Journey: Live in Houston 1981 – Escape Tour (DVD)

Talk about a blast from the past! Early-Eighties nostalgia for AOR fans doesn't get much better than this. Filmed Nov. 6, 1981, as one of MTV's first televised concerts, Live in Houston 1981 - Escape Tour is a near-perfect 77-minute microcosm of the era's mainstream music scene. Journey, with its first No. 1 album in the United States (Escape), played eight of that record's 10 songs during this gig wearing obscenely tight designer jeans, ugly shirts — guitarist Neal Schon is wearing a blue T-shirt featuring the original MTV logo, the same one Doug Gray wore during the Marshall Tucker Band's 1981 MTV concert (also recently released on DVD) — and the camera shots often linger on the musicians for several seconds while ignoring the crowd. Plus, the 16-page color booklet that accompanies this two-disc set (which includes a CD featuring the concert's soundtrack, plus one extra song) boasts a replica ticket stub from the Houston show priced at $11.75. There's even a cheesy, space-themed television commercial for Escape — a common promotional practice by record labels at the time. The whole thing has been remixed and remastered in Stereo and 5.1 Surround Sound and presented here in its entirety for the first time.

Journey was at the height of its commercial success when this gig was filmed, and the five band members are clearly having the time of their lives on a huge in-the-round arena stage that's uncluttered by speaker cabinets and amps. Journey's strongest songs ("Stone in Love," "Wheel In the Sky") sound better and heavier in this live environment, while even the band's weaker ones ("Dead or Alive," "Line of Fire") approach relevancy. Schon's shredding is most notable, as is singer Steve Perry's silky vocals, which lose nothing in the transition from studio to stage. Five years later, the band would teeter on the brink of disaster, with several key players defecting. Yet a quarter-century later, Journey still rides on, minus Perry, supporting one of its strongest albums (Generations) since Escape.

Oddly enough, the once-reclusive Perry, who officially left Journey in 1998, produced this package (with the band's full cooperation). And in the wake of "Don't Stop Believin'" unexpectedly emerging as the anthem for the 2005 World Series Champion Chicago White Sox, interest in this set may be even higher than it would have been under normal circumstances. In early November, "Don't Stop Believin'" was No. 3 on the iTunes rock chart. It almost seems like 1981 all over again.

Track Listing:
1) Escape
2) Line of Fire
3) Lights
4) Stay Awhile
5) Open Arms
6) Mother, Father
7) Jonathan Cain Keyboard Solo
8) Who's Cryin' Now
9) Where Were You
10) Steve Smith Drum Solo
11) Dead or Alive
12) Don't Stop Believin'
13) Stone in Love
14) Keep on Runnin'
15) Neal Schon Guitar Solo
16) Wheel In the Sky
17) Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'
18) Anyway You Want It
19) The Party's Over (Hopelessly In Love) (Live CD-Only Bonus Track)
Extras include 10 minutes of Escape-era interview snippets, a slide show and a television commerical

Added: January 15th 2006
Reviewer: Michael Popke
Score:
Related Link: Official Journey Web Site
Hits: 5049
Language: english

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