Full of energy and great jamming. Neil Schon puts on a guitar clinic here! The ending solo in Of a Lifetime is a masterpiece. Greg Rollie's B3 is powerful (as usual). It is unfortunate that this line-up and direction has pretty much been overshadowed by the 80s arena rock Journey. Although the addtion of Steve Perry's extraordinary voice made Journey a more commercialy palitable group, they seemed to lose this adventurous style. This album along with "Next" and "Look Into the Future" are great discs to discover.

Journey's debut is full of ego stroking and shameless blazen displays of trying to prove one's chops. But it goes beyond all that... in 1975, at the time of this recording's release, amazing skills and jamming abilities were the flavor of the day, yet this band seems to have taken the leap of true musical craftsmanship. Even though the songs are accessible from a commercial standpoint they are musically dynamic and have continuity as the tunes capture the essence of the player's souls. When one becomes advanced at his/her instrument, cognative thought leaves the arena, and the id level takes over as one's soul is poured out through the instrument. This recording successfully captures that soul energy; which is amazing when you consider that it can be very hard to summon the ability to stop thinking cognatively especially in the static confines of a recording studio. Often when we experience something new we don't like it because it is to foreign, too demanding of our perceptions. I recomend that you give any recording at least 3 listenings before you decide on whether you like it or not. I loved this album on the first listen- that is a rarity 'cause I'm a tough critic. If anyone acually reads this, thanks and send me an e-mail. Scott

This is what the band sounded like when just musicianship,not a home for a frontman heart throb was what mattered.Pure musicianship with a great sound borrowing heavily from Santana whom two of the members had come from.

Dear Amazon: Can I give this 6 stars? I hereby do such:

******

In 1973, I think it was, Journey came to Hawaii and performed at a local "Battle of the Bands" contest in a tiny venue called Andrews Amphitheater. I was there and I will never ever forget that night as long as I live.

They did this on purpose to test out the material for this album on a small audience. They had not yet released the album and nobody had ever even heard of these guys. They came on last, at about 8:00 in the evening, after a day of mediocre local garage bands dueled it out.

What happened then was beyond any superlatives I can think of. I cannot begin to described the state of utter awe and amazement that struck everyone there that night. It goes without saying they blew all the local bands who had played that day off the stage; they then blew everybody in the audience completely away, everybody listening outside who didn't buy a ticket, as well as all the passersby who didn't even know what was going on.

I was close to the stage, and after they were done, I shouted to Neil "Hey, how making an album!" and he smiled and replied "Iya, or two or three, hopefully!" Fateful words indeed.

Here, now, in 2008, that night remains the single most memorable magical musical experience I have ever had. If any of you Amazon readers were also there, chime in, I'd like to hear from you.

What a pity they went off in their pop direction, and ruined what could have been one of the greatest bands of all time.

Journey's first album may lack the searing vocals of Steve Perry, but anyone who knows anything about music will find this album invaluable. The lyrics are not restricted to "love themes", as in much of their later recordings, but Dunbar, Rolie, Schon, George Tickner, and Ross Valory interact in a sense that is truly unbelievable. Although somewhat abandoned by Journey's fans after his departure in 1981, Rolie displays the same smooth crooning that set "Black Magic Woman" as a standard for Santana.