Customer Reviews

Captured

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is a classic live album by my all-time favorite rock band. It includes many of the band's classics from their three successive classic rock albums "Infinity" (1978), "Evolution" (1979), and "Departure" (1980). Needless to say for any true Journey fan, these songs sound great live.

Many of these performances go far beyond the studio versions. Take the jam that comes out of "Walks Like A Lady"--a 3-minute song that turns into 7 minutes live. Songs like "Line Of Fire", "Feeling That Way", "Anytime", and "Wheel In The Sky" absolutely rock. The inclusion of the live track "Dixie Highway" and the new (at the time of release) studio track "The Party's Over (Hopelessly In Love) are also fantastic.

This is what a live album should be. The crowd is very prevalent throughout the album, and the interaction between the band and the crowd is left unedited in many spots. Clearly, this band was as special live as they were on their studio albums. (They still are, by the way, as I just saw the current lineup at "The Big E" in Massachusetts on September 29th--their last show of this year's tour.) This is a fantastic live album of some of the best classic rock of a generation. Highly recommended.

Before the days of Top Ten ballads and love songs, Journey was a stadium rock juggernaut. Selling out the largest arenas across the country and world wide, they were among the best in the business at delivering high energy rock and roll.

While most of the record industry was jumping on the disco bandwagon during the late 70's, Journey released three fantastic classic rock albums -- Infinity, Evolution and Departure. Though they didn't receive the same fanfare as some of the band's later works (Escape or Frontiers for example), or the works of their contemporaries at the time (Kansas, Boston and Genesis), these trio of records rank among the best music recorded during that era.

The aptly titled "Captured" is a fantastic encapsilation of the band at their peak -- huge crowds, excellent music, amazing talent and tons of energy. While the album clearly has the polish of studio overdubs, it's still an incredible demonstration of indiviual talent and musical harmony that existed in the band at the time.

If your are a fan of 70s classic rock, and want an excellent companion to Cheap Trick's "Live at Budakon" or Peter Framton's "Comes Alive", I highly recommend "Captured".

Originally released in 1981,this seventeen track live album(duration:70 minutes)came out following the release and tour of their 'Departure' lp.So,it's material draws from that effort as well as their 'Evolution' and 'Infinity' lp's.As for a live album,it's pretty good.I'd JUST seen the revamped Journey line-up play at a live concert,and rest assure that vocalist Steve Perry's replacement Steve Augeri fits in really well.When I heard the soundcheck,from outside the outdoor venue,I honestly thought there for a moment,that,"Hey I didn't know Steve Perry was back in the band".Of course,I had a rather pleasant wake-up call a few minutes later.All the radio-friendly songs you remember are here,like "Just The Same Way","Lights","Too Late","Feeling That Way","Anytime","Walks Like A Lady","Wheels In The Sky" and "Anyway You Want It".Great arena rock CD reissue.I've always sort of tagged them as 'glossy pop'.

This is the best live collection I've ever heard. Captured is AOR at it's peak. Unlike so many bands, Journey has always been able to sound even better live than in the studio. This CD truly captures the energy and feeling of a live Journey performance. Each time I listen to Captured I catch myself turning it up more and more as each song begins. The soaring combination of the Perry/Rolie vocals and Schon's searing guitar is positively uplifting. It makes you want to turn it up and drive fast, tapping the steering wheel, belting out along to "Lovin Touchin Squeezin" and "Any Way You Want It", stopping to outstretch your arms for the "I'm standing here with my arms a mile wide..." line in "Anytime", and playing a bit of air guitar at traffic lights. This is a fun, feel-good CD, and is a must-have for all of the "children of the 80's" out there...it sounds even better than the vinyl copy you had as a kid!

In my mind this is an amercian culture masterpiece so don't hesitate to buy this album that appeals to the heart, mind and ear. If you're of the misfortune to fall into the catagory of those that think of Journey as some phony arena rock/pop music band from the 80's then you'll also be of even more misfortune to miss out on one of the best live albums of all time which showcases a band thats roots are founded deep within the era of the mid 70's. I just don't think any one band ever mixed blues/jazz music into a pop style quite like Journey did. Journey exemplifies the beauty of american pop music as a true unique art form in its own right. They give us reason to be proud to utter the words american pop music. Hell even down to the ancient Egyptian scarib they chose as their symbol shows how deep there roots go into America of which I'm sure most of you out there are unaware of our founding fathers obsession with ancient Egypt (read "Explodong the Myths" vol. 1). Kudos out to the sound engineers as the live recordings found here are of the highest quality.

If you're into live music this would be a great addition to your collection. "Captured" is a solid release by a line-up that features Gregg Rollie on organ/piano; this would be his last appearance on a Journey release - what a swan song!

Rollies playing gives Journey that rock/blues feel that is consistant with their 3 previous releases "Infinity", "Evolution", and "Departure". Neil Schon delivers on every song, definately one of the most underrated guitarist of the late 70's and 80's.

