Journey - The Band That Never Stopped Believing

You have to give yourself the right to fail, the right to do something that isn't perfect at first. Only then do you really start creating
(Steve Perry)

Journey are a perfect machine, but with an enormous heart. They never chased the trends of the moment; they built a wall of songs so solid that no era has managed to chip away at it
(Paul Stanley)

Journey became the soundtrack to moments of transition. Their music has the rare ability to capture that precise instant when youthful vulnerability meets the fiercest determination
(Rolling Stone)

Herbie

This new sonic story begins on February 5, 1948, in Berkeley, California, when little Walter James Herbert II comes into the world. Still a boy, Walter James moves with his family to the nearby town of Orinda, in the heart of the San Francisco Bay Area, where he begins his schooling at Campolindo High School. At the dawn of the Summer of Love, having just turned eighteen, Herbie is a committed hippie, loves the Grateful Dead, and is firmly determined to work in a music business in full ferment. Herbie is the nickname given to him by his friend and business partner Jim Nixon, with whom he manages the affairs of a local psychedelic rock band, Frumious Bandersnatch. It's Nixon who, during a night out in Frisco, introduces him to the well-known music promoter and impresario Bill Graham, who had moved to the West Coast of the United States a few years earlier to be closer to his sister Rita. By the end of 1965, Graham had obtained permission from businessman Charles Sullivan to use the Fillmore Auditorium's dance hall for a benefit concert, later extended into a rental agreement covering multiple dates and various acts on the bill.

Among the most influential figures of the American musical counterculture, the German-born manager takes Herbie under his wing, teaching him practically every trick of the trade. He hires him as a roadie for Santana, alongside brothers John and Jackie Villanueva. After years of staggering success, culminating in the explosive performance at Woodstock, Santana implode when Carlos turns toward jazz and "orders" the big shake-up needed to record the masterpiece "Caravanserai". Herbie then decides to pursue a new project, a top-notch backup band that would tour with the biggest artists in the area, under the name Golden Gate Rhythm Section. On lead guitar is Neal Joseph Schon, who, curiously, was born at Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma. Of Italian-German descent, Neal is the product of the love between Matthew and Barbara Schon, from whom he inherits a great passion for music. His father is in fact an arranger and composer, playing tenor sax in a jazz big band. He pushes his son toward his first steps on several instruments, especially the guitar, which leads him to drop out of school early. At just seventeen he's recruited into Santana after turning down Derek and the Dominos led by Eric Clapton.

While dabbling in another latin-rock band, Azteca, Schon takes part in the recording sessions for "Santana III" and "Caravanserai", and is then recruited by Herbie on the suggestion of roadie John Villanueva. Herbert also brings into the band Seattle-born keyboardist Gregg Alan Rolie, one of the founding members of Santana and a key figure at the Woodstock Festival. Known for his vocal performances on major hits like "Black Magic Woman" and "Evil Ways", Rolie leaves Carlos over clear artistic differences about the band's future. On bass is Ross Lamont Valory, a San Francisco native and by then a former member of Frumious Bandersnatch and Steve Miller Band. Ross also brings in rhythm guitarist George Tyndall Tickner, who completes the band's first line-up alongside drummer Charles Lempriere "Prairie" Prince Jr.

The Golden Gate Rhythm Section's first public appearance comes at a concert in Hawaii, but it's immediately clear that the various members of the group have no intention of backing anyone — they want to form a genuine collective of original music, strongly inspired by their jazz passions and influences. A name is therefore needed, since the current one can't work for a rock band. A radio contest is organized in search of a brilliant idea, but in the end it's roadie Villanueva who suggests Journey, which everyone accepts as it reflects the concept of a new musical voyage to be undertaken as soon as possible.

Playing Some Music

Thanks to Herbie's connections, Journey make their live debut at the prestigious Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco, during the New Year's Eve party of 1973 in front of ten thousand spectators. The band opens for Azteca, Santana and Herbie Hancock, presenting an early version of their experimental fusion-jazz sound, packed with long instrumental solos and a few covers, including "It's All Too Much" by the Beatles.
Once the New Year's Eve hangover wears off, the band takes a flight on January 1, 1974, bound for Honolulu, Hawaii, to play in front of an oceanic crowd (over 100,000 people) in the striking setting of the Diamond Head volcanic crater, which hosts the new edition of the much-anticipated Sunshine Festival, also known as the Hawaiian Woodstock. It's the last live appearance with drummer Prairie Prince, who decides to return to his Tubes, leaving the group with its first headache to solve.
Rolie and co. then begin a long round of auditions to find a new drummer, listening to dozens upon dozens of candidates before finding the right man to sit behind the kit. His name is Aynsley Thomas Dunbar, a prodigious musician from Liverpool who had been active since the early 1960s amid the explosion of the Merseybeat sound.
From the English blues guru John Mayall to the genius Frank Zappa, Dunbar is the perfect piece to complete the Journey project, which at first wants to push hard on a mix of jazz, rock and progressive. The new line-up debuts on February 5, 1974, on the stage of the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco, in front of the top brass of the prestigious Columbia Records, in order to secure a first recording contract. Herbie Herbert knows that Journey aren't your typical band you sign off a demo tape sent in the mail, but a group that needs to be experienced live to truly understand its real impact. A proper showcase is therefore organized for what is currently the most powerful label in the world, in which Schon and co. decide to hit the executives with an impressive wall of sound, playing sprawling tracks that straddle Santana's latin rock and Mahavishnu Orchestra's fusion.
Columbia is left impressed by Neal's technique on guitar, as well as by the Dunbar-Valory rhythm section, one of the most daring and powerful of the era. Contract negotiations effectively begin right after the show, with Herbert managing to secure a full deal giving the band complete creative freedom ahead of their market debut.

