Journey Album: “The Essential Journey”

This is not a bad album, but it is not all that great either. If I were a casual fan or someone new to the group then this would be the album to buy (over their single disc GREATEST HITS or TIME CUBED box set).

For a few bucks more you get all the songs from GREATEST HITS plus some "Essential" tracks like: CHAIN REACTION, AFTER THE FALL, STILL THEY RIDE, STONE IN LOVE, THE PARTY'S OVER, JUST THE SAME WAY & ANYTIME.

However, there are some "Essential" MIA's like: SUZANNE, WHY CAN'T THIS NIGHT GO ON FOREVEER, DIXIE HIGHWAY, WALKS LIKE A LADY, TOO LATE & FEELING THAT WAY.

As always not everyone will be happy with the song selection so accept what you're getting here. ESSENTIAL JOURNEY is a much better compilation than GREATEST HITS for not much more $$$, but it is no substitute for owning all the Steve Perry Journey discs as I do. This is still the best disc available for casual fans with a lot of their better songs.

You would think that they could get it right with two discs to work with this time, but "The Essential Journey" is only partially deserving of its title. True, all the big hits are included (the 15 that appeared on the original "Greatest Hits" are also here), and justice is restored to previously shunned favorites like "Stone In Love", "The Party's Over (Hopelessly In Love)", "After The Fall", "Still They Ride", "Just The Same Way" and "Escape". But there are still a bunch of greats that were left off in favor of lame "what-the-hell-is-this-one-here-for" type songs. I mean, since when are "The Eyes of A Woman", "Mother, Father", and "Something To Hide" considered essential, while high-airplay singles like "Walks Like A Lady", "Why Can't This Night Go On Forever", "Suzanne" (a Top 20 Hit!) and "City of Angels" are not? Not only that, but even though this collection rightfully includes the classic "Anytime", it does not include the song "Feeling That Way" which almost always preceeds it when heard on the radio. For Journey fans, this would be like Queen putting "We Are The Champions" on a best-of without "We Will Rock You" right before it! Same goes for "Stay Awhile" (which admittedly sounds a lot like "Lights"), which was always played right after "Good Morning Girl" on the radio. "Good Morning Girl" is here, "Stay Awhile" is not, and GMG seems lost without its companion. Don't get me wrong, I do like the songs "Something To Hide" and "The Eyes of A Woman" a lot, but I think they should've been shelved in favor of better-known fare. At any rate, this is definitely the best Journey compilation out there (better than the spotty "Time3"), but I sometimes wonder what the people in charge of song selection are thinking when they put these things together.

As ballad pop goes, Journey is there. These are the songs which were played at proms throughout the 1980s. Filled with romance, emotional passion and Steve Perry's unrelenting voice, Journey's "The Essential Journey" are a mix of hard, mild and melodic pop rock.

Occasionally, the band would turn out mediocre music, like "Girl Can't Help It," but most is still worth listening to. "Be Good to Yourself" sounds like a bad movie soundtrack song, and is not worthy of this otherwise amazing CD.

There are two disks, with more music than the average listener is familiar with, and only hardcore fans with know. A few hits are missing, leaving a real best-of CD still out there.

Journey was a pop band: Simple lyrics without a heavy message. Distinguishing them was their willingness to step out of the known musical formulas. Club music was coming into its own in the 1980s, with DJs sampling and mixing. Their music doesn't sample well, and they risked being a radio-only band. As their hit list grew from "Lovin' Touchin' Squeezin'" into a rich repertoire, their concerts became packed into stadiums. Those are the songs here.

It is 1980s music in every sense of the term, but better than just as music from the period, just like James Taylor is better than just being a musician from the 1970s. I fully recommend, "The Essential Journey" by Journey.

Anthony Trendl

editor, HungarianBookstore.com

You know how you hear of or read about somebody's list of what they'd carry with them if they were stranded on a desert island? I've always been one that finds it hard to pick out favorites and to give away or sell things that have been with me for a long time, but I know without a doubt that Journey is my all-time favorite band. Some others, like The Eagles, Huey Lewis & The News and Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers are close, but no music can bring me up when I'm down and make me nostalgic for the good old days like Journey can.

That being said, I already had Journey's Greatest Hits and figured that would be enough until I decided to purchase Time Cubed sometime in the future, but The Essential Journey is an even better fit. It follows Journey's complete journey with one of the greatest voices in the history of mankind: Steve Perry. All the blockbusters are here, from the classic rock staples such as "Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'", to the up-tempo rockers like "Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)", to the syrupy ballads like their most famous song ever, "Open Arms". Oh, and I have to give a shout out to what just may be my favorite song of all time: "Don't Stop Believin'".

Every single song from Greatest Hits is here, along with a legion of other essential hits and non-hits all the way up to the Trial By Fire effort. That's the main reason I bought this one instead of Time Cubed. I knew I couldn't live without several songs that weren't on Greatest Hits, like "Stone In Love", the terribly underrated #19 hit "Still They Ride", and of course, "When You Love A Woman". The Essential Journey has not only given me those, but it's opened my eyes to a lot of other great songs that have become new favorites, especially "After The Fall", "Anytime", and "Chain Reaction". "After The Fall" simply blew me away. It features some of Steve Perry's best vocals, one of the best melodies I've ever heard in any song, and a great lead guitar. It's definitely Journey's most underrated song ever...I don't see how it didn't quite crack the Top 20 back in the day - what was wrong with all those people back then!?

There are some missing that I wish were here, such as "Why Can't This Night Go On Forever" and "Stay Awhile", but you can't go wrong when all but two of the group's Top 40 hits are here ("Walks Like A Lady" and the Top 20 "Suzanne" somehow missed the cut) with legions of other songs of all shapes, sizes, and colors. They all combine into one essential album that gives listeners an excellent overview of what the band was all about. Like thousands of fans, I hate that Steve Perry is no longer part of the group, but this CD provides me with a permanent remembrance of my favorite band's heyday. This is the essential journey to take and this is my desert island CD.

Disk 1 is a veritable Greatest Hits Journey Album, containing most of the great ones, whereas with Disk 2 it's debatable as to whether all of the songs on it are "essential Journey" qualified (Line of Fire, Baby I'm a Leavin You? Uh, I question those selections). Songs arguably more "essential", like `Suzanne' and `Why Can't This Night Go On Forever' were left off. Nevertheless, Disk 2 is still a good one and has mostly worthy songs.

It's my opinion that two of the most significant factors that made Journey the world-class band it was in the 80s was the voice of Perry in singing some of rock's greatest ballads - Open Arms, Who's Cryin' Now, Send Her My Love, to name a few - and Journey's capability to write heart-felt lyrics for those ballads, lyrics that most anyone who has ever loved, or loved and lost, can listen and relate to.

I now realize that Journey's lyrics are timeless, their meanings changing only in their reference with life's experiences and advancing time, but never becoming outdated. Separate Ways (World's Apart) comes immediately to mind: those lyrics have much more relevance to me today then ever before, even after more than 20 years (True love won't desert you; You know I still love you; Though we touched and went our separate ways).

Then there's the classic among classics, the ballad that knows no equal - Faithfully. Only Journey and Perry can do that song justice; only Perry can provide the vocal power that's necessary to convey the emotion of the song. Faithfully is a song that will live with me forever; the memories linked directly to it are unforgetable. Years ago someone dear to me once asked which song I might choose should there ever be a chance to share a dance together. At the time I couldn't answer the question directly but today I answer that it would be Faithfully.