All the tracks are great and are delivered with vigor; the standouts are subject to debate, however I will give it a shot. "Just The Same Way" is one of my favoriates, Schon does a great job soloing. I particularly liked the way "Lights"/"Stay Awhile" is arranged - the harmonies and guitar work are crisp. "Feeling That Way"/"Anytime" features stellar harmonies once again; Rollie and Perry do a nice job trading off vocals. It seems to be a little smoother that the studio version.

"Walks Like A Lady" features a blistering, paint-pealing guitar solo that Carlos Santana would be proud of. "La Do Da" features Steve "Machine Gun" Smith beating drum-skins into submission. "Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'" is another high-light with smooth harmonies and percise guitar work.

"Wheel In The Sky", wow. I like this version a lot - great harmonies with Schon blazing in the background at the end of the track. "Any Way You Want It" rounds out the live set in fine fashion.

"The Pary's Over...." is a peak to Journey's next release "Escape".

Note: For those of you who have the 1st release of Captured (1981 CBS) you should buy the remastered (Sony 1996) version. The sound is extremely better. And for those of you about to buy "Captured" for the first time from Ebay or half.com (etc.), MAKE SURE it is the remastered version (Sony 1996). The original version is poorly recorded in my opinion.

As for content, all the songs except for "Dixie Highway" are very good (my opinion).

Enjoy

Listening to this collection brings back a flood of memories of my high school days -- carefree, high-energy passion of the early 1980s. This album is special to me for an additional reason, since I was at one of the concerts where Journey was recording this album. The cut "Dixie Highway" was recorded at Freedom Hall in Louisville, Kentucky, a concert I attended. Listen to the crowd's wild reaction when Steve Perry says "..the Dixie Highway!" The band didn't realize that one of the longest and most important roads in Louisville is called "Dixie Highway."

Journey sold millions of records in the 70's, but most of their albums were uneven, with some really good songs offset by some bad ones. Despite some their studio maladies, the band's real prowess was in their live shows. Concerts allowed them to play their best songs and show off Steve Perry's incredible voice and Neal Schoen's impressive guitar playing. Captured is an excellent live album and the band lives up to expectations. Songs like "Any Way You Want It", "Wheel In The Sky", "Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'", "Majestic" and "Lights" take on additional power and sound and lesser known studio tracks like "La Do Da", "Line Of Fire" and "Just The Same Way" far outshine their studio versions. The album closes out with a bonus studio track that ranks as one of the band's best, "Party's Over (Hopelessly In Love)". If you are casual Journey fan, then Captured is perfect for you.

.....You see this one right over here?....Do you know what that means?" Yes, I would guess that anybody at that particular show who didn't know what that meant, quickly found out that they were involved in something special---- One of the most inspired, beloved live albums to date! And although this album was recorded over the span of many months on their world tour, one could easily be "fooled" into thinking this was taken from a single show. This live release simply has an exceptional flow to the varied material heard here....almost as if the people who edited this together, were aiming for that effect. The band must have been in great 'form' for the entire Tour....great musicianship, great crowd interaction, and one heck of a great setlist. I don't know of many other groups besides Journey that can alternate between straight-on 'rockers' and heart-wrenching 'ballads', and keep an audience enthralled for the entire show. And the Solos on this album are absolutely 'Killer'... Mr. Schon certainly gets his fair share of the audiences' attention....even the "not too common" bass solo/spanking in "La Do Da" brings Mr. Valory kudos from the crowd. But for me, being a drummer, its Mr. Smith that caught my attention in a BIG way with his wonderfully constructed drum solo. Steve Smith has become my single favorite drummer over the years and I literally NEVER tire of hearing his facility and mastery on the drumkit( if you've only heard Steve with Journey, you MUST do yourself a favor and explore some of his "other-worldly" work with Jean-Luc Ponty, Vital Information , and Vital Tech Tones....absolutely amazing playing by all involved!). But I would venture to say that Mr. Perry played the biggest role in keeping these audiences "on their toes" during the recording sessions for "Captured"---- Steve Perry is truly one of the great vocalist of Pop-Rock music and should certainly go down in music's history as so.

As for the individual songs here on "Captured", there is a nice mix from the bands past releases...though you won't hear anything from the bands "progressive" years here. I like nearly everything Journey has put out, but, through no fault of the band, I have been 'over-exposed' to some of the songs here...thanks to our local "small-Town" AOR radio station. So with that said, I do find myself skipping through a handfull of tunes...most notably: "Lights", "AnyWay You Want It", "Wheel in the Sky", and "Lovin',Touchin',Squeezin'". Don't get me wrong, I love those songs, but its the songs I hadn't been exposed to that keeps me coming back to this album---- "Dixie Highway", "Walks Like a Lady", "Line of Fire", "Too Late", "La Do Da" and, possibly my favorite (slow) Journey tune, "Stay Awhile". By far, this is my preferred version of this great band----shortly after this recording Greg Rollie would move on, and Journey would hit 'SuperStar' status with their next album ("Escape")...not to be 'De-throned' till many years later. This album is truly one of the most exciting live albums ever recorded...and Journey is truly one of the best, universally liked bands in the history of R-n-R---- #3 of my all-time favorite live albums....See Why For Yourself!