ICON-Joe Walsh

Based upon a blog idea by Big Mouth Lefsetz.

Even Pete Townsend raved about Joe way back when Walsh was leading The James Gang through four albums and maybe I talked about this in the past, but it got me to thinking about the classic era of Joe Walsh after he left The James Gang for a solo career and then hanging with The Eagles on Hotel California. While it's true that Don and Glenn kinda kept Joe at bay, it's also true that Don Felder was just as important as Joe was on Hotel California, the song and the album although I'm sick of hearing it on the radio.  It's also true that The James Gang was never the same after Joe left although Tommy Bolin did give them a pretty good album in Bang and failed single Must Be Love.

Walsh's solo career has been scattered though the years, some good some overrated and some in between, Lefsetz bitches that nothing comes close to County Fair on So What, an album that I played a lot during high school and actually liked better than The Smoker You Drink The Player You Get.  Both to these ears are classic albums, however the critic's darling, Barnstorm tends to plod on and on, like one of the songs does but also contains the original version of Turn To Stone, and probably more enjoyable than the attempted remake for a hit single.  I still cannot get into Barnstorm.  The Smoker You Get, is more of a band collective and effort as long time drummer Joe Vitale offers up a couple songs of his own and Kenny Passarelli gets away with the best song that wasn't written by Walsh in Happy Ways.  But we get the bar band favorite Rocky Mountain Way (later torn to pieces by Paraphernalia Tyrus) and Meadows that lead off side two.  The Barnstorm band would break up, and the only other person to stay on was Joe Vitale who seem to compliment Walsh's guitar playing with Vitale's drumwork.

While So What was deemed a failure, I didn't, beginning with Welcome To The Club a droning bass that somehow is related to Rocky Mountain Way or Meadows but Walsh added more country flair with Falling Down and Help Me Make It Through The Night.  And of course County Fair, six and half minutes of moody rock with some outstanding Walsh leads.   Album number 3, was the live You Can't Argue With A Sick Mind, with Ricky Fataar (Beach Boys) being the second drummer and adding more of a driving beat to Walk Away and Rocky Mountain Way.  But the live Meadows goes on too long, a live Help Me Make It Through The Night must have been used for bathroom breaks and the whole thing dies on the ten minute Turn To Stone.  I can listen to the album but if you're not a fan you won't be impressed.  ABC Records scrapes the bottom of the barrel for hits from the old band James Gang but the cassette version uses the live version of Walk Away.  A much better overview from MCA Little Did He Know taps into both The Asylum, Warner Brothers and Epic Associated years and for a bonus track, has Joe jamming out with The Who one night back in the early 70s.

With Joe joining up to The Eagles, his solo career took a back seat for a while but in 1978 he put out But Seriously Folks, best known for Life's Been Good but the lesser known tracks like Second Hand Store, Over And Over, Indian Summer and Tomorrow are also note worthy.  Walsh also guest starred on Joe Vitale's 1980 Plantation Harbor and that and But Seriously Folks were produced by Bill Symczek. Plenty of help came from The Eagles themselves and Don Felder as well.  Three years later, Walsh self produced There Goes The Neighborhood and basically that album could have benefited from Symczek's production.  A Life Of Illusion was the hit. But the rest of the songs didn't stand out.  They just plod along.

Moving over to Full Moon (later Warner Brothers) Walsh reunited with Symczek and gave us his last great album You Brought It You Name It, with I Can Play That Rock and Roll and Space Age Wiz Kids being the highlights and the hilariously funny I L B T's to which both Joes (Walsh and Vitale) proclaim themselves boob men.  Three years later The Confessor came out, produced by Keith Olsen and it was a solid album I guess. Got Any Gum? released in 1988 was a fair album at best.

While 2011's Analog Man got good reviews and still gets played on Sirius Radio in regular rotation on Deep Tracks I didn't really cared much for the majority of songs, although Walsh's heart was in the right place.  One track features Little Richard and guys from The James Gang. And one track had Passarelli and Vitale with Ringo Starr on drums (Band Played On) but I think in the end, Lynne's production had a lot of this falling apart.  It would have worked better back in 1990 rather than 2012.

But that said, Walsh remains an all around good guy and guitar player to hang around with.  He played guitar on the latest Foo Fighters album and it may have been the best song of that album.  Walsh had played in Ringo Starr's All Starr Band from time to time and of course he still earns a living with continuing farewell show that The Eagles have been doing for the past 20 years.  However, Walsh's glory years are the 70s and the ABC  and Asylum albums.  Despite what they tell you both Smoker You Drink and So What are vintage Joe and I would go as far as But Seriously Folks and You Bought It You Name It as the ones to watch out for and pick up if you see them.  Elektra reissued the Asylum albums and Wounded Bird for a time issued the Warner Brothers/Full Moon albums.  Anything after You Bought It, is for fanatics and fans only.