The first recording sessions begin in November at CBS Studios, with New York producer Roy Halee, who had already worked with giants like Bob Dylan and Simon & Garfunkel. Journey sees the light of day in the spring of 1975, entering the Billboard chart in a more than modest position, well outside the Top 100. What undoubtedly hurts the album's commercial success is the band's hyper-instrumental approach, venting their urge to experiment through an intellectual mix of progressive, jazz and latin rhythms.
Schon comes out strong right away with the melancholic, intense phrasing that opens "Of A Lifetime", boosted by Rolie's warm, mellifluous voice and Dunbar's shifting drum tempos. The central solo makes things clear immediately: Journey are a sound machine, capable of speeding up and slowing down with extreme naturalness. The following "In The Morning Day" makes room for Rolie's keyboards in a gospel-soul number that races toward a swirling boogie, while the instrumental "Kohoutek" opens with a Pink Floyd-like spaciousness that spills into schizoid prog-jazz. It's certainly one of the thorniest tracks on a manifesto-like record that gives little or nothing to the more commercial, radio-friendly logic of the mid-1970s.
It's therefore no surprise that the single Columbia chose to launch the album, "To Play Some Music", passed completely unnoticed, despite keeping a party-ready vibe with its latin verve. "Topaz" is another display of instrumental technique, a small marathon of over six minutes of pure progressive rock, moving between atmospheric effects and hard rock detours thanks to Schon's swirling wah-wah guitar. "In My Lonely Feeling/Conversations" veers toward elegant soul-blues, while "Mystery Mountain" closes out a surprising album with a more aggressive rock-tinged rhythm, complete with a triumphant off-beat coda between the unleashed rhythm section and blazing guitar. A show of force that rewards Herbert's efforts and Columbia Records' sharp ear.

A Look to the Future

After releasing their debut album, Journey embark on a hectic touring schedule, which leads rhythm guitarist George Tickner to leave the group to focus entirely on his medical studies. The band decides not to replace him, leaving Schon in sole charge of all the guitar parts.
In the summer of 1975 the band reconvenes at CBS Studios to record their second album, produced in collaboration with Glen Kolotkin. Look Into The Future opens with the boogie/honky-tonk blend of "On A Saturday Nite", driven by Rolie's keyboards. It's the first sign of a gradual shift toward a more conventional song format, on a record that essentially tries to balance experimentation with easy-listening. Journey revive their driving Beatles-esque cover of "It's All Too Much", already a fixture of their early live sets. Schon unleashes the aggressive riff that opens "Anyway", leading the band through another prog-jazz number in the vein of the debut.
The band does attempt a sonic evolution, though, speeding things up in a hard rock direction on the Hendrix-indebted "She Makes Me (Feel Alright)", or borrowing distinctly Lennon-esque lines on the murky "You're On Your Own".
Clearly the band's aim is to climb the charts, although Look Into The Future only manages to reach No. 100, a slight improvement on the debut album. And yet Journey display unquestionable instrumental talent, even if they're not offering anything particularly innovative to the market. The title track, for instance, is an eight-plus-minute gem, an elegant and hypnotic fusion ballad in which the instruments interact in near-perfect fashion.
Schon emerges as one of the finest guitarists of the entire decade, moving between the Thin Lizzy-style hard rock intensity of "Midnight Dreamer" — with a sumptuous psych-jazz line splitting the track in half — and the rousing, choral "I'm Gonna Leave You", a mix of Santana's Latin atmospheres and Deep Purple's heaviness.
The record is another convincing showcase of the band in the studio, even if it perhaps suffers from a slight lack of direction, as well as a certain degree of derivativeness.

Having released the second instalment of their discography, Journey play the Paramount Theatre in Seattle for a show lasting over two hours, also broadcast on American rock radio. Between dates, the band tries to land a chart hit, holing up at His Master's Wheels Studios in San Francisco in the spring of 1976.
Entirely self-produced, Next continues with the hybrid formula of Look Into The Future, managing to climb slightly on the Billboard charts to No. 85. The Rolie-Schon partnership confirms it's in a state of grace on the hypnotic Elton John-style ballad "Spaceman", followed by the new fusion number "People", which sprinkles Beatles-style psychedelia over their now-customary prog-jazz. The Dunbar-Valory rhythm section reaches its peak with constant tempo changes, while the cosmic keyboards steer the more experimental "I Would Find You" and "Here We Go".
The record is a constant back-and-forth between the band's now-familiar daring and the need to simplify the sound in search of a more commercial direction, as on the powerful hard-blues of "Hustler". Journey, however, refuse to abandon their sonic identity, mixing harder riffs with prog-tinged keyboard excursions on the title track. It's as if the sheer technical skill of the various members prevents the sound from becoming too catchy, even as they try to steer toward tougher territory. On "Next", in fact, the hard rock-driven coda is stretched into an imperious instrumental charge, with Dunbar's commanding drumming and Schon's acrobatic guitar work. It segues straight into the sci-fi fusion instrumental "Nickel And Dime", before closing in Hendrix-esque fashion with "Karma", featuring Schon's final extraordinary solo.
Despite featuring several tracks better suited to mainstream audiences, Next turns out to be another commercial flop, leading Columbia Records executives to lose patience with Journey, who had by then become something of a financial black hole. To record the first three albums and fund continuous touring across America, Columbia had already advanced hundreds of thousands of dollars. With an estimated 100,000 copies sold per album, the band is effectively failing to pay off its debts. Walter Yetnikoff, Columbia's boss, is also a notably aggressive businessman, furious at the massive success achieved in the same period by emerging bands like Foreigner and Boston, while Journey had only produced unlikely suites that no radio station would ever play. On top of that there's the live factor: Schon and co. had managed to fill clubs and theatres thanks to their extraordinary collective musicianship, but they would never manage to headline the big stadiums and arenas where promoters actually make the real money. In other words, as far as Columbia Records was concerned, the Journey project had officially failed.

