| The
Review |
For many, the Steve Perry era of Journey is the quintessential
one, so this release will be on top of most people's shopping
lists now that it has become available for the first time
on DVD. This is the 3rd Journey DVD that we have been treated
to in the last few years. The superb Journey Live 2001, which
featured the now familiar Steve Augeri line up, The Greatest
Hits 1978-87 release in 2003 and now Houston 1981.***
The driving force behind this release is no other than
Steve Perry himself, and judging from the results, a lot of
time and effort has gone into producing this package, from
the picture, sound and even the packaging itself, with it's
glossy 16 page booklet. The audio is crystal clear and comes
in brand new stereo and 5.1 surround sound mixes, which are
a vast improvement on the audio that has been doing the rounds
on various trading forums over the years. The picture quality
is also pin sharp and the transfer from whatever the original
source was, has been done to a very high standard indeed considering
this is a nearly 25 year old concert, so all of this adds
up to an audio/visual treat of the highest order.***
The set list is obviously heavily biased towards the
bands huge selling 'Escape' album, with eight of its ten tracks
featured here, but most of the other 'then' Journey classics
'Wheel In The Sky', 'Line Of Fire', 'Lovin' Touchin' Squeezin'
and of course 'Lights' are all present and correct, making
up a pretty near perfect 'Greatest Hits' set 25 years later.
Also of note are the three impressive solo spots from Jonathan
Cain, Neal Schon and especially Steve 'Machine Gun' Smith,
which only adds to the excellence of this live show. My only
complaint after watching this, was that over 'the Pond' here
in the UK & in the rest of Europe, we never got the chance
to see this band at their peak. The jealousy the jealousy!!!***
Bonuses on the DVD are not much to right home about if
truth be told, a few interviews circa 81/82 with a very youthful
looking Neal Schon, as well as a TV promo for the 'Escape'
album, a slide show and the original aired credits for the
show. The Real bonus treat though is the addition of the Audio
CD, which also contains a previously unreleased (although
from the same show) bonus track 'The Party's Over'. Again
sound quality is excellent in it's normal stereo form, so
now you can take this little beauty with you wherever you
go – you won't want to be separated I promise you.***
To summarise then. If you want a superbly shot, excellent
sounding/looking concert DVD, or if you just want to relive
some of those memories from way back when, then sit back,
relax, turn up the volume and, most importantly, enjoy the
long overdue release of this, a 'Classic' band at their peak!!!.
. GRADE: A+
|
