The Essential Journey doesn't bear a title that's too hyperbolic for the collection it represents. Over the course of two discs and 32 songs, the retrospective winds through all of the group's biggest songs -- not just the hit singles, but the album radio favorites and concert staples that kept the group popular on the charts and in the arenas until last third of the '80s (and, for the record, everything on the previous Greatest Hits record is here). The key to the collection is that it doesn't   [ read more ]

CD $15.19

This is a nice live companion to Journey's mega-platinum power ballad era from the early '80s. Journey didn't stray too much from the originals at this point in their career, but arena-friendly songs seldom lend themselves to improvisation anyway. Greatest Hits Live consists of songs recorded in 1981 and 1983, so it has all of the hits which weren't on Journey's first live disc, 1980's Captured. Songs are given a generally more upbeat arrangement than their album counterparts, and {$Ste   [ read more ]

CD $9.49

Few bands of the early to mid-'80s could match the commercial success obtained by Journey. And along with a handful of other bands (Styx, REO Speedwagon, etc.), they almost single-handedly created the arena rock prototype (certainly popularizing power ballads) and proved to be a major influence on countless bands over the years -- including Def Leppard, Bon Jovi, and Train. As a result, various compilations have been issued over the years, but none have dug deeper than the group's be   [ read more ]

CD $43.68

CD $27.53

CD $64.58

Bound and determined to carry on post-Perry, Journey toured with replacement/soundalike Steve Augeri doing a fine job mimicking the original parts for the greatest hits, and finally coming into his own on the new material. Then from out of nowhere Steve Perry re-emerged from his exile for Journey's Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony, which in turn started the appropriate Internet forest fires ablaze with speculation that Perry was going to return to the Journey flock yet again for an album   [ read more ]

CD $39.88

CD $28.48

By 1977 Journey had reached a creative crossroads, with three underwhelming studio albums under their belt and little to show in the way of commercial success. At the prodding of manager Herbie Herbert, who felt a major shakeup was needed in order to reignite their spark, the band was convinced to audition and eventually recruit the services of former Alien Project vocalist Steve Perry. Sure enough, adding him to the band just prior to the sessions for Infinity proved to be a stroke of genius   [ read more ]

CD $7.59

After spending the better half of the '70s as an ersatz prog band given to Neal Schon's noodling, never-ending solos, low record sales, and muddling about on the marginal rock circuit, the members of Journey certainly welcomed the phenomenal chart success and arena tours that came their way in the late '70s. With Captured, a live double-disc from 1980, the newly crowned kings of AOR show off like a formerly fat girl at prom. "Separate Ways" and "Faithfully" were still a few years awa   [ read more ]

CD $7.59

Journey has given radio some of AOR's finest three-minute gems, both in hard rock and ballad form. Time 3 strings together all their best songs, most of them popular and some not so well known, but all extremely enjoyable and laid out over the course of three discs. Set up chronologically, the first disc unleashes their raw sound, with the first eight songs being pre-Steve Perry. With tracks from Infinity, Evolution, and Departure rounding out disc one, a young Perry sets a musical prec   [ read more ]

CD $47.48

Journey's second album, Look Into the Future, is essentially a reprise of their debut, and while the music has a sharper focus and better instrumental sections than its predecessor, it still lacks strong material and is a little too directionless to function as good jazz-rock. Still, it's a marginal improvement over the debut. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide

CD $33.23

Journey's ninth new studio album found the group reduced to a trio of guitarist Neal Schon, singer Steve Perry, and keyboard player Jonathan Cain. But even without their regular rhythm section, the group was able to re-create the accessible pop/rock sound perfected on earlier albums such as Escape and Frontiers. Schon's guitar still cut through the fat keyboard chords, and Perry's fluid tenor still gave the songs an airy, melodic appeal. All of that was good for sales of two milli   [ read more ]

CD $32.28