Evolution

With Columbia Records executives on the warpath, Herbie pulls yet another rabbit out of his hat, convincing Yetnikoff to give the band a second chance, promising a substantial overhaul of their sound. One of the major's biggest concerns is Rolie's not-very-commercial voice, and more generally the need to bring in a charismatic frontman and present themselves on equal footing with bands like Foreigner and Boston. The choice falls on Californian singer Robert Fleischman, who already has stage experience with the Los Angeles band Shatterminx.
With Fleischman on board, Journey start getting noticed by a wider audience, opening numerous dates for bands like Black Sabbath, Judas Priest and Emerson, Lake & Palmer throughout 1977. Robert takes part in the band's new creative process, but relations with the rest of the group — and especially with Herbert — quickly turn tense. Fleischman's personality is quite strong, bordering on arrogance, and doesn't go down well with Schon and Rolie, who are used to putting in the hard yards on stages across America. The singer constantly complains about the travel, the hotels, essentially behaving like a classic prima donna. On top of that, he's tied to manager Barry Fey, who immediately clashes with Herbie over control of the creative direction to take.
So the unthinkable happens: while Robert is singing on stage at Soldier Field in Chicago, in front of 100,000 people, Herbie already has in his pocket the demo tape of another singer, one with a much cleaner voice and therefore deemed far better suited to averting Journey's definitive collapse. That singer goes by the name of Stephen Ray Perry, born in Hanford, California, to parents of Portuguese descent. An only child, Stephen fell in love with music as a kid, drawn in by his father Raymond, who ran the KNGS radio station. After hearing Sam Cooke's voice during a car trip with his mother, Stephen decided to become a singer, forming his first band, Ice, after moving to Sacramento. With Ice he tried recording a first album at Record Plant studios, but the group soon faded into obscurity for lack of a manager capable of handling it properly.
After another move, to Thousand Oaks, Perry put together a progressive-rock band, Pieces, with veteran bassist Tim Bogert, who had already worked with Jeff Beck. But Pieces didn't work out either, unable to land a record deal right in the middle of the 1970s. Next came another shipwreck with Alien Project, which nearly led him to give up on music for good after the tragic death of bassist Richard Michaels in a car accident. Having retreated to Lemoore to look for new challenges outside of music, Stephen is talked out of quitting by his mother, who convinces him to send a demo version of his song "If You Need Me, Call Me" to Journey's manager, after producer Scott Mathews convinces her he'd be perfect to replace troublemaker Fleischman.
Here comes another of Herbie's theatrical masterstrokes: he secretly brings Perry into the band's entourage, officially presented as a roadie of Portuguese descent. During the soundcheck ahead of a show in Long Beach, Stephen sings along with the group, who are subsequently informed, unofficially, that he will be the definitive frontman in place of Robert, who is fired on the spot without much ceremony.

The new Journey line-up makes its live debut in late October, ahead of new recording sessions split between His Master's and Cherokee studios. For the band's fourth album, Herbie wants a producer with proper pedigree, so he brings in Englishman Roy Thomas Baker, a true Midas of the production studio thanks to the staggering success of Queen, which had culminated with "A Night At The Opera". It's clear that Schon and co. can no longer afford to mess around with hyper-instrumental fusion suites — now they have to get serious, crack the charts, and pay off the debts owed to an impatient Columbia.
So on 20 January 1978, Infinity is released, a Copernican revolution in the name of more mainstream rock. The impact on longtime fans of the opening track "Lights" is immense, starting with Perry's first R&B-inflected vocal runs, which guide an imposing soft-pop ballad streaked with blues thanks to Schon's ever-splendid central solo. The choral harmonies introduced by Baker — obviously a great expert after his work with Mercury and co. — completely transform Journey's sound, now light years away from their more sophisticated prog-jazz.
The album is, however, a triumph, perfectly constructed by Baker, who installs an orchestral-pop framework while still making full use of Journey's technical abilities, enriching everything with chart-smashing choral harmonies. "Feeling That Way" is the ideal bridge between Elton John and Queen, yet manages to retain the band's identity despite the obvious shelving of their more experimental side. We're talking about a record born and built to save Journey from Columbia's wrath, who can finally rub their hands together at the Lynyrd Skynyrd-esque hard-pop of "Anytime", a catchy boogie-toned charge that opens with an a cappella chorus.
Schon's riff gets more aggressive on "L훮 Do D훮", which brings in martial textures and echoes of old progressive excursions, alternating with the velvety arpeggios of the Zeppelin-esque ballad "Patiently". Despite a dramatic departure from the band's first three albums, Infinity is a genuine gem that ideally closes out the glorious '70s, reviving more melodic hard rock on the successful single "Wheel In The Sky". The pairing of angelic Perry and acrobatic Schon works wonders on the melodic ballad "Somethin' To Hide", while "Winds Of March" goes for elegiac, almost chamber-music tones, before erupting in a hard-prog-flavoured coda thanks to Rolie's organ. The band returns to Zeppelin-esque atmospheres on the brief interlude "Can Do", before closing with the elegant "Opened The Door", led by Perry's warm soul voice through a sweeping rise and fall between astral effects and Schon's otherworldly guitar.

