I'm surprised that no one's mentioned "Dream, After Dream" yet in this thread. Such a great studio album.

Just picked up Infinity, Evolution and Captured at WalMart for $5 each.
Sounds like we're all in the same "rediscovery" mode with their older stuff. I remember playing the grooves off of Escape and Frontiers when they came out. I'll probably pick those up at some time too, for nostalgia's sake. Gotta get Departure too.

They are just one of those bands that, though I wouldn't say that I like them, much of their music appeals to the memory of listening to the radio in the days of wayback.

I am not very AOR about them. But I suppose my favorite album would be Infinity.

I have been spinning the copy of Captured that I picked up at WalMart the other day (for $5) and had forgotten how enjoyable of a live album that one is. I listened to it obsessively on vinyl in high school when I had it. It was recorded during their "Departure" tour and is a great snapshot of a band completely on their game. They show their musical chops with enough changes to the tunes to have a different perspective, but not so much that Joe Public wouldn't still recognize them. I came across this tidbit on Wikipedia:

Note: this was not the full concert set list that was played during the tour. The missing songs include "Of A Lifetime", "Kohoutek", "Lovin' You is Easy", "People & Places", "Patiently", "Opened the Door", "Precious Time", "I'm Cryin'", "Homemade Love", "Moon Theme (intro to Wheel in the Sky)" and "Winds of March". The show started with the title track from Departure - "Departure" and mixed into "Majestic". Only the second half of "Majestic" is present on Captured. Both "Departure" and "Majestic" were recorded versions played as the introduction of the band arriving on stage.

I for one, wish that someone would drag out the recordings of the rest of the concert, clean 'em up, and release a "complete concert" CD much like Cheap Trick recently did with the Budokan concert. I'd buy it! This has become my favorite Journey album over the last couple of weeks.