Never heard this album until the very end of 2012. I put it on during a game; I knew Don't Stop Believin' but none of the rest, and it just blew my mind, I couldn't even focus on the game because it was so good. The very best Journey record in my opinion, and each tune is a classic. "Mother, Father" is soooo good. Steve Perry doesn't have a single bad second of singing on this one. Amazing stuff. And only people without a soul dislike Open Arms. 
Let me give just a bit more historical context as well, which may help you and others appreciate the album even more.
This band was formed when Neal Schon was known as a hotshot young guitarist from Santana. He and Gregg Rollie left to do their own thing and acquired some other exceptional talent. But their roots were in a lot of different things, from jazzy "art rock," to psychedelia, to prog, to blues, to the emerging hard rock sound. Musically, they were all over the place, but had serious chops.
Herbie Herbert, a young, up-and-coming manager, managed Journey and another newly-formed outfit, Y&T (then going by Yesterday & Today, named after the Beatles album), who were influenced by jazz, '60s and '70s glam and "space rock" like Bowie, for example, and various rock personalities like the Beatles, Elvis, Hendrix, and Montrose. Herbert toured these two ENDLESSLY, often together. They played everywhere in California and beyond that he could book them, from fairs, to clubs, the parties--you name it. That led to some really odd pairings with, for example, country or R&B bands, because he (and they) just wanted the bands to play and get their names out as much as possible. That led to both bands heavily influencing one-another and being influenced by a lot of the music they were sometimes paired with. It also led to each developing large and loyal fan followings throughout the west coast.
Herbert eventually dumped Y&T and cast his lot with Journey. For the first two albums, Journey didn't even have a singer. By the time they eventually picked up Perry (or Perry picked them up, depending on your perspective), they were a few albums in and already had a huge following. And while a lot of people embraced Perry, there were a lot of fans who were offput by the new direction of the band. Perry was incredibly talented, was himself a prolific songwriter, and had a strong personality and strong vision for his music. This led to an immediate, recognizable shift in the band's sound. And over the next few albums leading up to Escape (and afterward), it led to a more commercial, "hit radio" sound. And as the fan base grew immensely, there were many from the early days that did not take kindly to this new direction of the band. That "commercial," more pop sound took another huge stride with the exit of Rollie and introduction of Jonathan Cain on keys.
By the time of Escape, the band's sound had undergone a HUGE change from the early days. And during that decade or so of playing together and truly being the type of "road dog" band you read about that toured endlessly and played more gigs than could possibly be sustainable, they developed amazing playing and songwriting chops. Escape was a huge culmination in all of that, and that often gets lost among the accessibility and popularity of this album and the ones that followed.
Hope this little historical narrative adds to folks' enjoyment of this album.
Topic: "Classic" album appreciation thread - the '80s (Read 40614 times)
