Chain Reaction, 1996

Over 70 minutes of previously unreleased material, in pretty good fidelity, patched together from live recordings, studio outtakes, and TV soundstage tapes recorded by four different lineups of the band at various points in the late '60s. Their compositions weren't as striking or original as those of their primary inspirations (the Airplane and Moby Grape), but the band were adept at both concise, harmony-driven numbers and jams with some sparkling guitar interplay. It's worth hearing for those with a passion for the San Francisco psychedelic sound, although it actually doesn't include their best cuts. Those are found on their one official release (a 1968 locally distributed three-song EP), which has been reissued on a Big Beat compilation of rare '60s San Francisco psychedelia, The Berkeley EPs.

Frontiers managed to give Journey four Top 40 hits, with "After the Fall" and "Send Her My Love" both reaching number 23, "Faithfully" at number 12, and "Separate Ways" peaking at number eight – the same amount that 1981's Escape brandished. While they tried to use the same musical recipe as Escape, Frontiers comes up a little short, mainly because the keyboards seem to overtake both Schon's guitar playing and Steve Perry's strong singing. An overabundance of Jonathan Cain's synth work cloaks the quicker tunes and seeps into the ballads, slightly widening the strong partnership of Perry and Schon.