RED 13 (EP)

Following poor sales of their 2001 album "Arrival", Journey were dropped by their long time record label Sony. They continued to tour with new boy Steve Augeri as their front man, but without a recording contract the prospect of new material from the band was bleak. In 2002 however, Journey reconvened in the studio, their purpose being to record and release a new EP. Produced by Neal Schon and Jonathan Cain, the resulting 4 track EP was initially only available via from the band's website and at gigs on their "Red 13" tour. In due course though, a publishing deal was secured and the EP was finally released into the shops with a new sleeve illustration designed by a fan of the band. This is the only official EP released by Journey thus far.

The consequent lack of pressure from a record company to come up with something commercially appealing meant that Journey were able to push the boundaries a bit. While this set does not see them reverting to the overt prog of their earliest albums, it is undoubtedly their most adventurous work for many a year. The opening two part track "Intro: Red 13/State of Grace" is a brooding 7½ minute piece which reminds me somewhat of Deep Purple's "Perfect strangers". Neal Schon's guitar work is much more rock orientated on the track, as it is throughout the EP. Steve Augeri is allowed to sound far more like an original singer this time, instead of the Steve Perry impersonator he was hired as. On "The time" his loose, almost improvised performance finally sets the record straight by highlighting his own talents. Anyone hearing the track for the first time would be hard pressed to identify it as 21st century Journey.

"Walking away from the edge" forms the obligatory ballad with piano and guitar backing. While this is a much more conventional Journey number, its relative minimalism helps it to avoid sounding mushy. The final track "I can breathe" sees the band in full rock mode, but the song is ordinary and thus the poorest track.

In all, a fine EP from Journey which finds them at their loosest in many a long year. While now rather hard to find, "Red 13" is well worth investigating.

I rarely seek out EPs, especially not by bands I'm not a big fan of, but inspired by the previous reviewer I decided to give this four track EP by Journey a chance. While I have heard all of Journey's full length albums up to and including Escape from 1982, I have never bothered to check out their more recent albums. Coming 20 years after the release of Escape, this EP is surely a surprise for me! This music rocks harder and includes some of the most progressive music that the band has ever done!

The first track opens with an introduction that gives the EP its mysterious title; Red 13. This song features interesting exotic percussion, spacey sounds and atmospheric guitar lines, creating a dark and mysterious mood. This then moves into the main song State Of Grace that is based on thumping beat and a heavy riff with something of Far Eastern, and at the same time "spacey", flavour. The kind of riff involved together with spacey feeling reminds me slightly of Hawkwind! But it has a strong melody and some nice Beatles-esque harmony vocals on top. The whole thing clocks in at seven and a half minutes. It is very hard to believe that this is the same band that made Don't Stop Believing and Stone In Love 20 years back. But maybe it proves that one shouldn't stop believing, not even in Journey?

The three other tracks are far from being as good as the first one and they are a lot closer to what one might expect from Journey; melodic Hard Rock with good vocals and nice guitar work. Speaking of vocals, Steve Perry who was the voice of Journey since the late 70's is no longer with them here. While Perry had a very distinctive voice, new guy Steve Augeri (at least he has the same first name!) is a much more anonymous singer. However, he does a fine job on these songs. The Time and I Can Breathe are decent, but rather straightforward Hard Rock numbers with not very much interesting happening in them. Walking Away From The Edge is a ballad and the second best of these four songs here. It has a strong chorus and nice guitar work.

Journey are probably most well known for pure AOR albums like Escape from the early 80's, but in fact they have a very diverse career and they have done Jazz-Rock/Fusion (three first albums), Prog Related Hard Rock (Infinity and Departure) and even Symphonic Rock (the soundtrack album Dream After Dream). Red 13, especially its opening track, is a further positive anomaly in the band's output and a decent addition to a Prog collection. Hearing this EP has even made me want to check out Journey's more recent full length albums.

I rate this with two stars, but when I thus say that this is for fans and collectors only, I don't just mean the unconditional fans that love everything the band has ever done, but rather those Journey fans that are more likely to visit a Prog website.