To learn the parameters of your soon-to-be-embarked-on Journey, click on this link... Blarney Overall Album Score: 7.1 out of 10 An interesting debut, I say. This album might not be very good, but it's really quite interesting on an almost historical standpoint. Journey would emerge several years later as one of the frontrunners of the arena-rock genre with, frankly, some of the greatest songs of that genre (and some of the best songs I hear on classic rock radio). And they started out as progressive-rock noodle-heads! ... These are some of the feeblest progressive rock songs on the planet. I listen to most of these songs and say to myself in disgust: "There's no melody here, these doodieheads!" But through the sheer awesomeness of Neal Schon and his electric guitar, most of these songs manage to completely rock my world. ... Dang, from the beginning until the end of this, you can only stand in awe at how awesome this guy is. If all these dumb, melodiless songs were only meant to showcase this guy's rip-roaring guitar scales, then this whole freaking thing is fine by me! That all said, there is one song on here that is pretty good on the melodic standpoint. And that is "Topaz!" It hardly stands up to the greats of progressive rock, but so what? It's pretty solid. The best song on here, "Of a Lifetime" just features some of the loudest, awesome, and totally meaningless electric guitar scales I've ever heard. And there's some great organing on "In the Morning Day." These songs really suck, but you've got to hear the album at least for these musical performances. I doubt you'll regret it. Really, I've never been so amazed at a 7.1-scoring album. Overall Album Score: 7.1 out of 10 (Really nice electric guitar. Other than that, there's no real reason to scout out this album. Crap, Steve Perry wasn't even in the band yet!) Average Song Score: 7.2 (All of these songs save one are BLAHHHH attempts at making some Genesis-type prog-rock. What really saves these songs from getting totally trashed by yours truly is the ELECTRIC GUITAR!!!! WOOOWOOWOOWOWOWO!!!!!!!!!) Album Tilt: 7.0 (Although, this didn't really seem like such a feeble overall effort.) Artist Rating: 7.0 (Neither did this feel like a particular piece of crap, artistically. Clearly, this wasn't self-indulgent like so many progressive rockers can be. This was just mediocre. And an excuse to rock out, I guess.) Track Reviews Of a Lifetime 9/10 ...It takes a lifetime to LISTEN TO THIS SONG!!!!!!! (It's like seven minutes long.) In general, this is an alright progressive rock song. Unfortunately, the melody itself isn't very HOOKY at all. So, unlike Genesis, Journey can't claim to have very good melodies. However, one thing that Journey does have spot-on is the electric guitars. The instrumental interludes, while they might not be particularly innovative, are totally saturated with wonderful electric guitar. Mmmmm! So, this song might be very lengthy and it might not have a catchy melody even in the slightest, but it's LOUD. So it can't be bad. And CRAP these guys REALLY know what they're doing when it comes to these instruments. Catch the ending when all those electric guitars are going INSANE and totally and entirely and utterly awesome. That made getting up this morning totally worth it for me. In the Morning Day 8/10 MORE ELECTRIC GUITAR!!!!!!!! ... We totally don't get this much awesome electric guitar like this on progressive rock albums. How freaking excellent! ... I mean, the songs themselves might not be that good, but the electric guitar chops and jamming (not to mention the electric organ) makes this totally worth EVERYTHING. ... Of course, the song itself really isn't that great ... and the jam isn't as good as it was on "Of a Lifetime." In fact, this one is just a teeny bit overbearing. But it's still utterly fun. ... The other parts of the song aren't as good, but I just don't pay attention to those! Kohoutek 6.5/10 Again, these guys are about as good at creating good progressive-rock themes as Michael Jackson is with sustaining meaningful relationships with adult, human females. The rapid-fire electric guitar noodling doesn't even manage to save this one ... and it happens way too late in the song, anyway. The end of this song is some goofy attempts at re-doing Pink Floyd or something. And these guys simply aren't too impressive at it! This song has little merit. To Play Some Music 7/10 This is a verrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry feeble attempt at re-doing Genesis. Albiet, it has spunk! ... Nevertheless, these guys simply CANNOT DO THE GENESIS THEMES!!! They absolutely suck at progressive rock. Again, the only good thing they have going for them is all this energetic electric guitar noodling! Which is awesome! But ... crap! This song has one of the album's best melodies, and it's not very convincing. Topaz 8.5/10 Another feeble attempt at trying to recreate Smelling My Glands By the Pound-era Genesis. Nevertheless, this is easily the band's most successful attempt at it! Finally, there's a likable progressive rock theme in here that does, indeed, contain some emotion. It grows tiresome after awhile, but oh well! And ... you've got to love that kick-butt electric guitar segment in here. That's awesome. In My Lonely Feeling/Conversations 5/10 Ohhhhhhhhhh... This song should be called "In My Bored Feeling" because this song is boooooooooriiiiiiiinggggggg! ... Apart from some pretty nice (but convoluted, this time) instrument playing, this song would have been total crap. I can barely tolerate this one! Mystery Mountain 6.5/10 This is, yet, another pretty dull progressive-rock song, but with some of the most awesome electric guitar licks on the freaking planet! Woohooooo! ... The progressive rock theme really stinks, though. They should have sat down and tried coming up with some better themes, dude ... or kidnap Peter Gabriel or something. Feel lahhhhke sendin' somma comments here??

All reviews are copyrighted by the author, Michael Lawrence. His only love is his pocket calculator.