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27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Where did THIS Journey go?, October 29, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Journey (Audio CD)
Full of energy and great jamming. Neil Schon puts on a guitar clinic here! The ending solo in Of a Lifetime is a masterpiece. Greg Rollie's B3 is powerful (as usual). It is unfortunate that this line-up and direction has pretty much been overshadowed by the 80s arena rock Journey. Although the addtion of Steve Perry's extraordinary voice made Journey a more commercialy palitable group, they seemed to lose this adventurous style. This album along with "Next" and "Look Into the Future" are great discs to discover.
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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Truely a musician's band, January 14, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Journey (Audio CD)
Journey's debut is full of ego stroking and shameless blazen displays of trying to prove one's chops. But it goes beyond all that... in 1975, at the time of this recording's release, amazing skills and jamming abilities were the flavor of the day, yet this band seems to have taken the leap of true musical craftsmanship. Even though the songs are accessible from a commercial standpoint they are musically dynamic and have continuity as the tunes capture the essence of the player's souls. When one becomes advanced at his/her instrument, cognative thought leaves the arena, and the id level takes over as one's soul is poured out through the instrument. This recording successfully captures that soul energy; which is amazing when you consider that it can be very hard to summon the ability to stop thinking cognatively especially in the static confines of a recording studio. Often when we experience something new we don't like it because it is to foreign, too demanding of our perceptions. I recomend that you give any recording at least 3 listenings before you decide on whether you like it or not. I loved this album on the first listen- that is a rarity 'cause I'm a tough critic. If anyone acually reads this, thanks and send me an e-mail. Scott
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29 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
You won't hear rock n roll jamming like this ANYWHERE else, November 4, 2002
This review is from: Journey (Audio CD)
Without breaking down the album by song or with too much intricacy, let me just say that after over 30 years of listening to rock n roll, the first Journey album remains near the top of my list of all time favorites. I've always loved great lead guitar and good jams. The first three albums put out by Journey, prior to Steve Perry joining the band, have got to be some of the greatest guitar playing and overall jamming you will ever hear on a rock record. The music is built around the jam. While more than half of the songs include vocals, almost every song ends in a jam. And while this may sound repetitive and simplistic, the music is all creative and top notch. For those who enjoy classic guitar jam songs like Free Bird or Green Grass and High Tides, you will also enjoy early Journey albums, especially the first Journey (1975). I feel that Neal Schon, while recognized as a well established guitarist from his work with later Journey albums, is just out of his mind on the first three pre Steve Perry albums. While technically a brilliant guitarist, what really sets Neal Schon apart is the mellodic creativity in his solos. His leads often are structured in a step by step manner, building to a climactic finale. For just a taste, I recommend listening to the opening song, Of a Lifetime. Incredible stuff. I must add, that while I consider the first album titled Journey to be my favorite of the initial three albums, I do consider the guitar work on the song Look Into the Future, off their second album, to be the absolute pinnacle of Neal Schon's guitar playing.
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