Customer Reviews

Greatest Hits

5 star:		(98)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

The music on this CD is very good music if you like Journey's pop music. However, this CD is more of a sampler even when you consider only Journey's pop music. Journey released a total of about 49 singles, 25 of which went into the top 100. 18 of those songs made it into the top 40. This CD has 16 songs, and the songs included were not all of the highest charting singles. Then there are progressive rock and jazz songs from Journey that are basically unrepresented on this CD. It would take at least three CD's to have a good cross section of the best of Journey's music. This collection gets 4 stars because it falls short with respect to Journey's pop music and has no representation of Journey's first three albums.

The 1978 album "Infinity" provides two songs for this collection. "Wheel in the Sky" reached #57 on U.S. charts. This song receives a lot of airplay and I keep thinking it went higher in the charts than it did. This song about being on the road retains flavors of early Journey. The beautiful song "Lights" is an awesome ballad that also seems like it underperformed, reaching #68 in the U.S.

Journey released "Evolution" in the following year, and "Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'" vaulted the group into the top 20, reaching #16. This song mournfully laments a relationship gone bad. Journey released yet another album in the following year, "Departure," and three singles came from that album. Only "Any Way You Want It," which reached #23, is in this collection. This song has a catchy beat, but it sounds like a template for later 80's music.

Journey's popularity peaked in 1981 with the release of "Escape." There were four singles released from this album, three of which are in this collection. The highest charting single was the tender song "Open Arms," which reached #2 in the U.S. Journey did well with love songs and breakup songs, as the #4 song "Who's Cryin" Now" proved. The third single from this album was "Don't Stop Believin," which reached #9. The lyrics to this song verge on fantasy. The music is complex, cleverly arranged and fast-paced.

After a two year gap Journey released "Frontiers," which yielded five singles, three of which are in this collection. "Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)" had a heavy bass line and a fast beat. This song about love lost has excellent vocals. On the flip side is a song about deeply missing the one that you love. "Faithfully" is a beautiful love song that reached #12. Back in the other direction is another song about a lost love, "Send Her My Love," which reached #23.

Journey has created a number of songs for soundtracks. Two of those songs appear in this collection. From the "Two of a Kind" soundtrack is "Ask the Lonely." From the "Vision Quest" soundtrack is "Only the Young," a fast ballad that peaked at #9.

There was another gap before the 1986 album "Raised on Radio" was released. This album did quite well and three of the five singles released from this album are in this collection. "Be Good to Yourself" is not truly a love song, but it is a fun song. This song reached #9. Another beautiful ballad about an unrequited love is "Girl Can't Help It," which reached #17. Another sad song about a broken relationship is the #14 song "I'll Be Alright without You."

The 1996 album "Trial by Fire" generated four singles, with the love song "When You Love a Woman" reaching #12 in the U.S., proving that Journey could still chart eighteen years after their first chart success. This song was nominated for a Grammy Award.

This album is a lot of fun. The music is some of Journey's best pop music. There are other collections available, but the collection that best captured Journey, though only to 1992, was "Time3." However, many people only like Journey's pop music and "Time3" has songs from Journey's progressive/jazz fusion era. Perhaps the best collection of pop hits (that I know about) is the two disk "Essential" collection, which collects music up to 1996.

Journey's popularity has waned. Steve Perry left the group and came back and then left again. Other members have come and gone as well, leaving only two of the original members, Neal Schon and Ross Valery. But we will always have the marvelous ballads the group created when they were at the peak of popularity, and some of the best of those are in this collection.

Once Steve Perry joined Journey for the "Infinity" album, the band's course was inevitably reset. They changed direction from being a progressive rock band to an arena rock juggernaut. Perry's main contribution was a strong melodic sense coupled to his more soulful vocals. The hits started almost immediately, as "Lights" and "Wheel In The Sky" became FM Rock Radio staples.

That is what this greatest hits focuses on, the songs that became the standards by which the public remembers the band. If you were interested in the albums BEFORE "Infinity," I suggest "Time 3," which adds material from the years when Neal Schon was still aping his jazz-Rock tenure with Santana and Gregg Rollie was doing standard rock keyboard boogie. Personally, I liked them better when Perry got on board. The sound focused and the songwriting tightened. Songs like "Separate Ways/Worlds Apart" and "Any Way You Want It" could add a jolt of adrenaline to a day of radio. When Jonathan Cain replaced Gregg Rollie on "Escape," Journey took on a romantic bent from Cain's songwriting. "Open Arms" came first, then "Faithfully" (on "Frontiers") solidified it. These were pop radio songs without peer, and they make Journey's "Greatest Hits" an essential document of 70's and 80's radio rock. (The updated version includes the best song from the 90's reunion "Trial by Fire," "When You Love A Woman.")

The other reason you might be looking at this is not because of Steve Perry's voice or Neal Schon's guitar heroics, but because of Tony and Carmella. It was Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" that echoed out of the final minutes of "The Sopranos" closing episode. It was funny that Tony passed over Tony Bennett and Frank Sinatra for Journey and inspire a million parodies in the process. (Including Hilary Clinton...where the best moment is when she and President Bill Clinton are flipping through songs and Bill says "My money's on Smash Mouth...") Talk about cementing your place in pop culture...who could have asked for better?

