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Escape
by Michelle Murray

It was 20 years ago today, Sgt. Pepper taught the band to play
OOPS, wait, wrong band! But the right sentiment. As hard as it may be to believe, 2001 will bring the 20th anniversary of Journey's biggest album ever – Escape. Released in August, 1981, Escape went on to be Journey's first (and only) number one album. Containing four top 20 hits, this album took the already successful band and turned them into the hottest act in the country.
1981 was ushered in with a new president one who would survive an assassination attempt three months into office. The Oakland Raiders won Super Bowl XV, Chariots of Fire was on it's way to winning the Oscar for Best Motion Picture (beating out Raider's of the Lost Ark in the process), the L.A. Dodgers took the World Series from the New York Yankees 4 games to 2, and Taxi and Hill Street Blues were standards on television. Oh, and a new cable television station called Music Television (or MTV for short) started popping up around the country.
Looking back 20 years, it's hard to have a totally objective perspective on this album, so I won't really try. For me, and for many other Journey fans, this is the album. That desert island disk that simply must be at hand. That magic elixir that stands the test of time. 20 years on, I still don't get tired of listening to this album.
So, what makes it so timeless, so magical? Escape was the first album recorded after the departure (yes, I know) of founding member Gregg Rolie, the first album with former Babys keyboardist, Jonathan Cain. What did this new component add to the mix? For starters, Journey's highest charting single Open Arms. Rejected by Babys singer John Waite as "too syrupy", Open Arms, co-written by Cain and Steve Perry, spent 14 weeks in the top 40, 6 weeks at it's peak position of #2. It has become one of the band's signature power ballads (for better or for worse).
But, track for track, this album is full of stellar performances. Steve Perry's voice is at it's peak, and lyrically, it is a more sophisticated group of songs than earlier work. Filled with subtle brush strokes of imagery and metaphor, these songs can paint pictures in your mind, and with MTV in it's infancy at the time of release, those are the only pictures we have.

While raucous tracks like Lay It Down and Stone in Love still contain that sex-and-life-on-the-road theme so prevalent in earlier work, there is the stark image of "streetlight people" found in the opening track, Don't Stop Believin', and the portrait a family struggle seen in the majestic Mother, Father that are part of the prevailing theme of this album. Jonathan Cain has said, "What I changed about Journey is I started writing about the people that cared about the band." That change is evident in these tracks. The listener is pulled into the songs and understands exactly what the song is about-- (s)he?s been there.
Musically, these songs have a different feel. Gone is Rolie's Hammond B3 (a loss still mourned by many) and it is replaced by the crisper piano of Cain. It is, in fact, that piano that we first hear when the album opens and again when it closes (not bad for a new guy). To this day, the opening notes of Don't Stop Believin' sends chills down my spine every time I hear it. Whether it's the long-time attachment I have to the song, or whether it's the knowledge that it's the opening of something special is unclear. What is clear, however, is the ease with which the song moves from the low-key piano into the soaring guitar of Neal Schon -- a trade-off that shows through out the album.
Schon's guitar work shines on this album. His solo at the end of Who's Crying Now has been admired from the moment the single was released in early '81 and has become a signature piece. (It is, in fact, so nice, they've used it twice, Journey's 2001 release, Arrival, contains a track that includes a bit of this solo.) A personal favorite of mine, however, is the soulful solo in Still They Ride -- it fits the image of lonely riders in the night. The raw energy found in tracks like Keep On Runnin' and the title track provides an adrenaline rush that can get the blood boiling or, conversely, help blow off some steam. To this day, I'm shocked I've never gotten a speeding ticket while driving and listening to these two tracks.
The track that took me the longest time to learn to love, Dead or Alive, has, through the years, worn me down to find a place in my heart. At age 13 (which I was when this album was released), the blazing fury of Schon's guitar and pounding of Steve Smith on drums was overwhelming. (And, to be honest, a song about an assassin was just not something that appealed to my young sensibilities.) This song is going a hundred miles an hour from the start and puts a full on assault on your senses.
This leaves us with the vocals. What can I say that hasn't been said before about Steve Perry's vocals? Perry's voice has that trademark sound that can be imitated, but never replicated. It's a good thing that John Waite turned his nose up at the early workings of Open Arms -- hit song or not, it wouldn't have had the same effect. On these tracks, that trademark sound is all the more apparent. Perry still hits and sustains the high notes that this 13 year old girl could only hit when shrieking at her 11 year old brother who enjoyed turning off this album. He also has the strength of emotion that makes the connection to these songs as powerful as they are.

Overall, however, it is the prevailing theme of hope that makes this album so magical. With lyrics like "don't stop believin'/hold on to that feelin'", "love will survive somehow, some way", "the strong will survive", "oh I'm okay, I'm alright/I've got dreams I'm livin' for", and "have faith, believe", we see that life is worth the struggle. I think that this, of all the factors in the album, is what makes it such a fan-favorite. It is the album that gets us through the rough spots, yet at the same time helps us celebrate all that is good in life. These are themes that run through the lives of every human being on earth, and in making that connection through their music, Journey captured a piece of timeless magic and made Escape an all-time classic.