Escape

Mike Stone had engineered for Queen and Kevin Elson had been a sound technician for Lynyrd Skynyrd. Mix's Classic Tracks says the songs were rehearsed in an Oakland warehouse, that the album was recorded live in the words of Elson, on a Neve 8108 console and a Studer A800, with Schon tracking solos along with the rhythm section and Cain playing piano live; the only digital gear was a Prophet, the reverb was EMT plates, Perry's main microphone was a Neumann M49, and it was finished in four or five weeks for about $85,000, though another source says $80,000. Bob Ludwig mastered it, and Stanley Mouse did the cover.

It topped the Billboard 200, was sixth on the 1982 year-end chart, reached 32 in the UK, and became Diamond (10 million) in 2021. The singles were "Who's Crying Now" (4), "Don't Stop Believin'" (9), "Open Arms" (2) and "Still They Ride" (19). Rolling Stone's Deborah Frost was unfavorable in 1981, calling them heavy-metal light-weights, while AllMusic's Mike DeGagne gave 4.5 of 5 retrospectively.