Bye, Aynsley

The overhaul of Journey's sound pays off in the most straightforwardly commercial terms, as Infinity leaps to No. 21 on the Billboard national chart. The band kicks off the second leg of the 1978 tour, which had begun opening for Van Halen and Ronnie Montrose. A significant problem emerges, however, because Aynsley Dunbar is at open war with the new melodic, commercial direction imposed by Herbie Herbert to please Columbia. The drummer starts sabotaging the tempo of songs live, deliberately playing too fast or too slow to trip up Perry. Tension reaches a breaking point toward the end of the 1978 summer leg of the tour, when Dunbar is fired following a concert in early September at the Oakland Coliseum. New drummer Steve Smith is hastily brought in, a former student of the prestigious Berklee College of Music and a respected session player caught between a love of jazz and more rock-oriented experimentation.
The new Journey line-up enters Cherokee Studios at the end of the year to immediately start work on the follow-up to Infinity, once again with producer Roy Thomas Baker. Opening with the brief, grandiose instrumental "Majestic", Evolution marks the band's definitive move toward the glittering shores of arena-rock, ready to explode across every FM frequency in the mainstream landscape. Starting with the power-ballad "Too Late", Journey make abundant use of Perry's vocal abilities, combined with their usual instrumental skill, in service of immediate rock songs like the bluesy "Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'", the band's first major hit single to crack the US Top 20. The irresistible "na na na" sung at the end of the track is clear proof of the very direction Dunbar had so fiercely opposed, one that would lead Journey to fill stadiums worldwide at the dawn of the '80s.
The new a cappella intro of "City Of The Angels" bears the unmistakable magic touch of Roy Thomas Baker, who crafts another sturdy ballad, tailor-made for Perry's soulful voice. Guitarist Neal Schon inevitably becomes another cornerstone of the group, already with all the makings of a new stadium guitar hero, as on the full-blown arena-rock riff of "When You're Alone (It Ain't Easy)".
The tearjerking ballad "Sweet And Simple" clearly shows the band's new direction, with a sound even more melodic and choral than that of Infinity. Tracks like "Lovin' You Is Easy" incorporate funky elements, with a contribution from drummer Greg Errico (Sly and the Family Stone), while the boogie-pop "Just The Same Way" gives renewed space to the now-sidelined voice of Gregg Rolie. While still a well-crafted record, Evolution starts to lose a little something on tracks like "Do You Recall", too centred on Perry's voice to connect with mainstream tastes. Things fare decidedly better when the alluring, astral atmosphere of "Daydream" kicks in, where the vocal is genuinely at the service of a captivating structure somewhere between psych-blues and Eastern-tinged arpeggios. Journey thus set off across the bridge that will carry them through the next two decades, with the new hard'n'heavy sounds of "Lady Luck" poised to take stadiums around the world by storm.

The Evolution Tour kicks off on 1 March 1979 and represents a crucial turning point for Journey. Thanks to the success of the singles "Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'" and "Just The Same Way", the new round of concerts brings in a staggering take, topping 5 million dollars. The huge flow of revenue allows the band to take a logistically pioneering step for the late '70s: an entire fleet of trucks and a custom-built lighting rig. Rather than renting local equipment, the band starts travelling with a standardized, monumental production, laying the groundwork for the titanic arena shows of the following decade. Journey perform across the United States and Europe alongside bands like Thin Lizzy, AC/DC, Aerosmith and Ted Nugent, during the legendary World Series of Rock festival at Cleveland Stadium in front of more than 70,000 people.
To ride the wave of success, Columbia releases the first compilation, In The Beginning, intended to introduce new fans to the band's early, more experimental period.

At the end of the year, after wrapping up the Evolution tour in September, Journey return to the Automatt Studios in San Francisco to record a new album, with English producer Geoff Workman, already part of Roy Thomas Baker's team as sound engineer. Released at the dawn of 1980, Departure kicks off with a bang, propelled by the irresistible hard-pop of "Any Way You Want It", a catchy-to-the-nth-degree track, openly inspired by the sound of Thin Lizzy, with whom Journey had spent part of their American tour. The single climbs the charts in the US, pushing the album to dominate radio airwaves across the whole country. Another hit track is the smooth blues-pop of "Walks Like A Lady", enriched by Schon's instrumental flourishes and soulful, nocturnal-toned backing vocals.
From the melodic openings of "Someday Soon" to the psychedelic textures of "People And Places", Departure is in some ways a more layered record than Evolution, a show of maturity that better reflects the instrumental ability of the band's various members. "Precious Time" makes room for Rolie's harmonica in a building power-blues, while Schon's riff drives the hard-boogie "Where Were You", complete with barrelhouse keyboards. The guiding star remains arena-rock built for massive crowds, first based on the intensity of the guitar ("I'm Cryin'"), then on carefree, Kiss-style choruses ("Line Of Fire"). Journey put fine detail into lighter-waving ballads like "Stay Awhile", closing the album on the Zeppelin-esque groove of "Homemade Love".

Don't Stop Believing

The commercial success of Departure drives ticket sales for the accompanying tour, the last with Gregg Rolie on keyboards. The former Santana man is by now tired of life on the road, wanting to focus on family and perhaps some solo projects, decidedly less demanding on a professional level. To avoid leaving his bandmates in a tough spot, Rolie suggests being replaced by Jonathan Cain, who had recently joined the English band The Babys. While waiting for Cain, it's Stevie "Keys" Roseman who plays at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley, California, where the band works with producer Kevin Elson on the release of their first live album.
During the Departure tour, in October 1980, Journey stopped off for some recording sessions at the CBS/Sony Shinanomachi studios in Tokyo, to work on the soundtrack for the Japanese fantasy film "Yume, Yume No Ato". The result is the surprising Dream, After Dream, a welcome return to their original progressive roots after the sonic transformation ordered by Herbert.
Released in December 1980, the album passes almost entirely unnoticed on the record market, but gives listeners a full picture of the instrumental talent of a group that is much more than the stadium sound that's now making them famous around the world. It opens with the sci-fi overture "Destiny", enriched with orchestral elements over Perry's devastated vocal, before spilling into a jagged, math-rock rhythm.
From the chamber-music atmospheres of "Snow Theme" to the cosmic journey of "Sandcastles", the album is a disorienting detour in the American band's new direction, an opportunity for listeners to hear how Perry fits into a more experimental setting. The singer sounds perfectly at ease, even on a largely instrumental record, shaped by Schon's talent as on the intense "When The Love Has Gone". Journey shine on the choral finale of "Little Girl", caught between Pink Floyd-esque echoes and the more standard stadium-ballad format that had just launched them into the stratosphere of world rock.

