VINYL DESTINATION: JOURNEY - "ESCAPE" hit 45 this week

 45 years ago this past week, Journey's Escape was released.  I have dipped frequently into the well lately for 'core' memories, and I guess I'm doing so again here today.  When we lived on Lichter Road in Kenosha County in the early 80's, I hung out in the basement a lot.  My sister Pee Wee's bedroom was off the "rec room", where I played quite often.  There are many singles I can recall either vibrating through the walls, or hearing at full blast (depending on if she had the door open or not).  Those include Eddie Money's Shakin, Cheap Trick's I Want You to Want Me, Flock Of Seagulls' I Ran, often on repeat.

But one probably had more miles on those vinyl grooves than the others and that was Journey's Who's Crying Now?.   This was a morose and melancholy ballad that often made me feel sad, which was probably the track's goal.  Combined with the time period I was living in and feelings I was dealing with, it was often haunting, and is one of those cuts that can take me back to that gut feeling if I hear it now. I've babbled about that before.

Who's Crying Now was wailing through the halls of our residence for days before Escape's release, as it was common 80's practice to drop a single before an album's release to build radio momentum and fluff potential record sales.  Realize now, one of the all-time great LP openers, Don't Stop Believin' starts off the record!  They went with Cryin' as the first single.  Weird.

All of that being said, Escape fits together with REO Speedwagon's Hi Infidelity as a quality power pop album from the same era without a weak song.  A real one-two punch.  Despite the fact that Don't Stop Believing and Open Arms both hail from Escape, my favorite track is Stone in Love.  I would call it a 10/10 song if not for that endless instrumental refrain that drains the cut of its rockin' momentum.  Never liked that about it,  but I can live with it.   

Now, Escape isn't wall-to-wall bangers like Hi Infidelity, but it is close.  At the same time, REO's album didn't spawn a damn video game either.  

THE SPECTRUM FILES: SAM NEILL

 

As a kid, I saw the final conflict on Spectrum. Sam Neill played Damien Thorne, the embodiment of evil in the finale of The Omen trilogy with such charisma and vileness that I was kind of scared of the actor for years to come.  I still shudder at the sentence: "Disciples of the Watch...."  The same effect was had on me by Powers Boothe due to his performance as Jim Jones in The Guyana Tragedy.  They both could come across with that smile and voice, and with the slightest of facial gymnastics become something else entirely, the beast.  It was obvious from that early appearance, Neill was a skilled thespian. 

 But Neill went on to play many great roles that made him endearing to me. These are just a few of many, but there are Jurassic Park, In the Mouth of Madness, and of course, one of my personal favorites, The Dish with Patrick Warburton. The Dish is of the great underrated films of the 90s. Neill's understated wisdom and warmth were the anchor to a motion picture that deserves re-evaluation. 

I’m so sad to see him go. even though he frightened me so intensely as Damien Thorne, which has him firmly locked in my core memories.  The change in my heart was so dramatic, that it’s worth noting here. It takes a special actor to be able to bridge that range so effectively and consistently. 

Rest in peace, Mr. Neill, you were a great actor and from what I’ve read, for all intents and purposes, a hell of a person too.  He told great stories with that Australian twang, and that fact is well noted.  It’s been just a short while since I woke to this sad news this morning, but I’ve already heard many testimonies of the quality of Sam’s nature.  He will be strongly missed.