Author: Jernej Vene
Artist: Walsh, Joe
Label: Fantasy
Release: 2012
Running time: 47:00
Rating: 4/5
Joe Walsh? Hearing the name for the first time, it probably doesn’t ring a bell, does it? But this is a great artist and a completely devoted rocker. Mr. Walsh is now in his seventh decade, with stints in Barnstorm, James Gang and The Eagles under his belt, the last of which made him world-famous. Calling him an old-school guitarist would almost be doing him an injustice. Like everyone, he comes out of the blues and builds on that foundation. He took the idiom further with enviable technique and total dedication. After a long stretch of paying his dues in local bands, success only came once he left James Gang, when he put out his solo debut The Smoker You Drink The Player You Get and the little record Rocky Mountain Way in 1973. His solo rise paid off with an invite to join the Eagles. He first appeared on Hotel California in 1976, and from then on it’s all history.
On Analog Man, Joe Walsh has conjured up a convincing back-to-basics rock sound, and his nasal, cutting voice delivers an astonishing variety of melodic lines. Even in the plainest songs he doesn’t stand still, serving up his thoughts through the notes with real finesse. At first glance, Joe Walsh takes on the life around him pretty lightly, even carelessly, you might say. But that’s only the surface…
In the title track, Walsh wonders what the digital age has actually brought him, and Wrecking Ball could easily be played by the Travelling Wilburys. In Spanish Dancer he slips into a light flamenco groove, the mellow Family will remind some people of Pretty Maids All In A Row from the Eagles’ Hotel California, and the instrumental India was inspired by time spent on the subcontinent. There, Walsh plays around with a thoroughly digital genre, namely drum ‘n’ bass.
You can feel the influence of Jeff Lynne’s production hand (of Electric Light Orchestra fame), which kept the record’s sound very organic, just as the title demands. Singers David Crosby and Graham Nash of Crosby, Stills and Nash also guest on Analog Man. Ringo Starr played the drums on Band Play on. Walsh already played in Ringo’s band in the early nineties, and since 2008 they’ve been family, since Walsh married Ringo’s sister-in-law Marjorie Bach. Walsh spent a full twenty years collecting the songs, and reckons some of them are even older, but then music doesn’t have a best-before date, except the stuff on the pop charts. The casual observation of his surroundings and the slightly sloppy attitude toward the world that I mentioned earlier is, of course, only an act. Walsh does it on purpose to draw the listener in. Even in the Eagles he was the go-to guy for the comic relief, and anyone who caught them live or watched a DVD will know what I mean. And that refined, laid-back humor is bound to interest anyone who values the honesty of a mature songwriter. In his younger years, and even his not-so-young ones, Joe Walsh did so many stupid things that it’s honestly strange he’s still alive at all. Luckily, drugs and alcohol didn’t completely wreck his brain, so he could write Lucky That Way, a song that’s completely autobiographical. It would be tactless to call the record analog, unless you buy it on vinyl. Walsh used every bit of existing modern technology so slyly and lucidly that anyone working in music production could envy him. And his distinctive vocal delivery, of course, shows a healthy, natural musician who is grateful for every day on Earth. Given his personal traumas, which weren’t only the result of an unhealthy lifestyle, it’s clear that besides help from others he also made it through on his own persistence. This year he marked twenty years sober, and I only hope we won’t have to wait this long for his next solo record. Analog Man was so late because he had commitments with his main band. The record brings all sorts of influences from every corner of the world. So, a mix of rock, country, ethno and pop, set within solid frameworks. Still, Analog Man comes across as homogeneous and compact, and both musically and lyrically it makes up a nicely rounded whole.
Lineup
Joe Walsh – guitars, vocals, bass guitar
Jeff Lynne – drums, bass, keyboards, guitars, backing vocals
Steve Jay – percussion
Bruce Sugar – percussion, programming
Ringo Starr – drums
Rick Rosas – bass guitar
Kenny Passarelli – bass guitar
Dale Peters – bass guitar
Joe Vitale – keyboards, sitar
Greg Leisz – “pedal steel” guitar
Jay Dee Maness – “pedal steel” guitar (on track no. 3)
Tommy Lee James – backing vocals
Graham Nash – backing vocals
David Crosby – backing vocals
Richard Davis – synthesizer
Tim Armstrong – kiitara
Little Richard – lead vocals (track But I Try), piano
Jim Fox – drums, backing vocals
Production
Jeff Lynne, Joe Walsh, Tim Armstrong
Tracklist
1. Analog Man
2. Wrecking Ball
3. Lucky That Way
4. Spanish Dancer
5. Band Played On
6. Family
7. One Day At A Time
8. Hi-Roller Baby
9. Funk 50
10. India
11. Fishbone
12. But I Try
