Infinity - Journey (Columbia)
by Charlie Walters

From record to record Journey's music has changed perceptibly, though not drastically. Journey was an agreeably etheral yet rocking Santana offshoot (guitarist Neal Schon and keyboardist/vocalist Gregg Rolie were once members): Look Into The Future was faster and more guitar-dominated; Next managed to be both catchy and adventurous. Infinity's twists are more evident but unfortunately less striking.
  Steve Perry - who replaces Rolie as lead singer on almost all of the ten tracks here - seems to govern their newest approach: less emphasis on playing, more on singing and writing. The results are mixed. Infinity consists mostly of short, melodic, medium-tempo songs derived loosely from mid-period Beatles. The songs themselves work; what Journey usually does with them doesn't. Perry's voice is given too much prominence over the instruments, a blunder that stresses his faults. Like so many rock vocalists, he seeks smoothness and precision rather than feeling; a great technician, he is nonetheless unconvincing. On the other hand, he does create rich and gorgeous high harmonies that Journey could not otherwise have. His falsetto, as in Somethin' To Hide is particularly lovely as well. Yet oddly, Rolie's more heartfelt, though less perfect, style is usually more compelling.

  Only Schon contributes any memorable instrumental work, and even those moments are scarce. Generally, he picks out the notes in major chords, preferring a full, bright tone to distortion or other accoutrements - a good enough course, but here overdone. He solos infrequently, an exception being La Do Da, where he rips into some piercing high registers reminiscent of early Jeff Beck or Jimmy Page. Still, Schon is a more talented and daring musician than this record usually shows him to be. Rolie stays in the background, perhaps a smart move in another setting, but here only a further concession to the ill-conceived reliance on singing. The promising moves to synthesizer he employed on Next seem to have been shelved. Aynsley Dunbar (drums) and Ross Valory (bass) play adequately but unspectacularly.
  Finally, Infinity is overproduced. Even given the sparseness and inaudibility of most of the instruments, Roy Thomas Baker fashions a bloated, sluggish jumble of sound. Bass frequencies are inflated out of proportion, the drums have more thud than snap, and the instruments' tones seem disjointed and unrelated - disappointing technique coming from a producer who has worked so well with Be Bop Deluxe, Queen and Pilot.