January 2001: Twentieth Anniversary Review of Escape

As a contributing author to the JourneyDigest.com website, I was asked to write a couple of album reviews. After reviewing the Japanese version of "Arrival," I took on "Escape" in 2001 to coincide both with the 20th anniversary of the album's release and the US release of the first new album featuring Steve Augeri, "Arrival" which had been promoted as "Escape 2000."

It was 20 years ago today, Sgt. Pepper taught the band to play…

… OOPS, wait… wrong band! But the right sentiment. As hard as it may be to believe, 2001 will bring the 20th anniversary of Journey's biggest album ever – Escape. Released in August, 1981, Escape went on to be Journey’s first (and only) number one album. Containing four top 20 hits, this album took the already successful band and turned them into the hottest act in the country.

1981 was ushered in with a new president – one who would survive an assassination attempt three months into office. The Oakland Raiders won Super Bowl XV, Chariots of Fire was on it's way to winning the Oscar for Best Motion Picture (beating out Raiders of the Lost Ark in the process), the L.A. Dodgers took the World Series from the New York Yankees 4 games to 2, and Taxi and Hill Street Blues were standards on television. Oh, and a new cable television station called Music Television (or MTV for short) started popping up around the country.

Looking back 20 years, it's hard to have a totally objective perspective on this album, so I won't really try. For me, and for many other Journey fans, this is the album. That desert island disk that simply must be at hand. That magic elixir that stands the test of time. 20 years on, I still don't get tired of listening to this album.

So, what makes it so timeless, so magical? Escape was the first album recorded after the departure (yes, I know…) of founding member Gregg Rolie, the first album with former Babys keyboardist, Jonathan Cain. What did this new component add to the mix? For starters, Journey’s highest charting single – "Open Arms." Rejected by Babys singer John Waite as "too syrupy," "Open Arms," co-written by Cain and Steve Perry, spent 14 weeks in the top 40, 6 weeks at it's peak position of #2. It has become one of the band's signature power ballads (for better or for worse.)

But, track for track, this album is full of stellar performances. Steve Perry's voice is at it’s peak. Lyrically, it is a more sophisticated group of songs than earlier work. Filled with subtle brush strokes of imagery and metaphor, these songs can paint pictures in your mind, and with MTV in it's infancy at the time of release, those are the only pictures there are. While raucous tracks like "Lay It Down" still contain that sex-and-life-on-the-road theme so prevalent in earlier work, there is the stark image of "streetlight people" found in the opening track, "Don't Stop Believin'," and the portrait a family struggle seen in the majestic "Mother, Father" that are part of the prevailing theme of this album. Jonathan Cain has said, "What I changed about Journey is I started writing about the people that cared about the band." That change is evident in these tracks. The listener is pulled into the songs and understands exactly what the song is about – (s)he’s been there.

Musically, these songs have a different feel. Gone is Rolie's Hammond B3 (a loss still mourned by many) and it is replaced by the crisper piano of Cain. It is, in fact, that piano that we first hear when the album opens and again when it closes (not bad for a new guy.) To this day, the opening notes of "Don't Stop Believin'" sends chills down my spine every time I hear it. Whether it's the long-time attachment I have to the song, or whether it's the knowledge that this is the opening of something special is unclear. What is clear, however, is the ease with which the song moves from the low-key piano into the soaring guitar of Neal Schon – a trade-off that shows through out the album.

Schon's guitar work shines through out the album. His solo at the end of "Who's Crying Now" has been admired from the moment the single was released in early '81 to this day. (It is, in fact, so nice, they've used it twice… Journey's latest release, Arrival, contains a track that includes a bit of this solo.) A personal favorite of mine, however, is the soulful solo in "Still They Ride" – it is one that fits the image of lonely riders. The raw energy found in tracks like "Keep On Runnin'" and the title track provides an adrenaline rush that can get the blood boiling or, conversely, help blow off some steam. To this day, I'm shocked I've never gotten a speeding ticket while driving and listening to these two tracks.

The track that took me the longest time to learn to love, "Dead or Alive," has, through the years, worn me down to find a place in my heart. At age 13 (which I was when this album was released), the blazing fury of Schon's guitar and pounding of Steve Smith on drums was overwhelming. (And, to be honest, a song about an assassin was just not something that appealed to my young sensibilities.) This song is going a hundred miles an hour from the start and puts a full on assault on your senses.

This leaves us with the vocals. What can I say that hasn't been said before about Steve Perry's vocals? Perry's voice has that trademark sound that can be imitated, but never replicated. It's a good thing that John Waite turned his nose up at the early workings of "Open Arms" – hit song or not, it wouldn't have had the same effect.

Overall, however, it is the prevailing theme of hope that makes this album so magical "don’t stop believin'/hold on to that feelin'", "love will survive somehow, some way", "the strong will survive", "oh I'm okay, I'm alright…I've got dreams I'm livin' for", "have faith, believe." I think that this, of all the factors in the album, is what makes it such a fan-favorite.

December 30, 2000: Journey in Concert

Las Vegas, NV
Mandalay Bay Events Center 

While combing through my archived files, I found this alternate review of the December 30, 2000 show in Las Vegas. It looks like I wrote it as a separate piece for the Journey Digest website. Since this pre-dates the first of the "official" Rockin' Road Reports, I suspect I had told Dan Stacy, the list/website owner, that I would work up an article for the site. In reviewing this article, it seems it is a slightly reworked version of what I initially posted to the various mailing lists.

