Victoria has just emerged from an early and unexpected snowstorm. Of course, the Odyssey reports on music, not the weather, but I mention it because it has kept my very manly Miata trapped in port, so to speak.
Today I was finally able to get out - having no one to have lunch with I had lunch with myself at the Blue Fox. I got some reading time in on my new book (see sidebar) and the short drive there and back was sufficient to get through the album that's been languishing in the car since Monday.
Disc 212 is...Escape
Artist: Journey
Year of Release: 1981
What’s Up With The Cover?: A science fiction scene - a spaceship modeled after a scarab beetle bursts out of some kind of interstellar snow globe. This cover is OK, but it is far too prog for the power pop that it heralds.
How I Came To Know It: If you're my age or older, you know this album. Journey was huge in the early eighties, and this album is the biggest of them all. They sold out stadiums all over the world, and if you haven't heard "Open Arms" or "Don't Stop Believin'" then you are either deaf or were raised by wolves.
How It Stacks Up: I only have this one Journey album, and it is likely to stay that way, so I guess that means I like it the best - at least from a position of ignorance of their other offerings.
Rating: 3 stars.
As I noted in the "How I Came To Know It" section, Journey is an early eighties megaband, and "Escape" is their definitive album.
I've tagged it under the 'rock' genre, but they are really power pop. I think there is sufficient power in the pop that they are more on the rock side, however. They are a mix of power-chord guitars, synthesizers and piano for ambience, and Steve Perry's signature vocals. Journey do not do anything particularly innovative, and their main legacy to the music world is that they were popular - and yes that is damning with faint praise.
That said, they play their ordinary songs with all the gusto they can muster, and they take themselves so seriously, they force you to either do the same - or if you can't bring yourself to do that - then you admire the schmaltz of it all. Either way it is entertaining stuff.
Most of the songs are fairly forgettable, but the two biggest hits on this album are justifiably still going strong - even if it is only on AM radio and at hockey arenas.
"Don't Stop Believin'" is always played at Detroit Red Wings home games, and when the line, "just a small town boy/born and raised in south Detroit" comes on, the entire crowd of 18,000+ sing along in full throat. It is a pretty cool hockey tradition, second only to Canucks fans singing a verse of O Canada a capella at every home game.
The Detroit Red Wings music guy does inspired work - he also always plays Alice Cooper's "No More Mr. Nice Guy" immediately following a goal from the visiting team. Listen for it next time you're watching a game.
Anyway, back to Journey, and "Don't Stop Believin'" which I contend is a five star song, whatever your opinion of stadium rock might be. From the opening bars played on piano, to Steve Perry belting out lyrics about young people finding their way (and each other) in the wide world, to the chorus exhorting listeners to hold onto our dreams, this song rocks.
The other hit, "Open Arms" is an early power ballad, which I mostly remember as being a primo slowdance song at high school dances. I have many pleasant memories of dancing to this song with the girl of my choice (or failing that, the first girl who was willing). This song reminds me of all the times I've walked along the front of the bleachers, trying to calculate just how far up the beauty chain I could reach and still get a yes to my invitation to dance.
The experience was nerve wracking, but well worth the chance of holding a real live girl close to you for three and a half minutes. Thank you, Journey, for all the girls who came to me with Open Arms.
I have the remastered version of "Escape" which follows the unfortunate trend of adding a bunch of bonus tracks. In this case, we get a B-Side ("La Raza Del Sol") which is forgettable and three live tracks from a 1981 concert in Houston. I wish bands would just put out a live album, and stop putting mediocre live tracks on their remastered studio albums.
In closing, if you like top forty pop - or simply haven't bought any new music since junior high, "Escape" probably ranks significantly higher than I've scored it, but my musical tastes have never been high on Journey. I'll tip my hat respectfully to them, but hold my applause to a measured three stars.
Best tracks: Don't Stop Believin', Stone In Love, and Open Arms - but only for the purposes of scoring a slow dance with a pretty girl.
Today I was finally able to get out - having no one to have lunch with I had lunch with myself at the Blue Fox. I got some reading time in on my new book (see sidebar) and the short drive there and back was sufficient to get through the album that's been languishing in the car since Monday.
Disc 212 is...Escape
Artist: JourneyYear of Release: 1981
What’s Up With The Cover?: A science fiction scene - a spaceship modeled after a scarab beetle bursts out of some kind of interstellar snow globe. This cover is OK, but it is far too prog for the power pop that it heralds.
How I Came To Know It: If you're my age or older, you know this album. Journey was huge in the early eighties, and this album is the biggest of them all. They sold out stadiums all over the world, and if you haven't heard "Open Arms" or "Don't Stop Believin'" then you are either deaf or were raised by wolves.
How It Stacks Up: I only have this one Journey album, and it is likely to stay that way, so I guess that means I like it the best - at least from a position of ignorance of their other offerings.
Rating: 3 stars.
As I noted in the "How I Came To Know It" section, Journey is an early eighties megaband, and "Escape" is their definitive album.
I've tagged it under the 'rock' genre, but they are really power pop. I think there is sufficient power in the pop that they are more on the rock side, however. They are a mix of power-chord guitars, synthesizers and piano for ambience, and Steve Perry's signature vocals. Journey do not do anything particularly innovative, and their main legacy to the music world is that they were popular - and yes that is damning with faint praise.
That said, they play their ordinary songs with all the gusto they can muster, and they take themselves so seriously, they force you to either do the same - or if you can't bring yourself to do that - then you admire the schmaltz of it all. Either way it is entertaining stuff.
Most of the songs are fairly forgettable, but the two biggest hits on this album are justifiably still going strong - even if it is only on AM radio and at hockey arenas.
"Don't Stop Believin'" is always played at Detroit Red Wings home games, and when the line, "just a small town boy/born and raised in south Detroit" comes on, the entire crowd of 18,000+ sing along in full throat. It is a pretty cool hockey tradition, second only to Canucks fans singing a verse of O Canada a capella at every home game.
The Detroit Red Wings music guy does inspired work - he also always plays Alice Cooper's "No More Mr. Nice Guy" immediately following a goal from the visiting team. Listen for it next time you're watching a game.
Anyway, back to Journey, and "Don't Stop Believin'" which I contend is a five star song, whatever your opinion of stadium rock might be. From the opening bars played on piano, to Steve Perry belting out lyrics about young people finding their way (and each other) in the wide world, to the chorus exhorting listeners to hold onto our dreams, this song rocks.
The other hit, "Open Arms" is an early power ballad, which I mostly remember as being a primo slowdance song at high school dances. I have many pleasant memories of dancing to this song with the girl of my choice (or failing that, the first girl who was willing). This song reminds me of all the times I've walked along the front of the bleachers, trying to calculate just how far up the beauty chain I could reach and still get a yes to my invitation to dance.
The experience was nerve wracking, but well worth the chance of holding a real live girl close to you for three and a half minutes. Thank you, Journey, for all the girls who came to me with Open Arms.
I have the remastered version of "Escape" which follows the unfortunate trend of adding a bunch of bonus tracks. In this case, we get a B-Side ("La Raza Del Sol") which is forgettable and three live tracks from a 1981 concert in Houston. I wish bands would just put out a live album, and stop putting mediocre live tracks on their remastered studio albums.
In closing, if you like top forty pop - or simply haven't bought any new music since junior high, "Escape" probably ranks significantly higher than I've scored it, but my musical tastes have never been high on Journey. I'll tip my hat respectfully to them, but hold my applause to a measured three stars.
Best tracks: Don't Stop Believin', Stone In Love, and Open Arms - but only for the purposes of scoring a slow dance with a pretty girl.
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