JOURNEY "INFINITY" FIRST U.S. PRESSING 1978 W/ SHRINK & HYPE TAG CRISP & CLEAN

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JOURNEY "INFINITY" 1978 U.S. FIRST PRESSING W/ SHRINK & HYPE STICKER ~ CRISP & CLEAN
JOURNEY "INFINITY" FIRST US PRESSING IN SHRINK w/ HYPE LABEL LABEL: COLUMBIA JC 34912 – 34912 RELEASED: JANUARY 20th, 1978 PRESSED AT COLUMBIA PRESSING PLANT ~ PITMAN RECORDED AT KENDUN STUDIO D ~ BURBANK, CALIFORNIA ('KENDUN' IN MATRIX) RECORDING ENGINEER: JOHN GOLDEN ('JG' in Matrix) MIXED AT HIS MASTER'S WHEELS, SAN FRAN & CHEROKEE STUDIOS, LA MIXED & PRODUCED BY ROY THOMAS BAKER JACKET ARTWORK: ALTON KELLEY & MOUSE MATRIX (SIDEA): PAL-34912-2D JG MHL KENDUN-B P
CONDITION: VINYL: EX-   COVER: EX-  INNER SLEEVE: VG++   A BEAUTY!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I've been going thru my massive vinyl record collection these past few weeks and pulling out some LPs that I thought that someone else would want for their collection. I've been collecting records for over 45 years and it's time to pass some of them on to the next generation of collectors.
This week on EBay I am offering up this terrific 1978 First U.S. Pressing of Journey's first breakthrough album "Infinity".
This is my original copy, purchased 'new' back in early 1978, shortly after it's release. I've taken great care of it for many years. See details on Condition below.
This is the original 1978 First pressing, opened, but still in it's shrink wrap with the original rare Hype sticker on the front. It also has the original inner sleeve with the lyrics and production information.
This is the first pressing inner sleeve with their tribute to Lynyrd Skynyrd, whose tragic plane crash had just occurred in October, a few months before this album was released.
The back of the jacket on this first pressing also has the band member's names at the bottom. Later early pressings did not have the names, and they were once again added to the much later pressings.
This is the rare, and best sounding version of the various first pressings, with Roy Thomas Baker's fantastic mix, John Golden's studio mastering ('JG'), and Kent Duncan's post production mastering at Kendun studios in Burbank ('Kendun').
This album has been repressed, re-released, and remastered over the years, but as a Rock vinyl collector and Journey fan, this is the copy you want. The Matrix of this pressing has all the 'right' early marks and initials.
This early First pressing stills sounds amazing. It reveals just how deeply layered, dynamic and intense the music is. The instruments are well separated, vocals are crisp & clear, and there's a good sense of space and depth. The overall sound is vibrant and dynamic, but also warm and intimate on certain tracks.
This pressing really lets you hear Steve’s voice; crisp, clear, and soaring. As good as I’ve ever heard it. It has a fantastic, thick, layered sound, and is full of cool flanging and stereo effects. An excellent, powerful, punchy mix, which gets better the louder you crank it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Listening to this First Pressing again, after many years, before listing it made me realize how great the musicianship was in this band.
Steve Perry’s voice has got to be one of the best in rock. His voice is just amazing. Perry sings with so much heartfelt power & energy and he has fantastic vocal range. Perry delivers some very fine and very solid vocals on this album.
Neil Schon's guitar playing is first-rate. He plays some of the best guitar of anybody in 70s/80s rock. Schon doesn’t stretch out very often and his solos are short, sweet and well placed, but he is a virtuoso guitar player. He does terrific little fills, plays some technically difficult licks and even does some two-handed tapping on some of these songs. There’s not a bad guitar part on this whole album.
Greg Rollie is a master on both the Hammond organ and the harmonica and his lower pitched voice is a perfect complement to Perry’s higher pitched soaring style.
The bass player in Journey, Ross Valory, doesn’t get much recognition but he does a great job holding down the bottom and adding just the right flourishes to Schon’s guitar playing and Rolie’s keyboard work. Outstanding. He wrote or co-wrote several songs on the album.
Aynsley Dunbar was a veteran English drummer with a strong blues and jazz background. He spent years playing with Frank Zappa, and his own band, where he honed both his drumming and percussion skills. He has played many different styles as a studio drummer over the years before joining Journey. There’s nothing he couldn’t play and play well. His drumming on this album is fantastic.
~~~~~~~~~~~~ 'Infinity', Journey's fourth album, is one of the finest rock albums ever made. Great songs, strong melodies, superb production, fantastic performances; just wonderful stuff, a classic slice of American Rock. 
