Greatest Hits + Five Unreleased

Album Review

At the time that Columbia Records released Steve Perry's Greatest Hits + Five Unreleased, the former Journey lead singer had scored exactly one Top Ten hit as a solo artist ("Oh Sherrie") and placed four other songs in the Top 40, one of which ("Foolish Heart") reached the Top Ten of the adult contemporary charts. It was not the sort of record that would seem to justify the release of a 17-track hits collection. In addition to the hits, the set included assorted album tracks from Perry's two solo albums, Street Talk (1984) and For the Love of Strange Medicine (1994); a couple of songs from the Quest for Camelot soundtrack; four tracks recorded in 1988 for his intended second album, Against the Wall ("Unfortunately, it was never released," he noted tersely); and the 1977 demo recording that led to Perry' s joining Journey. While the collection certainly presented the best of Steve Perry thus far, as well as some interesting curiosities, it hardly lived up to the usual standard expected of an album called Greatest Hits, simply because Perry's hadn't scored enough hits to have a Greatest Hits album. Either this was a stopgap release to keep the singer's name before the public or a contractual obligation, the latter justification being indicated by the odd release date in mid-December.