Next (Journey album)

Next
Studio album by Journey
Released	February 1977
Recorded	His Master's Wheels in San Francisco, California, May–October 1976
Genre	Hard rock, rock, progressive rock
Length	37:38
Label	Columbia
Producer	Journey
Journey chronology
Look into the Future (1976) Next (1977) Infinity (1978)

Next is the third album by Journey and was released in 1977.

Journey continued the formula from 1976's Look into the Future but this album also retains some of Journey's progressive rock style from the first album.

The instrumental entitled "Cookie Duster" was listed in very early pressings of the album, though not actually included on the pressings, and then not listed on the cover art at all. It was later released on their Time³ compilation.

Next reached #85 on the Billboard Pop Album charts.^[1]

Although he did not contribute to Next, lead-vocalist Robert Fleischman joined Journey shortly after the album's release as a songwriter and the group's first dedicated frontman, sharing lead-vocal duties with founding bandmember Gregg Rolie during subsequent live shows.

Reception

The album received a lukewarm reception, just like the previous 2 albums. Retrospectively, "Next" received a 2 out of 5 on Allmusic, and a 4 out of 5 on Sputnikmusic. Brendan Schroer of Sputnikmusic stated that "this album is a smart progression for a fusion/prog group," but said the album is too short. Conversely, Allmusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine said that "without a forceful lead vocalist like Steve Perry, the group lacks focus and a pop sensibility and its attempts at straight-ahead pop/rock suffer considerably as a result."

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Spaceman"	Aynsley Dunbar, Gregg Rolie	4:01
2.	"People"	Dunbar, Rolie, Neal Schon	5:21
3.	"I Would Find You"	Tena Austin, Schon	5:54
4.	"Here We Are"	Rolie	4:18
5.	"Hustler"	Dunbar, Rolie	3:16
6.	"Next"	Heidi Cogdell, Dunbar, Rolie	5:28
7.	"Nickel and Dime" (Instrumental)	Rolie, Schon, George Tickner, Ross Valory	4:13
8.	"Karma"	Dunbar, Rolie, Schon	5:07

Personnel

Band

• Neal Schon - guitar (acoustic and electric), lead vocals, producer
• Gregg Rolie - keyboards, lead vocals, producer
• Aynsley Dunbar - drums and percussion, producer
• Ross Valory - bass, background vocals, producer

Other

• Smiggy - engineer, mixing
• Bruce Botnick - mastering
• Herbie Herbert - director
• Bruce Steinberg - art direction, design, photography, cover design
• Ellie Oberzil - design
• Mansfield - sleeve art

References

1. ^ Next results from Billboard Pop Albums chart at Allmusic