HALF SPEED MASTER: JOURNEY ‘DEPARTURE’ 1980 CBS HC46339 CLASSIC ROCK ~ A BEAUTY!

Description

HALF SPEED MASTER: JOURNEY ‘DEPARTURE’ 1980 CBS HC46339 ~ CLASSIC ROCK ~ A BEAUTY!
JOURNEY
TITLE:
DEPARTURE (1980)
LABEL:
COLUMBIA HC 46339 (1981)
BARCODE: 0 7464-46339-1
VERSION: CBS HALF-SPEED MASTERED RECORDING
CONDITION: VINYL EX-
COVER EX-
A BEAUTY!
STYLE:
ROCK, STADIUM ROCK
This is a CBS Master Sound Half-Speed Mastered copy of this classic album and sounds fantastic.
The album cover features great art by San Francisco Rock Poster artist Alton Kelley
This Half-Speed Mastered version was released in 1981, almost a year after the regular edition was released by Columbia. The album is in great condition. The cover is very clean with decent corners and minimal wear. There was originally a full color insert photo of the band with this album, but that unfortunately is long gone. It’s probably still hanging in some dorm room somewhere in my past. The Half-Speed Master technical sheet is also missing, but it’s not a big deal. If you are reading this, you know what these albums are and how good they sound. The vinyl comes in a nice poly-lined white sleeve.
The vinyl looks great. Very nice. Clean and crisp with no scratches, scuffs, damage or imperfections. A terrific looking copy. Labels are pristine. I tried to give several nice high-resolution pictures to show the quality of the vinyl and jacket of this record.
~~~
Journey is an American rock band formed in San Francisco in 1973, from former members of Santana and other rock veterans. Their first 3 albums were full of terrific proggy, soulful, jazz fusion music but didn’t get much love or airplay.
Then Steve Perry came on board in late 1977 and steered the band in a new, more commercial, direction and turned them into one of the best selling and most popular bands of the early 80s.
Listening to this terrific audiophile pressing before listing it made me realize how great the musicianship was in this band.
Journey, on this 'Departure' album, consisted of:
Steve Perry – Lead Vocals
Neal Schon – Guitars, Vocals
Gregg Rolie – Keyboards, Harmonica, Vocals
Ross Valory – Bass, Vocals
Steve Smith – Drums, Percussion
Steve Perry’s voice has got to be one of the best in rock. His voice is just amazing. You may not like everything he sings, but boy can he sing. He has fantastic vocal ability and range. Steve Perry delivers some very fine and very solid vocals on this album.
Neil Schon's guitar playing is first-rate. He plays some of the best guitar of anybody in 80s rock. Schon doesn’t stretch out very often and his solos are short, sweet and well placed, but he is a virtuoso guitar player. He does terrific little fills, plays some technically difficult licks and even does some two-handed tapping on some of these songs. There’s not a bad guitar part on this whole album.
Greg Rollie is a master on both the Hammond organ and the harmonica and his lower pitched voice is a perfect complement to Perry’s higher pitched soaring style.
The bass player in Journey, Ross Valory, doesn’t get much recognition but he does a great job holding down the bottom and adding just the right flourishes to Schon’s guitar playing and Rolie’s keyboard work. Outstanding.
Steve Smith adds terrific drums and percussion to this album. Smith was Berklee-trained accomplished jazz drummer and a veteran of several rock bands, including Montrose, before joining Journey, his drumming is solid and adds to the driving beat of many of these songs.
~~~
In 1977, Journey hired Steve Perry as their new lead singer. Perry came in and started moving the band toward a more commercial direction. He made his live debut with the band in the fall of 1977 and then the band went directly into the studio to start recording ‘Infinity.’ They hired famed producer Roy Thomas Baker to add a layered sound approach. 'Infinity’ was released in January 1978 to critical acclaim.
There were disagreements about the new style and direction of the band, especially with drummer Aynsley Dunbar, who played on ‘Infinity’ but left after the ‘Infinity’ tour. Dunbar was replaced by Berklee-trained drummer Steve Smith.
Journey continued their climb to rock superstardom with this classic album ‘Departure.’ The album was recorded at Automatt Studios in San Francisco and was released in March 1980. Departure is a great album and blends a diverse packaging of styles and themes within classic rock. It is a very dynamic album and it explores many different sonic areas. It sounds great in this Half Speed Master vinyl cut.