It's an amazing album, and sounds even better on this First Pressing.
'Infinity' marked a drastic change in the band's approach, by focusing on songwriting and paying closer attention to vocals and lyrical content, including the inclusion of vocalist Steve Perry, who shares vocal duties with keyboardist and previous vocalist, Gregg Rolie. 
The album as a whole features great guitar work, combining it with excellent song writing and the amazing, distinctive lead vocals of Steve Perry. The musicianship on this album is fantastic. Fantastic arrangements, magnificent guitar solos, great melodies! There’s some nifty keyboard work and vocals from Rolie and fine guitar work by Neil Schon on almost every track.
This album had more hits than any other Journey album. With songs like 'Lights,' 'Feeling That Way,' 'Anytime,' 'La Do Da,' 'Patiently,' and Wheel in the Sky,' all of which were hits, Journey put itself on the rock and roll map. "Lights" and "Wheel In The Sky" have become two of Journey's best-known songs and are still heard on the radio.
This is a great album by a band who do what they do very well. A great set of slickly-crafted FM rockers designed to showcase frontman Steve Perry's powerful vocals and Neil Schon’s blazing guitar work. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE SONGS ON 'INFINITY'
Infinity opens up with ‘Lights’, their first song to reach the charts. This song was introduced to the band by Perry, who wrote it before joining, and is one of the reasons they thought he would be a good match for the band. They saw the potential in both his voice and his songwriting. I’m still amused by the fact that San Francisco has adopted this as their song. Perry has mentioned several times that it was written about L.A. and had nothing to do with the other ‘City by the Bay’.
The next two songs, ‘Feeling That Way’ and ‘Anyway’ flow into each other seamlessly and they were often played together on radio that way. Rolie’s vocals on “Feeling That Way” are just fantastic.
“Anytime” features Rollie singing solo on lead vocals. This song was co-written by Robert Fleischman during his short time as lead singer with the group.
“La Do Da” is an upbeat, pure hard rocker. I always thought it would have been a great instrumental jam, stretched out and without the vocals. The music, just by itself is fantastic. It really brings all the best elements of the band together.
“Patiently” was the first collaboration between Perry and Schon and soon became a fan favorite. They would eventually team up to write many hits on the next few Journey albums. The song ends with a great full-band jam.
Side two opens up with “Wheel in the Sky”, which has a bit of a country feel. It’s another of Journey’s most recognized hits. Schon and bassist Ross Vallory play great together on this track. The lyrics were based on a poem written by Vallory’s wife Diane. ‘Wheel in the Sky’ became the band's first legitimate hit.
“Somethin’ to Hide” is another pleasant quasi-ballad gem, the type Journey do so well. Perry’s vocals take flight on this and Schon plays some amazing guitar work, showing off his technical fret work.
“Winds of March” has some great piano runs by Rolie and some interesting flange effects from Dunbar’s drums. It sounds great on this pressing. The intricate guitar chords were supposedly written by Schon’s father Neal, a jazz musician. It features a rocking instrumental section.
“Can Do” is a great upbeat party rocker, written by the bass player Valory, and really shows off the skill of the various members of the band.
The album closes with the only soft-cheesy ballad on the album, “Opened the Door.” This song hints at the softer songs that would appear on the next few Journey albums. It features synthesizer playing by Rolie, another hint at where Journey were headed over the next few albums.
Later Journey albums aren't loved by everybody, as Greg Rollie would move on, and they leaned towards more synthesizer-based, ballad-heavy songs, but this album is a fantastic rock masterpiece. It belongs in every vinyl collection.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE EARLY HISTORY OF 'JOURNEY' AND THE MAKING OF 'INFINITY'
Journey was formed in San Francisco in 1973, from former members of Santana and other rock veterans. Their first 3 albums were full of terrific proggy, soulful, jazz fusion music but didn’t get much love or airplay. 
Then Steve Perry came on board in late 1977 and steered the band in a new, more commercial, direction and turned them into one of the best selling and most popular bands of the early 80s.
This album was recorded at His Master’s Wheels Studio, San Francisco, October-December 1977 and released in January 1978 to critical acclaim. This album was their first for Columbia and they worked hard to make the best album they could. It still sounds fresh and great 45 years later. This album is packed with FM staples of the day and contains two of Journey’s most recognizable hits “Lights” and “Wheel in the Sky.”
The 'classic' lineup of Journey was put together for this album. It’s their first with lead vocalist and iconic front man Steve Perry. His smooth tenor voice is just perfect for rock music and his range & register was amazing. 
This album was produced by the famous Roy Thomas Baker. Baker said he aimed for a layered sound approach, harmonizing both the voices and lead guitars. Baker's production captured all those harmonies perfectly and this first pressing really brings them out. 
