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"...Midnight Man..."
It's not a dyed-in-the-wool five-star classic for sure. And yet I've always stroked and petted (with scary regularity) my British Probe Records copy of the 1971 vinyl LP "Thirds" by The James Gang (mottled sleeve and pink label) - gawking at the poor battering thing with undiminished affection.
Of the nine 1971 tracks maybe only four are gems - but on the last album The James Gang did with the future Eagles axeman Joe Walsh – boys-oh-boys what mighty nuggets those forgotten songs are. And it’s the record that also let Drummer Jim Fox and newcomer Bassist Dale Peters shine as songwriters too. Let's go to the midnight men and dig it (y'all)...
US released June 2000 - "Thirds" by JAMES GANG on MCA Records 088 112 022-2 (Barcode 008811202224) is a straightforward 9-track CD Remaster of the original 1971 LP that plays out as follows (36:14 minutes):
1. Walk Away [Side 1]
2. Yadig?
3. Things I Could Be
4. Dreamin' In The Country
5. It's All The Same
6. Midnight Man [Side 2]
7. Again
8. White Man/Black Man
9. Live My Life Again
Tracks 1 to 9 are their 3rd studio album "Thirds" - released April 1971 in the USA on ABC Records ABCX-721 and July 1971 in the UK on Probe Records SPB 1038. Produced by THE JAMES GANG and BILL SZYMCZYK - it was their final album with Joe Walsh and peaked at No. 27 in the US LP charts (didn't chart UK). Tracks 1, 5, 6 and 7 written by Joe Walsh - Tracks 3 and 9 written by Jim Fox - Tracks 4 and 8 written by Dale Peters and Track 2 written by all three members of the band.
JAMES GANG was:
JOE WALSH - Lead Vocals, Lead Guitar, Pedal Steel Guitar and Electric Piano and Violin Arrangements on "Again"
DALE PETERS – Electric Bass on all Tracks except Upright Bass on "Yadig?” - Lead Vocals on "Dreamin' In The Country" and "White Man/Black Man" and Backing Vocals on "Midnight Man”
JIM FOX – Drums on all tracks, Vibes on the instrumental "Yadig?”, Lead, Backing Vocals and Organ on "Things I Could Be", Track Piano on "Dreamin' In The Country" and Pianos on "Live My Life Again"
Guests:
Mary Sterpka (of Lacewing) - Duet Lead Vocals with Joe Walsh on "Midnight Man"
The Sweet Inspirations (of Atlantic Records) - Backing Vocals on "White Man/Black Man"
Tom Baker - Horns Arranged and Played on "It's All The Same” and "Live My Life Again”
The three-way foldout inlay is hardly the stuff of legend - the picture of the three boys that graced the rear sleeve with the track-by-track session details and on the rear that long list of 'thank you' names that graced the inner record bag - everyone from Groucho Marx and W.C. Fields to Wonderdog, James Bond and The Cookie Monster, from J.S. Bach, Jimmy Page, Pete Townshend (a champion of Joe Walsh from the get go - invited on a Who tour as a support act) to Lonnie Mack and Elvis' Back-Up Band. There are some new comments from Dale Peters and Jim Fox (none from Walsh) about the recordings - tracks made with Little Richard that never saw the light of day due to contractual crap - their pride in songs like "Walk Away" and "Midnight Man" - their admiration for Joe's axework and so on.
TED JENSEN and original LP producer BILL SZYMCZYK (later produced Joe Walsh’s solo work and The Eagles) did the Digital Remasters from original tapes at Sterling Sound in New York and it sounds fantastic. Those formerly muddied horns by Tom Baker on "It's All The Same", the Soulful vocals of The Sweet Inspirations on "Midnight Man" and those Jim Fox Vibes on the slinky instrumental "Yadig?" all now in your face and for all the right reasons.