Another Journey show in Nevada – another trek to catch the show. At least the wait between this show and the previous one wasn’t as long as it had been prior to the Reno show in November. Traveling to this show, however, was almost as tricky as getting stuck in the snow while driving to Reno. For those of you who have never been to Las Vegas, trying to find a place to stay over New Year’s Eve weekend less than 6 weeks prior to said weekend is a task suited to souls braver than I. Thus, I flew in the day of the show to once again meet with my fellow fans, catch the show, and then flew out the next morning as I had no intention of spending upwards of seven hundred dollars for the three-night required hotel stays.

This show, unlike the show in November, was a double bill with REO Speedwagon. I had been a casual fan of REO back in the 80s, but it had been years since I had heard them, and I was hard pressed to remember song titles prior to the show. Also unlike the November show, this show was being filmed for DirectTV and a DVD. Hopes were high that there would be some surprises in store.

After the requisite fan-dinner gathering, we headed over to the Events Center for the show. This is where we encountered the first surprise – new swag for sale! Some very nice new t-shirts with the Arrival scarab as well as one with the infinity symbol. Some hats, stickers, and a variant on a previous tour shirt. The table was pretty crowded when we arrived and it looked like items were selling well.

For this show, I was sitting by myself one row up from the floor, two sections from the stage. This afforded me a good view of the stage and the crowd. Before REO hit the stage, one of my fellow Northern California travelers and her son came over to chat and sat in the still-empty seats in front of me. As luck would have it, they wound up sitting there all night as the owners of the seats never materialized.

REO hit the stage shortly after 8, and played for about an hour and a half. As I had thought, I could only remember the big hits, though there were a few songs that sounded vaguely familiar. Having never seen REO before, I enjoyed their set very much.

During the intermission, the stage was changed for Journey and the cameras went in motion. From my seat, I could see about four cameras, and from the angles I saw during the show, I would say there were at least two others.

The house lights dimmed about 10, though not as much as one would expect for a show, and the screen behind the stage came to life. The best way I can describe the image is that it was an exploding ball. Sounds dull I realize, but it was an interesting effect. The guys came out and launched into that tried and true opener, "Separate Ways."

The crowd reaction was mixed. The folks on the floor – particularly those in front of the stage – were on their feet and cheering. Meanwhile, over where I was sitting, it was about fifty-fifty for standing vs. sitting. This kind of crowd response would continue throughout the show.

Having the video screen showing footage from the cameras that were recording the show was a brilliant move. There were some amazing shots of all the guys, but I would have to say my favorites were the shots of Deen wailing away on his drums. He’s so hard to see behind his kit, that it was a treat to actually have a clear view of him playing. In addition to these great shots of the guys playing, there were different images flashed on the screen from time to time. I am hoping they can keep this for the tour, at least in some form as I would imagine having six cameras at all times would be prohibitively expensive.

The only noticeable change in the set list was the inclusion of "Message of Love," which, I will admit, took me a few seconds to recognize as I’ve never heard it live (I’m not even sure it’s been played live before) and it’s been a while since I’ve listened to it on CD. This came about half-way through the set, and was followed by "All the Way," which Steve introduced as “our new single.”  The energy of the crowd definitely sagged at this point in the show, and, as has been commented elsewhere, having five plus lesser known songs between two big hits was quite possibly a factor in this. My most vivid recollection, however, was looking around during "Higher Place" and again during "All the Way" and seeing who was standing up.* Most of those faces were very familiar! The best look, however, was from a fellow seated on the floor not far from me. I could tell he was watching me and the look on his face said it all – “How does she know these songs??!” Because there I was, standing for every single one and singing along.

*That I was standing up during "All the Way" paid off in the long run. I can been seen in a crowd shot during that song on the Arrival 2001 DVD. Even better, the first time I saw this clip was before the DVD was released as it was used in the VH1 show "Behind the Music." The Journey episode premeired over a weekend, so I and a couple of other NorCal Journey fans gathered at Darla's house that morning to watch together. We all let out a yelp when I appeared on the TV! 

My biggest disappointment in the show came when I noticed the crowd was thinning out, and, most notably, when a long line of people started heading up the stairs next to me before "Wheel in the Sky" started. The electric feeling I had had in Reno a month prior just wasn’t happening. The guys played well, the die-hards enjoyed themselves, but there was something missing that I can’t define. Maybe it was the cameras, maybe it was the holiday crowd, maybe it was all the prep work the guys had to have put into the show, but the magic that was so apparent in Reno just didn’t show up in Las Vegas.

In the end, however, I think we’re all in for a treat when this show airs on DirectTV, and if you don’t already have a DVD player, start saving for one because you’ll want to buy the disk when it’s released. 

The set list:

Separate Ways, Ask the Lonely, Stone in Love, Only the Young, Higher Place, Send Her My Love, Lights, Who’s Crying Now, Open Arms, Fillmore Boogie, Message of Love, All the Way, Escape, La Raza del Sol, Live and Breathe – intro version, Wheel in the Sky, Be Good to Yourself, Anyway You Want It

Encore: Don’t Stop Believin’, Lovin’ Touchin’ Squeezin’, Faithfully