In January 1981, the band's first live album, Captured, is released, dedicated to their "road companion" Bon Scott, who had tragically died at 33 from acute alcohol poisoning. Recorded live on stages in Detroit, Montreal and Tokyo, the album is a vibrant compilation of fan favourites, including one new studio-recorded track, the boogie-pop "The Party's Over (Hopelessly In Love)", featuring keyboardist Stevie "Keys" Roseman. It is, in fact, his only appearance as a member of Journey, since Rolie's place is taken by Jonathan Cain, who joins the band at Fantasy Studios in the spring of 1981 to record the new album Escape with producer Mike Stone.
Also known by its stylized title E5C4P3, Journey's seventh album is the one that finally breaks them wide open, shifting over ten million copies in the US market with several singles in heavy rotation on American radio. "Don't Stop Believin'" is the anthem that will make Journey immortal, a midtempo power-ballad born out of some advice given by Cain's father to a dejected Cain, who was on the verge of quitting music for good. Instead, the single — driven by liturgical piano and Perry's astonishing vocal performance — turns Journey into giants of world rock.
From the overwhelming intensity of Schon's solo at the end of "Stone In Love" to the icy beauty of the love song "Who's Crying Now", Escape is the album that marks the American band's definitive maturity, putting their obvious mainstream ambitions at the service of their original instrumental talent. Though now missing two formidable musicians in Rolie and Dunbar, Journey know how to play to their strengths to produce a true classic album of American popular music.
The tempo picks up on the riff of the boogie-pop "Keep On Runnin'", before returning to a bluesy midtempo on the choral ballad "Still They Ride". The record thus taps into the spirit of American teenagers in the early '80s, essentially a soundtrack riding feelings of love and rebellion over Schon's spine-tingling guitar solos. If the title track is the perfect road song for those riding high, propelled by Cain's pounding keyboards and a whirling middle section, the roaring "Lay It Down" veers toward full-volume hard rock, with Perry's voice hitting its highest, most provocative tones. Voted the greatest AOR album of all time by readers of Kerrang! magazine, Escape is essentially a concentrate of adrenaline — the whirling, pounding "Dead Or Alive" — and choral romanticism, as on the ballad poised between heavy and symphonic pop, "Mother, Father". The finale is the stuff of legend, built on the aching notes of the power-ballad "Open Arms", a towering vocal performance from Perry on a chart-smashing single that would go on to spawn an endless stream of covers and interpretations by thousands of aspiring vocalists around the world.

New Frontiers

On 12 June 1981 the massive Escape Tour kicks off, cementing Journey's status as one of the most followed stadium bands on the planet. There are hundreds of sold-out dates across the United States, Europe and Japan, while the November show at the Astrodome in Houston is filmed for MTV, quickly becoming one of the most broadcast live concerts in rock history. With the founding of the official fan club, named Journey Force, the band turns into a full-blown brand, a money-making machine racing full speed toward musical stardom.

While the Escape tour continues throughout 1982, the previously unreleased "Only Solutions" and "1990s Theme" come out, featured on the soundtrack to Steven Lisberger's film "Tron". It's the prelude to new recording sessions at Fantasy Studios, which lead to the release of Frontiers in February 1983. Despite going six times platinum and placing four singles in heavy rotation, the follow-up to Escape fails to match its predecessor's intense brilliance, betraying a certain conservatism aimed squarely at preserving the same winning formula.
Opening with the synth-rock/Motown-sound blend of "Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)" — another single that climbs the American charts, riding the band's growing fame — the new album offers the same mix as Escape, leaning more heavily on Cain's keyboards than on Schon's guitar. Journey lean into the romantic ballad format on "Send Her My Love", while on tougher, more driving tracks like "Chain Reaction" the new direction toward synthesized hard rock becomes evident.
Still balanced between AOR and pop, Perry and co. confirm they're in magical form on the gem "After The Fall", enhanced by Schon's excellent guitar work on the fade-out. The other masterstroke is the power-ballad "Faithfully", written by Cain on a napkin during the Escape tour and recorded in just over an hour, producing one of the most beloved love songs of the '80s.
From the acidic riff of "Edge Of The Blade" to the melodic grandeur of "Troubled Child", Frontiers is the record that carries Journey toward the new sonic frontiers of the decade just begun, while still keeping the mainstream framework that had catapulted them into international stardom. Certainly less bold in venturing into new sonic territory, the band nonetheless confirms its full talent, from the Van Halen-esque boogie of "Back Talk" to the elegant progressive streak of the title track.

Thanks to the hype generated by the new studio tracks, the Frontiers Tour kicks off in Japan with an imposing deployment of lights and sci-fi effects, in line with the album's own cover art. It's one of the most successful tours of the year, with Bryan Adams on board as support act. The band is followed on the road by the film production company NFL Films for the making of a documentary titled "Frontiers And Beyond", centered on the show at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia with nearly a hundred thousand people going wild in the crowd. A success so overwhelming that it triggers an unsustainable level of pressure and psychological burnout.
At the end of the Frontiers tour, the band surprisingly decides to take a break, the direct consequence of several factors, starting of course with the physical and mental exhaustion - particularly in Steve Perry's case - caused by over three years of almost uninterrupted world tours. But there's more to it: Perry himself had repeatedly expressed a wish to push toward a glossier sound, somewhere between pop and R&B. Schon and Smith, on the other hand, wanted to push toward a more technical, aggressive rock, along the lines of tracks like "Back Talk".

Steve Perry, by now the undisputed lider maximo of Journey, announces to the others that he wants to test his artistic independence, releasing his first solo album, "Street Talk", in 1984. It's a success that sells over two million copies, driven by the single "Oh, Sherrie". Neal Schon then founds the Hagar Schon Aaronson Shriever (HSAS) project with Sammy Hagar, releasing the album "Through The Fire" to vent his more hard rock side. Drummer Steve Smith devotes himself more to his true passion, jazz fusion, founding Vital Information. When the press interviews Schon and asks him whether Journey has reached the end of the road, though, the guitarist firmly denies it, stating that the break is meant precisely to strengthen the band and come back in grand style in the near future.
After a few phone calls between Perry and Cain, Journey reconvene at the usual Fantasy Studios toward the end of 1985 to start work on their new studio album. Schon's prediction turns out to be wrong, however, because Perry takes on the role of producer for the album, unleashing an unstoppable flood of artistic and personal tensions. The entire rhythm section pays the price, with Valory and Smith asked to leave the band for good. Perry then temporarily hires some musicians to complete the recording of the album: Randy Jackson and Bob Glaub on bass, Larrie Londin on drums.