For those who enjoy straight ahead bluesy hard rock music, this album is a classic to have in your collection. It contains some great music with fantastic songwriting and stellar musicianship. Each member is a master of their instrument and the whole band is firing on all cylinders. Granted, there are a couple of soft cheesy ballads, but they knew what their audience wanted and the fans, especially the female ones, ate it up.
Departure is a very professional album with impeccable execution and outstanding production. This album is spectacularly enjoyable thanks to some thoughtful use of dynamics, pacing, and style. Schon's guitar playing is first-rate. There is a high level of energy and some memorable vocal deliveries from Perry.
All of the album’s songs were written together by lead vocalist Steve Perry and guitarist Neal Schon. All of the lyrics were penned by Steve Perry.
Among fans of classic American melodic hard rock, Journey are revered as masters of the art. All in all, a great album for fans of classic rock.
Departure kicks off with the classic Journey anthem “Any Way You Want It”, which became a huge radio hit. ‘Departure’ sold a zillion records and the band followed up the release with a major tour. The live album “Captured” was recorded during that tour.
By the early 80s, Journey was one of the most well-known bands in USA, with many hits, millions of albums sold and hundreds of thousands of fans.
Keyboardist Gregg Rolie left the band following the Departure tour to start a family and undertake various solo projects. Rolie suggested pianist Jonathan Cain of The Babys as his permanent replacement. Gone were Rolie’s growly vocals, bluesy harmonica and fantastic Organ keyboards. Jonathan Cain’s synthesizers were predominant on Journey’s future albums after this one.
Many people feel this album, 'Departure', was the last of the great Journey albums.
Journey had their biggest commercial success between 1978 and 1987, while Steve Perry was lead vocalist.
They weren’t everybody’s cup of tea, but you can’t deny the power of hit songs like "Don't Stop Believin”, "Any Way You Want It", “Lights” "Open Arms", “Stay Awhile”, even “People and Places.”
They have had nineteen Top 40 singles in the U.S., not bad!
Journey was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2017.
~~~
Here’s my comment on the songs after giving this Audiophile pressing a deep listen:
"Any Way You Want It" is probably the best known Journey song. It includes Neal Schon's screaming guitar solo, a staple of Journey's early 80s sound. The song perfectly encapsulates the group's proficient approach to mastering a rock song.
Despite being called "one of America's most beloved (and sometimes hated) commercial rock/pop bands”, I challenge anyone to find a more straight-ahead, euphoria-inducing, explosive, feel-good, guitar-driven rocker than ‘Anyway You Want It’.
"Someday Soon" features Rolie and Perry trading off on lead vocals, something they do quite well, but sadly not very often. Not since ‘Infinity’. Rolie's mellow, deeper voice juxtaposed with Perry's higher register just seems to work well.
"Precious Time" Schon takes a back seat here for once and lets Rolie cut loose and jam on harmonica for this uplifting number.
"Where Were You" features heavy rhythm guitar over a straight ahead bass and drums riff where Valory and Smith show their great rhythm section skills.
"Line of Fire" is a great explosive upbeat blues rocker, with piano and heavily distorted guitar. Schon shreds during the instrumental break, even employing some two-handed tapping skills. A fine toe-tapper of a song. I had forgotten that this song has an actual shotgun blast in it until it came exploding out of the crisp audiophile mix of this record.
“Precious Time” is another fine track that has traces of blues featuring Rolie’s harmonica and, again, great vocals and guitar work.
“People and Places” although not one of their big hits, is one of my favorite Journey songs. It features outstanding vocal harmonies, great lead vocals and outstanding guitar work.
“Walks Like A Lady” is a rambling, bluesy number and sounds great.
“I'm Cryin” is a gutsy rocker.
"Good Morning Girl" is a softer track that lets Perry show off his voice in a fine way.
~~~
The album as a whole features great guitar work, combining it with excellent song writing and the amazing, distinctive lead vocals of Steve Perry. The musicianship on this album is competent and professional. Subtle arrangements, magnificent guitar solos, great melodies! There’s some nifty keyboard work from Rolie and fine guitar work by Neil Schon on almost every track.
This is a great album by a band who do what they do very well. A great set of slickly-crafted FM rockers designed to showcase frontman Steve Perry's powerful vocals and Neil Scon’s blazing guitar work. The production and vocals are stellar.
I cannot help but feel Journey are given an unfairly harsh treatment at times. If you like high caliber AOR/melodic rock this is a great album. The production is top notch and the album still sounds fresh and strong after all these years. Plus hearing it on this Half-Speed Mastered vinyl is a real treat.
~~~
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