ESCAPE [AKA: E5C4P3]

This is considered as the best album of Journey by those youngsters who knew the band since Steve Perry joined or, to be precise, after the music changed dramatically from the first three albums. This band has been intensely discussed in the rock community where I am involved, as band that inspired glam rock movement in the eighties. All songs contained here are melodic AOR music with some heavy elements especially through guitar work. The root of the music is basically pop rock with straight forward structure and no curved lines in the music. Songs like "Stone In Love" has short guitar solo that makes many people like the music. The opening track "Don' Stop Believing" also features stunning guitar solo. Of course the main attraction is not the guitar, in the ears of glam rockers, but it's probably on the melodic and straight forward composition of the music. One thing that I think is noticeable : the excellent performance of bass work by Ross Valory.

For me personally, I was not really involved in the development of the band during the eighties because the music by that time tended to be oriented towards pop rock. But of course I heard "Who's Crying Now" from local radio play which was regular menu for radio airtime. But again, I never paid attention to it because I was not into that kind of music. In fact, knowing the band's debut album, I was not aware that was Journey's song.

Overall, this is a good pop rock album which most songs are catchy and easy listening. For prog heads, it's actually not the kind of music that you aspire to listen to, but for a break from complex music, eg. eclectic prog, this might be one of the options. If you are hard rock fans, you can also enjoy this album even though it's not as heavy as Led Zeppeling or Black Sabbath or Deep Purple. But the most important thing is .. you still keep on proggin'.!!! And don't change your music direction like Jouney did in their fourth album.

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW (i-Rock! Music Community)