JOURNEY

• J • O • U • R • N • E • Y •
O F   A   L I F E T I M E
T O P A Z

Recorded Live: 5/26/1974 - Winterland - San Francisco, CA.

L I N E   U P

Gregg Rolie - vocals, keyboards

Neal Schon - guitars, vocals

Ross Valory - bass, vocals

Aynsley Dunbar - drums

George Tickner - guitar

Journey 1974 - Song: "Of a Lifetime".

Journey 1974 - Song: "Topaz".

S U M M A R Y

This is among the earliest known professional recordings of Journey, from long before it ascended to the top of the AOR radio charts with a long string of FM hits. The group had formed eight months earlier when young guitar superstar Neal Schon decided to form his own group after departing Santana in 1972. He eventually convinced singer/keyboardist Gregg Rolie to follow suit, making Journey the Bay Area's first handpicked supergroup. Also on board were bassist Ross Valory (best known for his role in the artsy psychedelic band Frumious Bandersnatch) and drummer extraordinaire Aynsley Dunbar, who had spent the previous few years working with Frank Zappa and David Bowie (during the Diamond Dogs period). Dunbar was a new addition, since the band's original drummer, Prairie Prince, had left to form a new group-The Tubes.

Although the band (whose name was picked as the result of a listener contest on KSAN-FM) would spring into its most lucrative popularity after the fourth album, Infinity.

The material here appeared on the band's debut Columbia Records album, and appears to be more of a marriage of progressive rock and jazz fusion than the pop-driven hard rock format that it would later embrace.