Infinity (1978)
1. Lights
2. Feeling That Way
3. Anytime
4. La Do Da
5. Patiently
6. Wheel in the Sky
7. Somethin' to Hide
8. Winds of March
9. Can Do
10.Opened the Door
 
Listening to this record along with
any of the first three Journey albums that preceded this, one would have
a very hard time finding many similarities. This was about as different
as a style as you can possibly go while still maintaining the label
"rock album". It must be stated that this direction wasn't by choice.
The jazz fusion combo found themselves about to be dumped by their
record label unless they started selling some records. Manager Herbie
Herbert realized that the band needed a singer with a broader appeal and
brought in Steve Perry. The initial foursome reluctantly agreed, not
wanting to give up their trademark sound.
As soon as guitarist Neal Schon sat down to compose a few new songs with
the new guy, the reservations vanished. They realized that Steve Perry
could bring a lot more to the equation than just a new front voice. Oh
sure, the diehards (there weren't that many) balked, and the change did
bring one casualty in the band itself - after recording the record,
drummer Ansley Dunbar decided he didn't like the direction - but the pros
far outweighed the cons.
Although no one was probably that conscious of it at the time, these
guys would soon dominate the airwaves and become synonymous with the
epithet "arena rock". You can't just give the credit to the voice of
Perry (although he was responsible for a big chunk of the success). The
interesting thing is that the band seems to now enjoy the part of
music that involves a "singer". The harmonies throughout the album are
gorgeous, and former lead singer Gregg Rollie still gets to belt out lead
vocals on a few of the tracks, and darn it if he doesn't sound better
than he ever has before.
Perhaps a lot of the success belongs to producer Roy Thomas Baker (whose
resume included, or would include The Cars, Cheap Trick, Foreigner and
Queen) for carving out such a dominating sound. They rock pretty hard
on La Do Da and Feeling That Way, yet they were already
showing their softer side on such songs as the classic Lights
(that everyone seems to know now, but no one had really heard of it at
the time) and the beautifully underrated Patiently.
Completists would feel obliged to buy, at one point, everything this
band had ever written and recorded, yet many could respectfully argue
that this incarnation was new and fresh enough to be the "first" album
that this "band" would release. And many would argue that nothing they
would put out would be quite as powerful as this one.
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