The James Gang-post Walsh era

[sotdude]

I know we've talked about those first few albums here before, and how great they are, but I've really been listening to all those albums they did after he left a lot lately. For the most part, all are really strong in my opinion. The 2 with Domenic Troiano on guitar I really like, especially 'Straight Shooter', which has some great funky hard rock tunes. Of course, the Tommy Bolin albums 'Bang' & 'Miami' are excellent, and just a notch below the Walsh releases in my opinion. The last 2 they did, 'Newborn' and 'Jessie Come Home' get practically ignored from fans & critics, but I dig 'em. Very different band, but there's a nice mix of heavy rock, funk, country-rock, and pop on these which makes for a varied listen. 'Newborn' is the better of the 2 in my opinion, as Bubba Keith and Richard Shack deliver some tasty guitar work throughout.

Any fans of these albums?

I'd love to see Walsh put the James Gang back together-though they did some shows a bunch of years ago, he's hinted that they are planning something for a while now. Not sure if it will ever happen, but his recent solo album 'Analog Man' had enough rocking moments to think that a reunited James Gang would be a fun time.

[Banquo]

I have everything. Obviously I prefer the Bolin era, but I still enjoy all the others. The ones I listen to the least are the Troiano albums. But it's been awhile. I might appreciate them more now. I do like Roy Kenner's vocals over any of the post-Walsh singers. I actually really like Jesse Come Home. Bob Webb had played on Barnstorm so there was a connection there. It also marked the return of original member Phil Giallombardo on keyboards, before JG settled into a trio format. I think he does the Christian thing now. I've traded a couple of emails with Webb, who is quite proud of his time in the JG. There's a ROIO of the Jesse lineup FM source from the Cleveland Agora in 1976. Last I checked only a very poor quality download at the dime. However mine is near perfect. They do five songs from Jesse as well as Tend My Garden, Standing In The Rain, Walk Away, Funk #49 and Rock Me Baby.

[GuitarGeek]

Bang and Miami are both great albums. Tommy Bolin was a total beast on the guitar, and he was a good songwriter who helped keep the band going after Walsh escaped. Actually, I believe at least a couple of those songs, Preylude/Red Skies for sure and maybe a couple others, were leftovers from the Energy era (Energy was the band that Tommy led after he left Zephyr, but the band ended up breaking up because they couldn't get a record deal, and Tommy was eventually offered the James Gang spot, so you know how it goes...).

[rapidfirerob]

James Gang without Joe Walsh never did much for me, especially material wise. I saw the recording of the live album at Carnegie Hall.
Tremendous playing.

[UnephenStephen]

this thread was started last Dec. some good discussion and videos..

http://www.progressiveears.org/forum...ght=james+gang

not sure why youtube comes up. i just click the X to stop it from loading.

[UnephenStephen]

sound sucks but here's a clip of their 91 reunion..

[JIF]

this thread was started last Dec. some good discussion and videos..

http://www.progressiveears.org/forum...ght=james+gang

not sure why youtube comes up. i just click the X to stop it from loading.

That thread was a discussion about the band in general. This one is just asking about the band after Joe Walsh went solo. I only have Bang. I bought it because it was only $5 at Barnes & Noble, it had the ATCO logo, and it had Tommy Bolin on guitar(I've heard his song, Post Toastee, on the radio a few times on love his work on Deep Purple's Come Taste The Band). Nice to see a lot of love for that album on this thread. Maybe I should listen to it soon?

[sotdude]

Bang and Miami are both great albums. Tommy Bolin was a total beast on the guitar, and he was a good songwriter who helped keep the band going after Walsh escaped. Actually, I believe at least a couple of those songs, Preylude/Red Skies for sure and maybe a couple others, were leftovers from the Energy era (Energy was the band that Tommy led after he left Zephyr, but the band ended up breaking up because they couldn't get a record deal, and Tommy was eventually offered the James Gang spot, so you know how it goes...).

Yes, the new Tommy Bolin archival release 'Whirlwind' contains early demos of a few songs that eventually made it onto the 2 James Gang albums he appeared on. "Alexis", "Spanish Lover", "Red Skies", and "Sleepwalker" are the tunes.

[UnephenStephen]

"That thread was a discussion about the band in general."

if you read it you'd realize that there's a lot of overlap - plenty of mention of Troiano and Bolin in that thread too.

[JIF]

"That thread was a discussion about the band in general."

if you read it you'd realize that there's a lot of overlap - plenty of mention of Troiano and Bolin in that thread too.

Judging by the title of that thread, I don't think that was the intention. The last thread was asking if there were any fans of the band, in general. While this thread is asking about the post-Walsh era.

