This year, Every Sunday Evening, Album Rock WXYG, The GOAT will feature a full album at 8:00 PM from the halcyon musical days of 1975. 1975 was one of the top Years in Album Rock history. Another year of tough choices every week. So many great ones to choose from.
We hope you’ll tune in at 8:00 PM, Sunday, November 30th for “Journey”, the debut studio album by Journey.
It was released on April 1, 1975, by Columbia Records. Unlike their later recordings, this is primarily a progressive rock album which focuses mainly on the band's instrumental talents.[5] It is the only album to include rhythm guitarist George Tickner among their lineup.
Before Steve Perry joined and sugar coated their sound, Journey put out three hard rocking albums that showed a great deal of influence from Santana, the band Journey members Gregg Rollie and Neal Schon had recently departed. Since Gregg Rollie had handled a great deal of Santana’s lead vocals Journey was basically a more rock and roll Santana. The album starts off with “Of a Lifetime” which shows off Neal’s wonderful lead guitar. It starts off slowly then builds to a frenetic jam with all members getting to show off a bit.
With two instrumentals on this album, it is pretty much a different band than what it would become as the more top forty, Steve Perry dominated band a few years later. And be warned, if you are expecting anything like what the band became with Steve Perry, you will be disappointed.
Many think it surpasses any of the Perry albums because of it’s more hard rocking sound.
This is what you get when you strip away the percussion sound and horns of Santana. You get 'Journey', the debut album featuring Neal Schon killing it on guitar and Gregg Rollie handling vocals while also letting it rip on the B-3 Hammond organ.
Also assisting them includes bassists Ross Valory who performed with Frumious Bandersnatch and the Steve Miller Band on 'Rock Love', drummer Aynsley Dunbar who had already made a name of himself playing for artists such as Jeff Beck, Frank Zappa, David Bowie, and Sammy Hagar, and rhythmic guitarist George Tickner (he also performed with Ross Valory in Frumious Bandersnatch) in his only appearance with the band before leaving to pursue medical school.
Pair all this together with producer Roy Halee (who made Simon and Garfunkel superstars) and you get a solid 36 minutes of progressive rock with a jazz fusion flavor which rivals such artists as the Mahavishnu Orchestra or even Miles Davis' work during the 1970s. If you see this album in a record store, pick it up immediately and go on a 'Journey' through time, before the band chased after big bucks and corporate overlords.
This is a perfect way to end our long Thanksgiving weekend. Please ENJOY.
Tune In and Turn On Sunday, November 30th, and every Sunday evening at 8:00 PM for The GOAT'S "The Long Play with Al Neff”.