This best of offers a pair of soundtrack rarities in "Only The Young" (from "Vision Quest") and "Ask The Lonely" (from "Two of a Kind"). Missing are a few crucial singles like "Suzanne," "Stone In Love" and "Walks Like A Lady." If you really want them, go for the box sets or individual CD's.

I brought this CD out of its case for the first time in years on a recent road trip from Atlanta to Indianapolis. I have this to say about that experience, "The road trip has not been invented that is not made better by the Journey Greatest Hits CD." And that is no lie.

I nearly lost my voice with Don't Stop Believin'. I found myself hitting 90 on the freeway right around the time the CD got to Ask the Lonely. And we won't even talk about the gestures I was making with Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'. I'm sure the drivers around me thought I was crazy.

Suffice to say, this CD never goes out of style. If you haven't listened to Journey in awhile do yourself a favor and pick this one up. Nothing can touch the Steve Perry Journey years. Nothing.

This past year, many records have been re-relased from their artwork, and the feeling of the music. That has also been the case when it comes to greatest hits records. This year, there have been greatest hits records that've been reissued from performers such as the Bee Gees, Luther Vandross, and Aerosmith. That has also been the case with Journey. Throughout their career, with and without Steve Perry, the group has still remained a guilty pleasure throughout the years. Although many people would rather hear acts like Beyonce', and other, the rock and feel still remains great, as it relevant with their greatest hits.

Journey's re-release of Journey's 1988 Greatest Hits is still a well-received and well reflected of the Corporate Rock band at their best. This is ironically the second time this record has been re-released, the first was back in 1996. The songs here still sound great and include pop gems like the rock ballad Open Arms, Only The Young, and Faithfully. The album also includes Be Good To Yourself, and their first mainstream hit with Steve as the lead Wheel In The Sky. The album also includes the add-on track When You Love A Woman, which was featured from their final record with Steve Perry, 1996's Trial By Fire.

All in all, if you've purchased an earlier version of Journey's Greatest Hits, it isn't worth purchasing this record again. But. if you haven't any of Journey's great pop gems, than this is the record for you. I still love these songs, as if they were first released years ago, and that remains a great deal of open arms to hold.

Album Cover: B

Songs: A-

Price: B+

Remastering: A-

Overall: B 1/2+

Thank you David Chase for the best ever television series created with The Sopranos. Thanks to you also for selecting Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" for the final song of The Sopranos that will forever tie Journey and The Sopranos together in television history. Both are in classes by themeselves and will never be surpassed.

and this collection of songs, all hits are proof! This band was unknown until Steve took over lead vocals and put this now legendary band on the map of Rock Music. These are songs that students of mine all know because they are STILL being played on radio stations across the world today!.
I remember hearing "Wheel in the Sky" for the first time on a Miami radio station and thinking that here was a band that was going to do great things, and they have, They are legend, these songs are timeless and this compiliation is a MUST for any person who is serious about their quality Rock and Roll.

Steve Perry is the best vocalist, such a soulful and passionate delivery. Just wish he were still singing. No Journey singer since has even come close.

Steve Perry is simply the Voice of Journey that the singers after him has had to copy.

I ask all one-star reviewers, WHY is Journey so horrible if a childrens movie (Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs) has this song in its commercial? Why is Steve Perry and the gang so horrible is Glee performed "Don't Stop Believin'"? Why I ask?

EVEN MY MOTHER IN LAW (Who thinks 80's music ruined the twenty first century) LOVES THIS ALBUM!

Please, tell me why you think Journey is so awful!

Journey has a special place in the heart of anyone who fell in love in the 1980s. Having seen them with Glass Tiger on their Raised on Radio Tour, I can say Steve Perry was Journey. Anything else was Bad English (not a bad group either).

This CD has what you are looking for. It is something to put in the car on a 1 hour drive and loose yourself. Be careful not to play air drums on Separate Ways (Worlds Apart).

If you like a couple of Journey songs, but don't have all of these in your MP3 collection, download them now. But listen to them in order.

I bought my original CD in 1988, the day after Thanksgiving at the Strawberries at Downtown Crossing in Boston. When I got married in 1997, this was one of only two duplicate CDs, me and my wife had (out of 400 CDs).

A must. Listen to tracks 10 and 11 and tell me I am wrong.

If you feel that loves unfair, you just ask the lonely.

This is a CD that needs to be converted to Guitar Hero IV or Rock Band.

This is one of the best albums in the last thirty years. There are no "filler" songs on this cd and just about every song you hear consistantly on the radio. Its no wonder why Journey's greatest hits has sold 14 million copies since its release, and is one of the highest selling albums of all time!

To those that are negative and talk bad towards extremely popular rock bands such as Foreigner, Journey, and Boston, take your negativity elsewhere.

You cannot argue with success and Journey is one of the best rock bands of all time. According to the RIAA, they have over 20 top 40 hits, sold over 75 million records worldwide, 45 million in the United States alone. They are the 29th best selling band in the U.S. Nearly all of their albums have gone multi-platinum. Most importantly Journey had one of the greatest singers of our time, Steve Perry!