Raised On Radio comes out in the fall of 1986, achieving decent commercial success - number four on the Billboard chart - but making critics turn up their noses, particularly over the absence of two such fundamental members as Valory and Smith. The album opens with the soft-pop of "Girl Can't Help It", a clear demonstration of the new direction pushed by Perry that led to the breakup of the band's most seasoned lineup. Schon's rocker instincts are more evident in the muscular melody of "Positive Touch", with the addition of a horn solo that takes the band far from arena-rock shores. The group now seems to be falling apart, caught between two creative fires: on one side the singer's obsession with tracks straddling R&B and commercial pop ("Suzanne"), on the other attempts to restore a more communal, riff-driven mainstream rock ("Be Good To Yourself").
Aside from a few successful experiments, like the funky "Once You Love Somebody" or the Springsteen-esque title track, Raised On Radio is a flat record, lost between the romantic soft-pop of "I'll Be Alright Without You" and "The Eyes Of A Woman".

Trial by fire

The new world tour following the release of Raised On Radio kicks off in the summer of 1986, with Randy Jackson on bass and Mike Baird on drums. Partly filmed by MTV for a documentary on the band, the new round of shows still rack up numerous sellouts, but push Steve Perry to his limit as he begins suffering vocal cord problems. Herbie Herbert has already booked further live dates, but tensions within the band are by now uncontrollable, and the singer himself officially announces his resignation. "I can't do this anymore", Perry admits in an informal chat with Schon, "I need to get out for a while. It's over, I want to stop now".
The Journey project thus comes to an end in early 1987, prompting Columbia executives to release a Greatest Hits at the end of 1988, one of the most commercially successful compilations in history, with 15 million copies sold and a staggering 750 consecutive weeks on the Billboard chart. While Steve Perry enjoys his well-earned rest devoting himself to private life, Schon and Cain form Bad English with drummer Deen Castronovo, releasing two albums in the late '80s. The three briefly reunite only at the end of 1991, for the tribute event to Bill Graham, the legendary promoter tragically killed in a helicopter crash.

After the end of Bad English, Schon and Castronovo form the glam-metal outfit Hardline, before joining singer Paul Rodgers for his 1993 tour. Perry emerges from anonymity with his second solo album, "For The Love Of Strange Medicine", released by Columbia in 1994. The decision to rejoin Journey comes in 1995, but on one condition only: Herbie Herbert has to go, replaced by Irving Azoff, already manager of the Eagles.
For the comeback album, Steve Smith and Ross Valory are called back, working in the studio with producer Kevin Shirley. Preceded by the orchestral ballad "When You Love A Woman", Trial By Fire is a record that sails between newfound songwriting maturity and a past that can no longer be revived. There are tracks like the opener "Message Of Love" that show superb arrangements between voice and guitar in a muscular, lyrical uptempo rocker. "One More", for instance, delivers a delightful rhythm section under Perry's aggressive vocal, while "Can't Tame The Lion" travels along Bryan Adams lines with solid AOR sprinkled with psychedelic harmonies. Schon's guitar proves to still be in perfect shape, between Clapton-esque references on the vibrant "Castles Burning" and arena-rock echoes on "I Can See It In Your Eyes", originally added only to the Japanese edition of the album.
Trial By Fire is, however, a two-sided work, as convincing in its most inspired moments as it is unremarkable in its slower ones, with the exception of the pop-ballad "If He Should Break Your Heart". Tracks like "Forever In Blue" and "Don't Be Down On Me Baby" drag through tedious melodic marches between R&B and orchestral arrangements.

Following yet another commercial hit, the band's management plans a new world tour, which is hindered, however, by a serious injury suffered by Perry while trekking in Hawaii in August 1996. Hospital tests reveal a serious bone problem that should require the singer to undergo hip surgery. Steve thus decides to decline touring, putting Journey on hold for the following two years. In particular, it's Schon and Cain who push to continue the adventure, but Perry's final decision is to retire from showbiz and return to the shadows of his private life.
Steve Smith doesn't like the idea of carrying on without Journey's iconic voice at all, and goes back to his love of jazz, replaced by the familiar face of Deen Castronovo, already a Bad English bandmate of Schon's. There's a sizable problem, though: finding a worthy replacement for Perry, so deeply rooted in the hearts of all the band's fans. That's why only high-profile singers are auditioned, such as Geoff Tate (Queensrÿche), but the choice eventually falls on Steve Augeri, already working with the hard rock bands Tall Stories and Tyketto. After winning the Best Debut Male Vocalist award at the 1992 New York Music Awards, Augeri makes his debut with Journey on the electro-acoustic uptempo track "Remember Me", included on the soundtrack of the blockbuster "Armageddon". The new incarnation of the band first performs in Japan to test the fans' reaction, then launches the Vacation's Over Tour across the United States through 1999. "It's like being reborn", an enthusiastic Schon tells the American press.

Still Alive

In the spring of 2000, Journey enter Avatar Studios, again with producer Kevin Shirley. Arrival is initially released only for the Japanese market, hitting the American market only in April 2001. It is effectively the first album to miss gold certification since Next, punished by longtime fans who clearly never digested Perry's departure. Even though Augeri's vocal style isn't all that far from Perry's, Arrival is partly panned by critics, who accuse Journey of having practically stopped taking any risks and simply keeping the circus running.
The album nonetheless marks a return to more aggressive sounds, from the hard rock riff of "Higher Place" to the pounding "I Got A Reason". The main problem, though, lies in a general lack of ideas, caught between saccharine pop ("All The Way") and bland piano ballads ("Signs Of Life"). Augeri's vocal commitment is genuinely commendable, but the comparison with Perry can only be merciless, so Journey inevitably have to lean on Schon's talent, on charming power-pop tracks like "All The Things".
The rest of the album centers on tear-jerking melodies like "Loved By You" and "With Your Love", not exactly original even in their titles. Journey thus seem carried solely by Schon's guitar, as on the atmospheric "Livin' To Do". Calling it a spent force might be ungenerous, but Arrival certainly doesn't show the much-touted rebirth the band had promoted to the media.

