JOURNEY

When many people think about Journey they think primarily of albums like Departure, Escape and Raised On Radio. This leads them to think that Journey's output is rather homogenous and formulaic, but when one contemplates this self-titled debut album the impression becomes an entirely different one. This bluesy Jazz-Rock/Fusion article draws its inspiration partly from Santana (from which some of the members came). Needless to say, the music found here is very different from the music found on albums from Infinity and onwards. While this debut is perhaps Journey's most progressive album, it is not my favourite. We have here some nice keyboard work, mainly organ and electric piano but also some discrete synthesisers. The guitars are also good, but they do not have the cleaner and more powerful sound of later albums. The bluesy vocals are not bad but certainly leave something to be desired. The first appearance of the distinctive voice of Steve Perry is still a few years away.

The compositions here are quite meandering and have an improvisational character. They mostly lack strong distinguishing marks or truly memorable melodies. Instrumentally, this is a competent Jazz-Rock/Fusion album, but even within that subgenre (which is not my favourite to begin with) this is hardly among the better albums I've heard. I must say that I am quite underwhelmed by this album, even if I find it quite listenable.

I can recommended this only to fans of Santana and Jazz-Rock/Fusion

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