I’m going back to Journey’s self-titled first album here, which was released in 1975. The overall sound on this album bears little resemblance to the string of rock radio hits they became famous for in the late 70s and early 80s. In the beginning, their sound was what I would describe as progressive rock with a hard edge. It was dominated by lengthy jamming and instrumentals, with keyboardist Gregg Rolie handling the vocals. Steve Perry was not on this album, as he didn’t join the group until their fourth album Infinity was recorded. What appeared here was the output of a largely different band, although four of the five original members of Journey were still on board when Perry joined around 1978.
To explain the origins of Journey, they started as a kind of Bay Area super group, with Rolie and guitarist Neal Schon having previously played together in the ultra-successful band Santana. Roile’s voice will always be associated with their early hits. Bassist Ross Valory and second guitarist George Tickner came from the much less well known band Frumious Bandersnatch, with Valory also having done a stint in the Steve Miller Band. Drummer Aynsley Dunbar previously served apprenticeships with John Mayall and Frank Zappa. He also led his own band Blue Whale before Zappa convinced him to sign on with his band and relocate to California from his native England. Those five formed the sound that defined the early years of Journey as a band. Most of them were veterans of instrumental and fusion-oriented bands with heavy blues and jazz influences. Therefore, the most natural thing for them would be to continue in the direction of their previous bands, although if they wanted to, they probably could have added a singer with a radio-friendly voice from the start, and at least attempted to write songs geared for airplay. However, they stuck with what they knew best, and the massive worldwide success would come a few years later.
The first three albums of Journey are likely unknown to most of their fans, who are probably unaware that they recorded three albums before Perry joined and the band eventually came to epitomize radio friendly hard rock. It likely wouldn’t appeal to fans who call out for the band to play “Don’t Stop Believing” and “Open Arms” at their concerts. Most of them probably wouldn’t find these albums listenable or interesting, except those who like progressive rock. If I had to compare their sound to anyone else’s I guess their closest musical relatives would be bands like the Rough and Ready era Jeff Beck Group. Maybe bands like Rush or Kansas could be viewed as more distant cousins or maybe something like the Grateful Dead with a harder edge. But this is just my subjective speculation. No doubt there are those who disagree, but it’s pointless to get into an argument about music. There are plenty of better things to argue about.
The song I have posted above is “Of a Lifetime” which is the opening track of their debut album. I don’t know if this song epitomizes their early sound, but at least to me, it is representative. I think it’s a good intro to show what the band’s early sound was about. It starts with two verses , then a long instrumental followed by a third verse, then a climax where Rolie and Schon are simultaneously soloing, and finally ground to a halt. Again, this is a far cry from the gazillion-unit selling band that emerged at the end of the decade. But it was not too unusual for the era it was released in.
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