LOOK INTO THE FUTURE

Second album from the now-quartet Journey and still on the CBS label, who was disappointed by the sales figure and pressed the band for more commercial material. With a rather ugly artwork and enigmatic title (hence the crystal ball I guess), the Tickner-less journey wrote some shorter songs for radio airplay and retained their jazzy prog rock for the other half of the (longer) songs, hoping to please their label executives. While the albums sees Schon's guitar soar up in the stratosphere, Rollie's organ is still an excellent feature, although by the album's date of release, it was sounding a bit too close for comfort

It's hard to understand why an obvious would-be-hit misses the target, but the opening On A Saturday Nite, could've pleased both the AOR radio audiences and the sales-hungry CBS label, but it didn't. It's certainly not from trying hard as the following It's All Too Much could've filled that hit-single ambition although the song's aura is lesser, but it's got most of the ingredient including a catchy chorus line. After two obvious radio shot, it was high time for the quartet to come up with a real savoury track, which Anyway reaches no problems.. Vallory's bass shoots a gentle line, until Schon's superb guitar crunch chords fills the pores of your speaker's cones, while Rollie sings one of his best and most dramatic track ever. The following She Makes Me has Schon firing from his six strings

The second part of the album is much more rewarding fr the proghead with You're O Your Own, starting on a cool piano ostinato as Schon and Vallory start a descending riff and finally inducing a descending vocal line and plenty of dramatics from the guitar to the organ, this almost 6-mins scorcher is directly looking at their debut album. The 8-mins+ title track is another winner (again on a descending pattern), but overstays a bit its welcome due to its repetitive nature, even if the middle section holds its own as well. Midnight Dreamer sounds a bit different than the rest of the "better " tracks of the album, and it's certainly faster than most. In its stronger moments you'd swear you're not far from Mahogany Rush's World Anthem album as Rollie prefers using synths. The track slowly dies and leads into the Gonna Leave You closing tune, where the Hammond returns in all its glory. Again it's another thrilling piece of music and one can't help but wonder if an edited version of this song as a 45 rpm.. Sometimes you'd swear you're almost on Santana's first three albums.

Although not quite as successful and thrilling than its predecessor, LITF is still a very good album, that does come up to its older brother's shoulder height and should've the band scored a big hit with either of the first two songs, we'd probably been saved from a vile and hostile take-over and a horrible coup from their label and the industry in general. Well worth a spin or eventually you could just settle for that In The Beginning compilation.