The band had an amazing sound on the radio back in the day. Journey started their climb to rock superstardom with this classic album.
In Steve Perry, the band had found the proverbial needle in the haystack – a vocalist with unlimited range, unique delivery and looks that could kill. A perfect front man. Perry singlehandedly rescued Journey from mediocrity and turned them into megastars. His voice and songwriting ability completely redirected the style of the band. Perry skills lifted the band up to become better, stronger, and tighter.
The band was suddenly playing better than ever. Schon’s guitar leads were polished and improved to keep up with Perry’s soaring vocal style and Rolie’s singing improved in his efforts to keep up with Perry’s crazy range. The way Gregg and Steve shared lead vocals was just amazing and sounded great. Some of the best songs on this album feature vocals shared by both Steve Perry and Greg Rolie. Their voices work very well together.
Neil Schon plays amazing guitar throughout this album and still had a little bit of a jazz feel to his playing. Both Gregg Rolie and Neil Schon proved themselves to be excellent skillful musicians on this album. It’s great to hear Gregg Rolie take the lead on vocals on a few of these songs. 
For those who enjoy straight ahead bluesy hard rock music, this album is a classic to have in your collection. It contains some great music with fantastic songwriting and stellar musicianship. Each member is a master of their instrument and the whole band is firing on all cylinders. It sounds great on this First Pressing vinyl cut.
By the end of the 1970s, Journey was one of the most well-known bands in USA, with many hits, millions of albums sold and hundreds of thousands of fans.
Journey was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2017.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This album is perfectly arranged, every song seems to follow from the previous one, making for a nice continuous flow. The pace, flow, and melodies on this album make it absolutely brilliant. 
If you like high caliber AOR/melodic rock this is a great album. The production is top notch and the album still sounds fresh and strong after all these years. Plus hearing it on this early pressing is a real treat.  This is a must-have for your rock collection. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CONDITION: I tried to show good hi-resolution photos of the cover, labels and vinyl in my pictures.
I purchased this copy back in 1978, 45 years ago, and have taken great care of it since.
VINYL: The vinyl looks excellent. Clean and bright. Maybe a tiny hairline, but No serious scuffs, palpable scratches, or dings. It looks fantastic and I'm sure you'll be very happy with it.
The Deadwax has all the proper First Pressing marks mentioned above. It's a 'Kendun' mastered pressing. See the full Matrix above.
I tried to show some close-up pictures of the vinyl to show how good it looks. I'm sure you'll be pleased with it.
I haven't messed with it or cleaned it, other than my trusty 'DiscWasher' brush, in 40+ years, since Jimmy Carter was in office. It could use a good deep cleaning to make it even better looking and better sounding than it already is.
LABELS: This is pressed with the 'classic' 70's red Columbia labels with the yellow rim text. The labels are clean and bright. No marks or damage. The spindle holes are still sharp and clean, suggesting minimal playing and my careful handling over the years.
JACKET: As you can see from my pictures, this still looks very nice for a 45 year old OG copy. 
This is still in the shrink wrap and has the black 'Hype' sticker in the upper left. There's also a small price sticker, which I left in place.
The album cover features great art by San Francisco Rock Poster artists Alton Kelley & Mouse. The artwork is bold and bright.
The shrink wrap protected the record all these years, and the record itself looks terrific. Sharp corners, tight seams, straight spine and no ring wear. The original gloss is still present. A nice survivor.
Overall, I'll call the whole record EX- to EX. Not perfect, but likely as good of a First Pressing copy as you'll find these days.
This record has been sleeved and stored properly in my collection for decades, and is still quite nice for an original pressing. This copy is all original, and a real gem. I'm sure you'll love it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~ ** NOTE: I'm selling this rare 'Collector' record "AS IS" and "NO RETURN". It's rare and as described and I'm sure you'll be very happy with it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I’m recently retired and downsizing and letting go some gems and rarities from nearly 45 years of vinyl record collecting. Check out the many other fantastic 45s and 33s coming soon to my page!
All records have been carefully evaluated and graded by me. I visually inspect all records under bright light, personally gently clean them with a soft cloth and then, if unsure, play them on a modern high-end turntable to get a true picture of condition. Please look at all the high-resolution pictures I added. They are all my own and are of the actual record being sold. The pictures are part of the description and can show small details, label variations, and condition better than I can put into words. 
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HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO YOU AND YOURS AND WE WISH YOU MUCH PEACE AND PROSPERITY IN THE YEAR TO COME!!
THANK YOU for looking and reading if you got this far.  -- JOHN