Released: 1980
Tracks: Any Way You Want It; Walks Like a Lady; Someday Soon; People and Places; Precious Time; Where Were You; I’m Cryin’; Line of Fire; Departure; Good Morning Girl; Stay Awhile; Homemade Love
Best track: it’s hard to pick a standout track on here…possibly Where Were You or Someday Soon
Track to skip: there are a couple of weaker songs, but nothing really too bad
It’s strange for me as a Journey fan to go back and actively listen to these albums. Like I said in some other Journey or Steve Perry review, all of Journey’s albums are so part of my blood. I’ve been listening to Journey since I was 10 and in nearly all that time I’ve never really questioned the ‘classic’ Journey stuff. After going through the trio of Infinity, Evolution and now Departure, the thing that keeps sticking out to me is that these 3 are not cohesive albums. They are absolutely collections of songs. Mostly good, but it’s all kinda directionless as a whole.
I’m not sure if I like this one better than Evolution or not. On Departure I like how the band throws some different stuff into the mix. These ‘experiments’ are stuck in the middle of each side and these four songs broaden out the spectrum of what the Steve Perry-led Journey did. Someday Soon sounds a whole lot like the music from the first 3 albums, while also combining the poppiness of Steve Perry with it. Same goes for People and Places which has Neal Schon doing a large part of the vocals. It’s got some pretty trippy parts and it’s a cool song. The ‘experimental’ songs on side 2 are Departure and Good Morning Girl. Both of these songs barely total 2 minutes, but they are very good. Departure the song points to what Journey would do with their next album: film soundtracks.
So, what do I say as for the overall goodness of this album? Well, last week I tried to review this and didn’t even get half way through before shutting it off from Boredom. It’s not that it sucks, it’s just that for me I think I’ve outgrown these albums a bit. I do still like most of these songs though. Ironically, the song that annoyed me the most was Any Way You Want It, the most popular track on here and a track I used to love. I think I’m just sick to death of Journey’s greatest hits and I’m almost wanting to rebel against them. Like they’re some sort of authority or something. I guess in a strange musical sense, Journey kind of are like my ‘parents’. This was the first music I really ever latched on to and it helped me out a lot in my earlier life. I’m just not feeling all of it anymore. The rating for this has been going back and forth throughout typing this up, but I think I’ve finally decided. Yeah, it’s not wholly as good as Evolution, it’s just a smidge under. As always, if you’re a Journey fan it’s recommended.
Rating: 82
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