Escape

Escape is Journey’s finest masterpiece and a landmark of AOR, expanding its melodic appeal to the maximum, around Steve Perry’s soaring, perfect voice, Neal Schon’s fluid guitar and the new member Jonathan Cain’s keyboards. Reaching number one on the US chart, its songs hold widely open choruses yet keep a sure playing strength and precision in their details. Cain’s joining lifted the band’s songwriting to new heights. The enduring great classic “Don’t Stop Believin’,” full of forward-moving force, the deeply sorrowful “Who’s Crying Now” and the height of the moving ballad “Open Arms” vividly symbolize this album’s tremendously wide range. From the power of “Stone in Love” to the drama of the title track “Escape,” every song boasts a gem-like polish. In particular, “Don’t Stop Believin’” became a true anthem still loved worldwide across eras. Its immense value lies in subliming small personal emotion into grand songs that reach every corner of a large venue. An overwhelmingly polished record that vividly showed one complete form of the arena-rock/AOR genre. An enduring great masterpiece shining brilliantly in rock history and an eternal masterpiece inscribing Journey’s brilliant peak — an essential record for all rock fans.