It would appear that no self-respecting music fan would give Journey the time of day (16:04, fellas) but they say that about Bon Jovi too, and that doesn't stop me listening to them. Journey have gained a reputation for soft rock balladry, mainly thanks to hits from their biggest albums, but they began life as a progressive rock band, and back in 1975 they released their debut album. And this is it, without a Steve in sight.
Album title: Journey
Artiste:Journey
Genre: Progressive Rock
Year: 1975
Label: Columbia
Producer: Roy Halee
Chronological position: Debut album
Notes:
Album chart position: Unknown
Singles: “To play some music”
Lineup:
Neal Schon: Guitars
Ross Valory: Bass, piano
Gregg Rollie: Keyboards, vocals
George Tickner Guitars, bass
Aynsley Dunbar: Drums
Review begins
Nice soft guitar sets us on our way with “Of a lifetime” already demonstrating the skills Neal Schon would parlay into a successful career with the band and even a solo career too. Sonorous organ from Gregg Rolie joins proceedings, and then it's he who takes the vocal, sounding very competent indeed, and very much in the progressive rock mould. Nicely laidback and with the odd sudden jump into life from time to time. A nice opener, and the guitar motif from Schon suits the song perfectly. Even here, this early, he's establishing himself as a major focal point for the band, and it's almost, though not quite, the Neal Schon show from day one. Nothing wrong with that; he's a great guitarist as he proves here, as if he had to. Certainly a star in the making. Sounds exactly like the opening notes to “Yellow brick road” by Elton John opening “In the morning day”, but of course it changes and becomes its own tune. Nice powerful organ and piano meshing as Rollie and Ross Vallory collaborate, Schon's squealing guitar rising into the ether and Rollie's soulful voice holding court over all.
Suddenly takes flight as Schon and Rollie power up the tempo and it heads off on something of an instrumental jam which takes it out to the fade. “Kohoutek” comes in on a slow, almost dramatic piano and guitar line, with pretty explosive drums, stops for a moment then picks up again, turning a little jazzy in the third minute, bopping along, oddly enough without too much in the way of guitar histrionics from Schon ... oh, there they are. Knew he wouldn't be able to rein himself in for too long. Back into the slow piano in the fifth minute as the piece winds towards its end, and it's pretty clear here that we're dealing with the first instrumental. Ends a bit abruptly, and into the only single from the album, this being the more uptempo, keyboard-led and almost a precursor to their later AOR days “To play some music”. Very strong organ line holding this together, and you can definitely hear echoes of the future drifting back in some of the rhythms and melodies that would surface years later on albums like
Escape and
Raised on Radio. “Topaz” is another instrumental, with a soft guitar opening it and then kicking up into another jam, this time very much guitar driven. Some very good piano however from Ross Valory. Kind of a feeling of southern boogie in some of the guitar work.
Get a blues idea from “In my lonely feeling/Conversation”, with a nice striding bassline and thick organ, the vocal this time almost reminding me of Steve Perry; suppose that's just coincidence. Schon takes control here in no uncertain terms, and what I assume to be the second half (the “Conversation” part of the title) is taken by him almost solo, and then we're into the closer, which I'm told survived into their later stageshows and became a fan favourite, presumably the only one from their early days that did. “Mystery mountain” has a good driving rock beat, and again foreshadows the kind of direction they would later pursue, so it's not too hard to understand why this was more acceptable to, shall we say, the
Escape generation than to the older fans. I find the vocal a little muddy here if I'm honest, not always but at certain points; Rollie just is not as clear as he has been up to now. It's also notable for being the only song on the album co-written by an outsider, as it were, this being Diane Valory, whom I take to be the wife or sister of Ross, who wrote it with her. Again very southern boogie running through this. Good work from Schon, who plays his fingers off.
TRACK LISTING AND RATINGS
Of a lifetime
In the morning day
Kohoutek
To play some music
Topaz
In my lonely feeling/Conversations
Mystery mountain
Afterword: It's certainly a great album, but it's hard to see how Journey made the switch from okay progressive rock band to stadium-filling AOR and hitmakers. Still, as I keep saying, this is their debut and it would be another two albums before Steve Perry would arrive to take over vocals and a staggering six more before Jonathan Cain would complete the classic Journey lineup that would record their greatest and most successful albums. Quite a long journey, indeed, but a very promising start.
Rating: 