Escape (Journey album)
| Escape | ||||
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Cover art by Stanley Mouse
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| Studio album by Journey | ||||
| Released | July 31, 1981 | |||
| Recorded | Fantasy Studios, Berkeley, California, April–June 1981 | |||
| Genre | Rock | |||
| Length | 42:46 | |||
| Label | Columbia | |||
| Producer | Mike Stone, Kevin Elson | |||
| Journey chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Escape | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   |
| Encyclopedia of Popular Music |  |
| The Great Rock Discography | 8/10 |
| Rolling Stone | |
Escape (stylized as E5C4P3 on the album cover) is the seventh studio album by American rock band Journey, released in 1981. It topped the American Billboard 200 chart and features four hit Billboard Hot 100 singles – "Don't Stop Believin'" (#9), "Who's Crying Now" (#4), "Still They Ride" (#19) and "Open Arms" (#2) – plus rock radio staple "Stone in Love." It was certified 9x platinum by the RIAA and sold over twelve million copies worldwide, making it the band's most successful studio album and second most successful album overall behind Greatest Hits.
Escape was the band's first album with keyboardist Jonathan Cain who replaced founding keyboardist Gregg Rolie after he left the band at the end of 1980. The album was co-produced by former Lynyrd Skynyrd sound technician Kevin Elson and one-time Queen engineer Mike Stone, who also engineered the album.
Mike DeGagne of AllMusic retrospectively awarded Escape four-and-a-half stars out of five, writing, "The songs are timeless, and as a whole, they have a way of rekindling the innocence of youthful romance and the rebelliousness of growing up, built from heartfelt songwriting and sturdy musicianship".Colin Larkin awarded the album four out of five stars in the 2002 edition of the Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Contemporary Rolling Stone reviews were less favourable. The first review of 1981 by Deborah Frost marked Journey as heavy metal posers and the music in the album as easily playable by any session musician. In the 2004 edition of their album guide, Rolling Stone awarded the album two-and-a-half stars out of five, which was nonetheless an improvement from Dave Marsh's one star rating in the 1983 edition of the publication. The same critic years later wrote that "Journey, originally a progressive rock band, experienced strong resentment from many music critics after they embraced the pop sensibilities of the 1980s with smash hits like "Don't Stop Believin'" and "Open Arms".
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