With the commercial decline - the new album doesn't even manage to break into Billboard's top 50 - Columbia Records, by now controlled by the Sony giant, decides to drop Journey, terminating their recording contract. This leads to another hiatus, during which Schon forms the group Planet Us, again with Castronovo, before founding the Journey Music label and consequently releasing an EP titled Red 13 at the end of 2002. The brief record is a tribute to fans of the earliest era, a return to the lost spirit of musical experimentation. The mini-suite "Intro: Red 13 / State Of Grace" moves between electronic and cosmic folds, exploding into riffs of Eastern-tinged psychedelia. Augeri's voice seems decidedly more at ease with the new sonic format, no longer having to echo Perry's style. "The Time" veers toward solid hard-blues, while "Walkin' Away From The Edge" - left over from the Arrival sessions and co-written with Queensrÿche singer Geoff Tate - starts out as a lyrical ballad before evolving into cosmic Pink Floyd-style solos.
Journey thus return to performing live alongside bands like Styx and REO Speedwagon, even taking on unusual bookings, like a handful of dates aboard the cruise ship Triumph sailing around the Caribbean. After receiving their star on the famous Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2005, the band reconvenes at Record Plant studios in Sausalito, California, to work on Generations, released by the Sanctuary label in October. The album marks a shift in the approach to vocal duties, which for the first time are shared among the various members due to some problems Augeri had been experiencing recently. It opens with the roaring riff of "The Place In Your Heart", with Augeri's delivery finally moving away from Perry's classic style and becoming decidedly more personal, for instance on the elegant orchestral ballad "Butterfly (She Flies Alone)".
Certainly not essential, the album is at least a step forward for the band into new compositional territory, perhaps thanks to their split from Columbia and its more stringent commercial demands. "Believe" is an intense power-pop track with a whiff of wall-of-sound, while "Out Of Harms Way" and "In Self-Defense" rev up on harder arrangements. One certainly can't call it a band returned to full artistic life, but Generations is a far more engaging listen than Arrival. "Better Together" returns to the old glories of arena-rock, while "Gone Crazy" launches into an enjoyable full-throttle blues'n'roll. To close, "Beyond The Clouds" is another fine Augeri performance in the classic power-ballad mold.

Setting off on tour again to celebrate their thirtieth anniversary, Journey treat fans to marathon shows of over three hours, mixing old classics and new songs. In 2006 they play a string of European dates followed by more US shows alongside Def Leppard, but the new shows are marred by the fury of audiences who notice the use of pre-recorded vocal tracks to mask Augeri's worsening problems. Suffering from vocal cord strain, the American singer is targeted by former manager Herbie Herbert, who for strictly legal reasons is forced to lie about his real condition and the resulting use of backing tracks. After just a few months, though, the band is forced to announce that Augeri will step down and leave Journey after the Raleigh show in July. The world tour continues with Jeff Scott Soto, singer of the Swedish hard rock band Talisman, officially recruited into the lineup at the end of 2006. The stint with Soto lasts about a year, until June 2007, when Schon publicly thanks him for his contribution to the cause, announcing an unspecified "next move".

Changes for the better

After parting ways with Soto, Journey are back to square one, without a singer capable of handling the pressure of fronting a band of international stature. Schon starts scouring dozens of videos on the video-sharing platform YouTube, zeroing in particularly on Jeremiah Hunsicker, vocalist of the tribute band Frontiers. Hunsicker completes the first round of auditions, sticking around with the band long enough to even write new material, but is quickly let go due to creative and personal friction with Schon himself. Another amateur singer is then contacted: Filipino Arnel Pineda, who fronts another cover band, The Zoo. Pineda also passes the audition process with flying colors, announced as the new Journey singer in December 2007. More than one longtime fan turns up their nose, flooding the band's online message boards with racist comments over the addition of a foreign member. It's Cain who defends him in the press, speaking of a worldwide band that certainly can't limit itself to the idea of a single color.

After "Don't Stop Believin'" was used in the masterful series finale of "The Sopranos", Journey enjoy a fresh boost in popularity, while relocating once again to California studios to work on a new album. Revelation comes out in June 2008, preceded by the hard-pop single "Never Walk Away", the only track written during Hunsicker's brief tenure. From the new ballad "Like A Sunshower" to the boogie rhythm of "Change For The Better", Pineda's voice is bright and spot-on precise, but the overall effect is that of an excellent tribute band tackling the Journey sound. "Wildest Dream" pounds away toward the usual arena-rock shores, while "After All These Years" returns to more romantic melody in the style of Bryan Adams.
Journey pick the aggressive lyricism back up on "Where Did I Lose Your Love", trying to modernize the sound by pushing into territory charted by Linkin Park on tracks like "What It Takes To Win". In the end, Schon's instrumental talent remains undeniable on "The Journey (Revelation)", but Revelation is a record dangerously close to tedium.

