboard, climbing to the Heavens as the song reaches its climax, Cain adding piano flourishes and synth flair as they take the track home and into the title track. A big snarly guitar with piano glissando and “Escape” gets underway, rocking along nicely with a bouncy beat, Cain emulating Jerry Lee Lewis almost on the ivories. He also must have given Geoff Downes some ideas and borrowed from Tony Banks, as I hear a sequence that would crop up on Asia's first album and had been used by Genesis earlier. A real stadium rock anthem, “Escape” brings the harmonies back in and they work brilliantly. There's even a shot of soul and gospel in the vocals. “Lay it down” is down-and-dirty straightahead rock and roll, not a wimp in sight as Schon cuts loose and Perry gives it all he's got. I'm not sure whether the presence of ex-Lynyrd Skynyrd soundman Kevin Elson, who co-produces, has anything to do with this but it definitely has a certain southern rock feel about it.
And things keep rockin' for “Dead or alive”, this time driven on the manic rock piano of Mr. Cain, a song just to have fun to really. A rapid-fire vocal delivery from Steve Perry as he grins
”Wanted dead or alive” five years before Jon Bon Jovi took that to the charts and reinvented cowboy rock for a while. Powerful work on the frets from Schon, a great almost metalworthy solo (shut up) and we're into the longest track on the album. “Mother, father” runs for just a second short of five and a half minutes, and almost closes the album with a classical piano intro by Cain, a strong and determined vocal from Perry which quickly changes what seemed to be a ballad into a dramatic, yearning power anthem and would have made a great closer by itself. This is the only track on the album on which Matt Schon lends a hand to the songwriting team. I don't know if he is Neal's brother, but I assume he's related in some ways. This is probably the closest Journey come to returning, if briefly, to their earlier progressive rock roots, and it really gets you in the heart, especially with the harmonies.
But it's not quite over. The final track is not only another single, but their biggest hit in the US, stopping just one short of the number one slot. This confounds me a little. I love “Open arms”, and it's an amazing song, but I can't believe people liked it better than “Don't stop believin'” or “Who's crying now.” It's a showcase for Jonathan Cain as he drives the closing ballad on gentle piano, Perry's voice soft and wistful initially until the chorus when he punches it up into an emotional crescendo, and you can almost hear the passion leaking from his pores as he croons
”Now I come to you/ With open arms/ Nothing to hide/ Believe what I say.” Which kind of brings everything full circle in terms of lyrical content. I don't see an orchestra credited, but if not then Cain certainly makes his synth sound like one, and for once Schon lets him do his thing and stays somewhat in the shadows, allowing the song to bring a gentle and triumphant close to a true classic of AOR.
TRACKLISTING
1. Don't stop believin'
2. Stone in love
3. Who's crying now
4. Keep on runnin'
5. Still they ride
6. Escape
7. Lay it down
8. Dead or alive
9. Mother, father
10. Open arms
Listen, all you guys and girls who hate and laugh at Journey don't bother me. I listen to music because I like it, not because I'm told to or I think I should or someone says I should, and equally, I refuse to put down a band just because they're not popular or deemed worthy. This album is a true classic, and would spawn some amazing followups, cementing the name of Journey not only in rock's annals but also in the derision and sneers of those who judged them by their hit singles and probably never bothered to listen to a full album. Some people just like to feel superior --- as Jimbo Jones once put it in
The Simpsons: “It makes me feel like a big man!” And that's fine. You go ahead: haters are gonna hate. But you won't turn me off Journey.
And if you listened to this album maybe your opinion would change. But even if not, nothing stops
Escape being a classic of eighties AOR, and the yardstick that so many new and young bands still aspire to, over thirty years since it was released. If songs like “Don't stop believin'” can still inspire artistes to cover them and make them famous and popular all over again, then that has to say something about the album's longevity, doesn't it? You might prefer Husker Du, or Kendrick Lamaar, or even The Flatfish from Outer Space, who knows? And if you do, fair play to you and I hope you enjoy them.
This is what I enjoy. Classic, timeless rock that speaks down the years and still seems as fresh today as when it was penned back at the start of the 1980s. And I will go on enjoying it. And Journey will go on releasing great albums. And you will continue to hate them. Probably. And the world will continue to turn. But with four hit singles and over twelve million units sold, and nary a bad track on it, there's no escaping (sorry) the fact that this is, and always will be, a great example of a classic AOR album.