Journey - Escape: listen to the music on the radio, top forty hits of yesterday…
Written: Jun 23 '04 (Updated Aug 17 '04)
Product Rating:
Pros: excellent early power pop from the creators of THE power ballad
Cons: I'm far too biased about this particular album to find any cons here...
The Bottom Line: #8 of the Top Ten Albums that molded my musical tastes. San Francisco Bay Area represent! The best power-pop band from my birthplace, including Mickey Thomas’Starship (that’s sarcasm, people…)
bob_tomato's Full Review: Escape [Remaster] by Journey
I was almost fifteen years old in August of 1981 when Journey released Escape, an album that would reach number one on the charts, yielding three Top Ten hits (Who's Crying Now, Don't Stop Believin' and Open Arms) for the San Francisco based band. At this time, I had no job and I had very little knowledge of pop music – unlike many of my friends, I wasn't raised on radio… By the time I managed to buy the album in 1982, all I knew about Journey was that I liked the sound of Escape. While this may have been a result of my immature belief that radio popularity equaled musical quality, in the case of this recording my instincts were right. Journey helped to define the power-pop sound that would permeate the airwaves for the next several years.
Much of the success of Escape can be attributed to changes in the band – Steve Perry had joined the band a few years earlier to provide an excellent vocal quality that the original band lacked, and Journey enjoyed greatly increased album sales as a result. Guitarist Neal Schon, as a founding member of the group, gained more and more control of the band's sound as original members left Journey throughout the seventies. Schon was able to move the band away from it's early jazz and prog-rock leanings into rock and roll that remained tinged with jazzy chords and interesting motifs. Keyboardist Jonathan Cain replaced the original keyboardist Gregg Rollie, who had also sung lead vocals prior to the arrival of Perry. The combined songwriting talents of Perry, Schon and Cain produced rock and roll that caught on instantly with the masses - Journey was rocking harder than ever, but Cain's pop keyboards and melodies made for great radio and Escape would eventually go on to sell several million copies.
My cassette copy of Escape was probably in my tape player more often that it was in it's plastic case. I wore that tape out, playing it over and over again, trying to learn every note, every word, every rhythm and nuance for each and every song. (This attention to detail drives my wife crazy "oooh, did you hear the keyboard hit that chord in the background…??" she just stares at me like the crazy person I am) Though I have nowhere near the range of Perry's voice, I still feel the urge to give the vocals a try, even in such melodically acrobatic songs like Stone In Love, Dead or Alive and Keep On Runnin'. To this day, I can still pick out any instrument from my favorite song on the album, Still They Ride, and follow along with it note for note in my head – Schon's guitar solo on that song will always be one of my favorite moments in music. Despite a lack of formal piano training, I can play Cain's introduction to Don't Stop Believin' by memory.
Escape is burned into my brain by hundreds of replays throughout my young life, and though my musical tastes have changed somewhat over the years, I still love this recording. A lot of the staying power of this record has to do with the lyrics – there is a lot of material here that discusses young lovers in pursuit of their dreams and each other, a timeless subject for pop music. But Journey did not neglect the other side of the coin - broken dreams and shattered hopes for a better future are also featured. What really helps to sell these songs is the fact that, despite the power pop presentation, the writing doesn't stoop to clichés. Mother, Father is an especially powerful statement about dysfunctional families from the viewpoint of a child who wants nothing more than to be noticed by his parents. Perry's vocals accentuate the confusion and pain that the young man is trying to deal with, and the wide dynamic range of the song paints a vivid picture of threatened domestic tranquility. The title song Escape could very well be the tale of the same young man trying to make his way in the world on his own, rejecting his upbringing and early life for the chance to make something of himself. The chugging guitars recall the roar of the road, propelling the young man towards his chosen horizon.
The ballads of the album are the templates for most power ballads of the past two decades – a strong vocalist who can start quietly and build in intensity, guitar power chords underlying keyboard melodies, and sparse drums that focus primarily on a basic bass rhythm and hi-hat touches. What makes this formula work so well is that any decent band can reproduce the sound; however, making it memorable is not so easy. Journey practically invented this genre with the omni-present Open Arms, and Who's Crying Now is still fresh more than twenty years later.
Oh wow. Has it been that long? Have I been carrying a torch for this band for over two decades? Well, as much as other critics may find the band pablumatic, I think that Escape is a very satisfying album, full of really good pop songs each with a strong rock component. Are they THE best thing ever to happen in music from my beloved hometown? Probably not…but they are among the best of the best for the power-pop genre, innovators of the power ballad, and far above the likes of other posers from the Bay Area. (Poor Mickey Thomas – I sure hope he likes carnival food…)
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Journey - Escape
Originally released in August 1981 by Columbia Records
Track Listing
Don’t Stop Believin’ / Stone In Love / Who’s Crying Now / Keep On Runnin’ / Still They Ride / Escape / Lay It Down / Dead or Alive / Mother, Father / Open Arms
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My Top Ten List of albums that molded my musical tastes
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