The album opens on a slice of axe-wielding Rock joy and a track Walsh would play regularly as a Solo Artist – the fab riffage of "Walk Away". Describing himself (wittily) in the track-by-track breakdown as a 'Train Wreck - it featured as the opening song on his April 1976 live set "You Can't Argue With A Sick Mind" with ABC Records UK even putting it on the 99p-selling 4-Track 12" single "Plus Four EP" in July 1977. Like the swagger of "Funk 49" - "Walk Away" is the 'All Right Now' of Joe Walsh's catalogue - dig that soloing as it fades out. There then follows a startling segue moment as we slide slinkily into the Jazz Instrumental "Yadig?" where Drummer Jim Fox plays a blinder on the Vibes as Joe shuffles his electric piano keys and Dale Peters compliments on an upright Bass (towards the end of the track Joe sneaks in a sexy solo too). Diversions done, we're back to Rock with Jim Fox's excellent "Things I Could Be" where he plays Drums, Organ and sings Lead Vocals - but it's Joe's guitar contributions that give it such a great feel. "Dreamin' In The Country" sounds like its title - a rather lame countrified doodle where JW has a go at a Pedal Steel. Way better is the fabulous "It's All The Same" - a Joe Walsh tune lifted up above its lonesome solo piano opening by Tom Baker's Horns that come sailing in and lend the Side 1 closer a truly epic feel. As the years have passed I've grown to adore "It's All The Same" - the Bacharach type brass interludes playing off against those high-strung acoustic guitars (and he mentions 'meadows' which would of course become a hit song for JW in its own right on his second solo LP "The Smoker You Drink, The Player You Get" in 1973).
Side 2 opens with the magisterial "Midnight Man" - a song both Peters and Fox clearly rate as Joe Walsh's finest moment to that point because they both namecheck it in the new liner notes. And his solo too – superb. Band 7 "Again" may be the album's sleeper - another seductive JW melody this time bolstered up with violins (which he arranged) and not brass. Half way through it goes into an America-type shuffle - the remaster bringing out those strums and subtle electric piano notes. But despite my adoration of all things JW - I will openly admit that my heart belongs to Dale Peters on the "Thirds" album because of his magnificent song "White Man/Black Man" tucked away as Track 3 on Side 2. ABC Records in the USA slapped it on the B-side of the more commercial "Midnight Man" in October 1971 (ABC Records 11312) and were rewarded with a minor single hit at No.80. The UK saw never saw that release and so is a bit of a rarity on our side of the pond ("Walk Away" paired with "Yadig?" on the flipside was issued as Blighty's only 45 from the album in April 1971 on Probe Records PRO 533). I used to feature Dale Peters singing "White Man/Black Man" on so many CD-R compilations that I’d made as shuffle plays in Reckless Records in Berwick Street. Not recognising the vocalist but maybe the guitar playing - it was the kind of Soulful slow-marching Rock song that always elicited excited punter enquiries (who is this!) – the gorgeous singing of The Sweet Inspirations (one of Atlantic Records premier backing vocalist groups who had albums in their own right), Joe's fabulous guitar soloing and its racial equality lyrics – all would combine - bringing it on home every time it was played. And the album ends on another JW sleeper – the slow and epic "Live My Life Again" where he employs both The Sweet Inspirations and Tom Baker’s horns to huge effect. A great end to a great but underrated album...
Walsh would jump ship and the James Gang continued with other guitarists – namely Dominic Troiano and of course the mercurial Tommy Bolin. Joe would start his amazing solo career with the fabulous "Barnstorm" in 1972 – an album I might even be buried with. But if you want to know why Pete Townshend raved about him then and Daryl Hall had him over to Daryl’s House for a session now, then check out "Thirds", cheap as chips and sounding just as mouth-watering on this June 2000 CD Remaster.
The James Gang were always a solid little rocking American Band – the kind of group you couldn’t help loving and like The Faces or Humble Pie or Grand Funk Railroad - miss 45 years after the event...
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