Released: 1975
Tracks: Of A Lifetime; In the Morning Day; Kohoutek; To Play Some Music; Topaz; In My Lonely Feeling/Conversations; Mystery Mountain
Best track: Kohoutek
Track to skip: none, they’re all great. Also it’s only 7 songs, not very torturous.
Most everyone has heard Journey. Power Ballads and all that. This album, the first one, has NOTHING to do with the later Steve Perry stuff. Mostly the same band members, but different attitude and execution. The music is very prog rock/fusion for a song, and then it’ll switch to a blues-rock thing for the next one. Then back. The album is pretty consistent in that regard.
Like I said, this is very different from the later stuff, even 3 albums later. However, it’s still damn good. I’m a total Journey Freak, so for me hearing this album is just another album I really dig. If you ever questioned the musicianship of the members of the group (Neal Schon-guitar, Gregg Rollie-keys and vocals, Ross Valory-bass; Aynsley Dunbar-drums and George Tickner-ryhthm guitar) then this album should easily let you drop that idea. Since Schon and Rollie had just come from Santana’s band, you know they’re gonna be good players. They don’t disappoint, this is their album.
Some of this music might seem a bit goofy and very dated in 2002, but so does most everything else that came out in ’75. I think this album really rocks and if you’ve got an open mind about what ‘Journey’ is supposed to sound like, you just might like it.
Rating: 80
Write a comment