ESCAPE [AKA: E5C4P3]

Songwriting-wise, Escape contains eight songs that are somewhere between ok and good, and two classics. Production-wise, it is exactly what one can expect from Journey. Performance-wise, the same is true for Neal Schon, Steve Smith and Ross Valory, while Jonathan Cain gives his debut on this album if I recall correctly. And hey, the man can play the piano! Elton John is no match, and while celebrities like Ivo Pogorelich may interpret Tchaikowsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 more magnificently, I'm not sure whether they are able or even interested to attempt Don't Stop Believin' or the intro to Who's Crying Now. Add Steven Perry's characteristic voice and the album has everything a good rock album needs.

You'd like to know which two songs I rate as classics: Well, the two I mentioned above, with the first having the best lyrics Journey have ever written and the latter made close to immortal by this magical guitar solo at the end. I just don't understand why this song is third instead of last on the playlist.

Rating-wise I'm struggling around the 3.5 star mark. While there are two great songs on the album, they are only two great songs out of ten, so I can't really justify 4 stars and will settle for 3 here and give 3.5 over on metalmusicarchives.