Surprisingly, the new album performs very well on the charts, selling almost two hundred thousand copies in under two weeks and holding steady in Billboard's top twenty for nearly two months. Pineda's live debut comes in February 2008, in front of twenty thousand people in Chile, kicking off the "Revelation Tour", which runs through the end of the following year grossing over 30 million dollars. While the old hit "Don't Stop Believin'" keeps racking up plays on new platforms like iTunes, Journey return to the studio with producer Kevin Shirley, who however leaves the band toward the end of the sessions at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley. It's Schon and Cain who finish the work for the release of Eclipse - stylized ECL1P53 - in May 2011, an album that radically abandons the classic pop-plus-ballad formula to embrace a tougher, rockier sound. It's Schon, in fact, who decides not to care about radio-friendly formatting, building tracks driven harder by his guitar, which puts him at odds with Shirley, who keeps reminding everyone of Revelation's resounding success.
It opens with the anthemic "City Of Hope", built mainly on Schon's hypnotic riff and Pineda's excellent vocal performance, who has ultimately managed to carry Journey into the post-Perry era at last. Tracks like "Edge Of The Moment" dare to use metal arrangements, while "Chain Of Love" opens with ambient tones before veering into lyrical hard rock.
Dismissed by much of the critics, Eclipse tries to fuse Journey's instrumental soul with their most roaring arena-rock, on tracks like "Anything Is Possible" or "Resonate". What comes out is certainly a more interesting record in terms of approach, though still caught between old temptations and new sonic directions. Cain himself would later criticize the decision to release an album like this, pointing the finger at the all-costs urgency to sound heavier. Pineda's voice certainly allows Schon to push the pedal on his virtuoso flourishes ("Human Feel" and "Ritual"), but the doubt raised by Cain perhaps lingers all the same. The record contains fascinating tracks like the psychedelic "She's A Mystery" or the swirling blues instrumental "Venus", while certain numbers like "To Whom It May Concern" feel suspended in limbo, between restoring stadium pop and an almost desperate urge to emerge once again on the world rock scene.

After reaching number thirteen on Billboard's albums chart, Journey embark on a new world tour with Foreigner and Styx. In 2015 a major issue arises with Deen Castronovo, arrested by American police following a violent family altercation. The drummer is thus fired, replaced by the seasoned Omar Hakim for the tour set to begin that same year. 2016, meanwhile, sees the long-awaited return of veteran Steve Smith, reuniting the '80s lineup with the obvious exception of Perry. It's the prelude to their induction into the prestigious Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which opens the door to yet another tour - with Def Leppard - during which the band grosses over 30 million dollars in just 17 dates. From the 2017 shows at Tokyo's Nippon Budokan comes Escape & Frontiers Live In Japan, a sprawling double live album with over two hours of music.

Running together?

In March 2020, at the dawn of the pandemic upheaval, a bombshell announcement shook the American band's foundations. Schon and Cain fired the longtime rhythm section of Valory and Smith, accusing them of attempting a full-blown coup, conspiring behind the scenes to seize control of Nightmare Productions, which was mistakenly believed to hold all rights to the Journey brand. The two were thus sued for allegedly trying to hold one of the most lucrative names in the global rock scene hostage, in order to secure the lion's share of the proceeds for life. Schon and Cain sought $10 million in damages, while Valory and Smith were backed in court by Steve Perry and former manager Herbie Herbert. It then emerged that Perry himself had continued to be regularly paid even after leaving the band, further inflaming tensions within the group. Valory, in particular, filed a countersuit against Schon and Cain, who had allegedly improperly used Elmo Partners to split earnings and, more importantly, control of the brand, disregarding the fact that Elmo was merely a licensing company that had, among other things, only operated between 1985 and 1994.
After the mudslinging, the dispute was settled amicably, but Schon and Cain nevertheless decided to replace Valory with returning member Randy Jackson, and Smith with newcomer Narada Michael Walden, already known for his work with Jeff Beck.

In June, in the midst of the Covid-19 lockdown, Schon announced a new album, previewed by the power ballad "The Way We Used To Be" in June 2021. It was the prelude to the release of Freedom in June 2022, produced by the band themselves and recorded between California, Nashville and Miami.
Opening with the pop lyricism of "Together We Run", the album is the longest the band has ever made, over 70 minutes of music ranging from the strongly eighties flavour of "Don't Give Up On Us" to Schon's guitar intensity on the hypnotic "Still Believe In Love".
Journey keep the hybrid approach already shown on Eclipse, poised between Bryan Adams-style arena rock ("You Got The Best Of Me") and the now-familiar tear-jerking ballads ("Live To Love Again"). The hard-boogie riff of "Come Away With Me" stirs things up, just as "Let It Rain" leans on Schon's wah-wah pedal for a bluesy midtempo number. The American band unleashes a pounding, metal-tinged rhythm on "Holdin' On", followed by the more conventional hard rock of "All Day And All Night". The weak points lie in certain pop mannerisms ("Don't Go"), but choral tracks like "Life Rolls On" still manage to move the listener, earning Journey the right to remain deservedly on top of their game.

In spring 2022 Cain confirmed to the press that Jackson and Walden would no longer be part of the band, especially after the drummer suffered a mild heart attack following a show in Pennsylvania. 2023 marked Journey's fiftieth anniversary, with Schon floating the idea of a live reunion with Perry and Rolie. The keyboardist did indeed make a brief appearance at a show in Austin, but fans were left disappointed, since Perry himself went on to sue his former bandmates again over issues related to the Journey brand. A new period of legal turbulence loomed on the horizon, with Schon accusing Cain of using "Don't Stop Believin'" for Donald Trump's presidential campaign, while Cain pointed the finger at the guitarist over alleged misuse of shared credit cards. The courtroom fallout led to Cain's departure in autumn 2025, effectively putting an end to what remained of the band's classic lineup. "The Final Frontier Tour" was then announced, essentially a farewell tour set to begin in early 2026. In Schon's words: "We'll be presenting the show as an evening with Journey: two full sets with an intermission and no supporting act. It'll be all about Journey. We'll be bringing back songs we haven't played in decades, alongside the big anthems everyone loves. Right now I can't make any predictions about the band ending. I'm pretty much ready to turn the page. For starters, there are so many tribute bands out there replicating our shows exactly. That's why I'm really happy to change course and throw in surprise elements the audience won't expect: there are too many tribute bands doing the exact same show we do."