[UnephenStephen]

Judging by the title of that thread, I don't think that was the intention. The last thread was asking if there were any fans of the band, in general. While this thread is asking about the post-Walsh era.

geez dude, who cares? same basic topic - good enough for me.

[GuitarGeek]

Yes, the new Tommy Bolin archival release 'Whirlwind' contains early demos of a few songs that eventually made it onto the 2 James Gang albums he appeared on. "Alexis", "Spanish Lover", "Red Skies", and "Sleepwalker" are the tunes.

I wonder if there's any overlap with what was on the two From The Archives or the Energy Demos releases from the late 90's. I know there's versions of Alexis and Red Skies and I think one or two other songs on the From The Archives CD's.

[Banquo]

I think the main difference between Walsh era and post-Walsh is the move to Atlantic/Atco. They got the whole Tom Dowd/Fat Albert thing which sorta fine-tuned their sound into more of a hook-ish cowboy rock thing that might've been more appealing to fans of Pure Prarie League or Poco, but that's mostly due to the direction of the music industry during that time.

[Banquo]

This sorta has a Barnstorm/So What thing happenin'...

[bRETT]

A fun bit of trivia that I learned on another board: The "Passin' Thru" album was going to be called "James Gang Bang," before ABC said no dice; so they got to use the title for the next album with Bolin. But they shot the cover for the original album-- so on the cover that was used, Bolin's head is pasted over Troiano's!

[Banquo]

Bolin's head is pasted over Troiano's!

Yeah, I'm not buyin' that. I mean, you can look at REO Speedwagon's Riding Out cover from a mile away and tell that Mike Murphy's head was pasted over Cronin's, but certainly not in this case. If so, it's one of the best photo editing, pre-digital, that I've ever seen.

[Bucka001]

Yeah, I'm not buyin' that. I mean, you can look at REO Speedwagon's Riding Out cover from a mile away and tell that Mike Murphy's head was pasted over Cronin's, but certainly not in this case. If so, it's one of the best photo editing, pre-digital, that I've ever seen.

It's definitely true and well documented in interviews, documentaries, etc.

[Banquo]

It's definitely true and well documented in interviews, documentaries, etc.

OK. Well, it's news to me. Anyone have a link to online info with regards to this?

[sotdude]

I hadn't heard that either-looking close at that cover shot it's really hard to tell.

[Bucka001]

http://www.tbolin.com/history/james_gang.html

Here's one place where it's mentioned. I've read it elsewhere (it might even be mentioned in the Bolin documentary film). Somewhere there's an interview where somebody mentions that photo and how Tommy hated it and the fact that his head was pasted onto DT's body.

[Bucka001]

Interview with Jim Fox from a Bolin website:



AW: I saw a picture of the Bang album cover with Dom’s face on it. Was it too much trouble to re-shoot it?

JF: (Chuckling)… it was impossible to re-shoot the cover again because the props had all been disposed of. We couldn’t go back. We had no choice. It wasn’t Tommy’s choice to appear on Dom’s body. I can tell you that! We had a wonderful photographer in California named Ed Caraeff. This was a concept of his and we shot it with Dommy and the record company shot it down. ABC wouldn’t use it. They refused to use it. They said it was too risqué. So it went away When we changed record labels and went over to Atlantic and had Tommy in the band we wondered if we could get away with that cover. We thought that was a great title for an album. So we went to Atlantic and they said it was no problem. We went to Ed and said can we shoot this again? He said no way all the props were gone, but I bet I could get your new guy’s face on to the old guy. Tommy saw the mock up and went ”Oh, God!” Dom was a pretty hairy guy (and Tommy wasn’t.) We were just glad it was Tommy and not us that had to take Dom’s body!

[Banquo]

^^^ Thanks, Bucka001. Learn sumthin' new everyday. I remember seeing Ed Caraeff's credits on a lot of albums from ABC/Dunhill, i.e. Three Dog Night, perhaps Steppenwolf, some others. Interesting story. BTW, Jimmy Fox cracks me up whenever I read or see him in a clip. He's so fucking genuine, and apparently loves the history of the JG. I mean, it really is his band.

[Bucka001]

^^^ Thanks, Bucka001. Learn sumthin' new everyday. I remember seeing Ed Caraeff's credits on a lot of albums from ABC/Dunhill, i.e. Three Dog Night, perhaps Steppenwolf, some others. Interesting story. BTW, Jimmy Fox cracks me up whenever I read or see him in a clip. He's so fucking genuine, and apparently loves the history of the JG. I mean, it really is his band.

Yeah, no prob. I remember reading that a while back and laughing out loud. And I agree with you about Jim Fox. He was kind of the backbone (in more ways than one) of the Gang, even in the Walsh era. And a phenomenal drummer. As a drummer myself, with my own set of musical heroes, I'd love to meet him some day!