Journey to Release New Live Versions of ‘Escape’ and ‘Frontiers’
Journey have announced Live in Japan 2017: 'Escape' + 'Frontiers,' a new multi-disc concert package recorded on the legendary Budokan stage.
The project retraces a pair of studio albums from Journey's commercial zenith. Escape, which was released in 1981, sold a band-best 9 million copies in the U.S. Frontiers, the 1983 follow-up, went six-times platinum. Half of their 12 total Top 20 songs are from this era alone.
Former singer Steve Perry credits the arrival of Jonathan Cain, who favored a modern synthesizer sound versus the departed Gregg Rolie's familiar Hammond B-3. Cain met the group when the Babys – with whom Cain appeared on a pair of albums – served as opening act on a tour in support of Journey's more recent effort, 1980's Departure.
Journey went from sturdy hit-makers to arena-level superstars, seemingly overnight. "I have to attribute that to Jonathan coming in and joining the writing team," Perry told the New Haven Register in 2012. "Jon had so many creative ideas, and he and I did a lot of lyrics back then, too. It just turned another corner."
Live in Japan 2017: 'Escape' + 'Frontiers' will be available in DVD and two-CD and Blu-ray and two-CD configurations on March 29. The DVD and Frontiers-focused compact disc also includes renditions of the early hit "Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'" and the Journey rarity "La Raza del Sol," a B-side for the Escape single "Still They Ride."
Cain remains a core member, and three other members of their classic lineup, guitarist Neal Schon, bassist Ross Valory and drummer Steve Smith, appear on the new DVD. Journey are now fronted by Arnel Pineda, whose unlikely path to stardom from the Philippines was chronicled in the 2012 film Don't Stop Believin': Everyman's Journey. Since then, Pineda has helped Journey to a pair of Top 20 albums, including 2008's platinum-selling Revelation.
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