NEXT

As the Bicentennial eclipsed into the denim clad, brown-out year of 1977, the American rock landscape was changing quickly. Punk had made a big dent on the media psyche, championed by pointy-nosed critics and record execs looking for the next big thing. Adding to the upheaval the birth of AOR radio was in play, riding high with Boston's glorious debut and 'Frampton Comes Alive!'. The public's taste for prog rock and extended jams seemed to be effectively over although apparently Journey never got the memo. Their manager, the ever colorful Herbie Herbert understood, feeling some not exactly subtle nudging from CBS who applied pressure when 'Next' out of the starting gate, failed to chart significantly.

It's not too hard to understand the label's position since there really wasn't anything they could seriously push as a single. Released in February and pitted against the top 20 of that month which included Aerosmith's 'Walk This Way', 'Year of the Cat' and Manfred Mann's 'Blinded by the Light' not to mention the unleashing of Fleetwood Mac's soft rock monster 'Rumours' which was only beginning to eat up the charts; 'Spaceman', decent song that it was sounded downright boring. The remainder of the album is a wild guitar extravaganza with both Neal Schon and Gregg Rolie chipping in on vocal duties. As a guitarist Schon has few peers but here he sounds like a bird set free with blazing fretwork on the rolling fusion of 'People' and the smoking hot 'Hustler'. The title track is possibly the best cut here but it pales in comparison to the live versions heard on the 1978-79 tours with Steve Perry sharing lead vocals.

Journey spent the early part of the year on the road as both headliner and support act to a wide range of groups including Black Sabbath, Kansas, Outlaws, Boston, Styx and even pomp rockers Angel and Starcastle before picking up vocalist Robert Fleischman for a change of direction. That didn't exactly work out as planned with Perry brought in as a ruse on a smattering of dates with ELP before Fleischman was fired. The rest is history.

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