EVOLUTION

Definitely the weakest of Journey's 1970s albums, 'Evolution' finds the group mining a distinctly soft and very poppy new direction. Whilst the progressive elements of the first three albums are long gone, the new sound introduced on 1978's breakthrough success 'Infinity' at least managed to retain a link with the hard rock coating that was the backbone of early albums 'Journey', 'Look Into The Future' and 'Next'. With the addition of new vocalist Steve Perry, Journey decided to pursue a much more overtly commercial path, and whilst 'Infinity' may have lacked the expansive instrumental flourished of it's predecessor, it was still a fine album showcasing the San Francisco outfit's deft song-writing abilities. Sadly, 'Evolution', unlike it's predecessor, is simply too far removed from the original formula, a fact proved by the move back to hard(er) rock on follow-up release 'Departure', though 'Evolution's stodgy style didn't stop it from being a big success throughout both North America and Japan thanks to the hit single 'Lovin', Touchin', Sqeezin'. Overall, however, 'Evolution' proves to be an anaemic slice of ersatz pop-rock sorely missing the group's trademark anthemic hooks. Even core members Gregg Rolie(keyboards, vocals) and Neal Schon(guitar) give strangely muted performances, leaving in their wake a mushy set of unmemorable tracks that not even the impassioned vocals of Steve Perry can enliven. Even for AOR, this is seriously lightweight, and surely a contender for one of the least accomplished studio albums of Journey's stellar career. A vapid, vacuous and pretty forgettable record, even die-hard fans may struggle with this one.

STEFAN TURNER, STOKE NEWINGTON, 2O12