Celebration of "But Seriously Folks..."

[Annoying Twit]

The Allmusic review of BSF suggests that this is the album that The Eagles should have made instead of The Long Run.

BSF is a good album, but I prefer TSYDTPYG and SW more. Possibly Barnstorm too. I'm not sure it out-rates TLR, but would like to hear what others think.

http://www.allmusic.com/album/but-se...s-mw0000264591

[Freypower]

I can see that. I would much rather Secod Hand Store Indian Summer, At The Station than The Long Run, Greeks & Teenage Jail.

[Jonny Come Lately]

I love both But Seriously Folks and The Long Run. I'm personally glad that both albums were released and that I don't have to choose between them! :happy: I tend to view them as companion pieces of a sort - BSF is the lighter, more whimsical album whereas The Long Run is dark and cynical in its outlook. I'd perhaps say that BSF is slightly more consistent as it really doesn't have any weak tracks - I tend to think of Tomorrow as the weakest song on the album, but it's certainly not bad by any stretch of the imagination and I'd definitely say it's better than Greeks or Disco Strangler.

However, I think The Long Run does not get enough credit for the strength of its songs. The title track, ICTYW, In The City, King Of Hollywood, Heartache Tonight, Those Shoes and The Sad Café are all excellent to me, and I personally really like Teenage Jail. BSF, for all its qualities, does not have quite as many really strong tracks IMO. However, the highest praise I can give to it is that I think that if you have all of the Eagles albums but don't own any solo works, But Seriously Folks is in my opinion the first one you should get.

Funnily enough, in another thread a while back I posted a chart of my top 50 favourite albums - I actually placed BSF and The Long Run next to each other, although I gave the higher spot to TLR.

Allmusic is a useful resource but it personally isn't a site I have much love for - I find it to be handy as a barometer of widely held/public opinion on albums and bands, but I can think of a number of its reviews that I fundamentally disagree with (IIRC they give the Eagles LP a higher rating than Desperado - I think I'm one of the bigger fans of the debut album on here, but Desperado is definitely the better record as far as I'm concerned).

[WalshFan88]

For me it has my favorite Joe song on it, Life's Been Good. Although I do prefer the Eagles Live version of it, it fills it out more with another guitar player in the mix.

I like The Long Run, including, the title track. I just like that funky memphis thing on the song.

[Annoying Twit]

For me it has my favorite Joe song on it, Life's Been Good. Although I do prefer the Eagles Live version of it, it fills it out more with another guitar player in the mix.

I like The Long Run, including, the title track. I just like that funky memphis thing on the song.

I do like Life's Been Good, but for some reason I've always preferred Theme from Boat Weirdos. I dunno why, I just do.

"The Long Run" itself is my favourite track on the album, and I think it's great. I bought the album when it came out but I was disappointed as I expected it to be as good as HC or OOTN. I haven't listened to it much over the years, and I'm now thinking that I should listen to it more.

I do like BSF, but feel that Joe's immediately pre-Eagles albums TSYGTPYD and SW are extremely good, and that BSF, despite being a good album, suffers a bit in comparison. This put me off following Joe's career a bit as there seemed to be diminishing rewards. I need to listen to BSF more to get used to it.

My favourite Walsh song is "Help Me Through the Night". That's just perfect.

[Funk 50]

I became a Walsh fan a couple of years before But Seriously Folks! was released. I loved his pre Eagles albums. But Seriously Folks! sounded too much like the Eagles for me, although I have grown to love it over the years.

Until the 80s, I felt all the albums that Joe had been involved in were great.
If Joe was to start performing albums in their entirety, live, Barnstorm would be the one I'd want to hear the most but I'd be very happy to hear But Seriously Folks! top to bottom.

[Annoying Twit]

I became a Walsh fan a couple of years before But Seriously Folks! was released. I loved his pre Eagles albums. But Seriously Folks! sounded too much like the Eagles for me, although I have grown to love it over the years.

Until the 80s, I felt all the albums that Joe had been involved in were great.
If Joe was to start performing albums in their entirety, live, Barnstorm would be the one I'd want to hear the most but I'd be very happy to hear But Seriously Folks! top to bottom.

I'm going to listen to BSF a lot. I'm listening to it as I type here.

I really lost track with what Joe was doing over the years. This happens to me a lot as I like a lot of artists and have limited time, so I tend to go on binges (and forum-hop).

I felt that Joe stopped being so interested in making art, and was more interested in having a good time. There's nothing wrong with music that's about having a good time, but I felt it paled in comparison to his earlier work. (Of course that's subjective, I'm sure there are people who much prefer Joe's post-joins-the-Eagles work.) IMHO I.L.B.T. is in some way the most extreme case of this progression, and I sort of wish I could unhear this song now. I thought that "The Confessor" might be a return to his previous style, but apart from the title track.

It happens a lot that I don't like albums at first but really like once I get more used to them after listening many more times. The problem is: there are a lot of albums to listen to, and only limited time. There are lots of bands where I have missed or not gotten around to listening to everything in the larger band family/history.

EDIT: Theme from Boat Weirdos has just come on. I so like this track.

[Funk 50]

Theme From Boat Weirdos, the b-side of Life's Been Good, is probably the 45rpm, 7 inch, vinyl single that I've played the most. It's a glaring omission on all Joe's "Best Of" compilations imho.

I love all Joe's instrumentals. It's a disappointment that Joe Vitale is currently on tour with Joe, yet he hasn't packed his flute, for some glorious, two Joe, on stage, flute/guitar instrumental jams.

It took me several plays to get into all Joe's studio albums, apart from Barnstorm and Songs For A Dying Planet, which I adored on first listen, and The Confessor which I've never got into, despite spending months playing it Over and Over again.

It took me over a decade to fully appreciate two tracks, Tend My Garden and It's Alright after initially being indifferent to them. There aren't any Walsh tracks that I've fallen out of love with.

The digital age has destroyed the process of saving up to buy a record and then playing it to death to get your hard earned, money's worth.

I've grown to love But Seriously Folks! as I've become acquainted with the live versions of the tracks (AFAIK he didn't promote BSF! with a tour due to Eagles commitments) but I've always rated it below his pre Eagles albums, including the live You Can't Argue With A Sick Mind offering that only has a measley six tracks

[NightMistBlue]

For me it has my favorite Joe song on it, Life's Been Good.

That's my favorite too. It's very hard to play - for me, anyway. I can't play the signature riff, where he's bending strings at the second and third frets. Brutal, man!

[Annoying Twit]

Theme From Boat Weirdos, the b-side of Life's Been Good, is probably the 45rpm, 7 inch, vinyl single that I've played the most. It's a glaring omission on all Joe's "Best Of" compilations imho.

I love all Joe's instrumentals. It's a disappointment that Joe Vitale is currently on tour with Joe, yet he hasn't packed his flute, for some glorious, two Joe, on stage, flute/guitar instrumental jams.

It took me several plays to get into all Joe's studio albums, apart from Barnstorm and Songs For A Dying Planet, which I adored on first listen, and The Confessor which I've never got into, despite spending months playing it Over and Over again.

It took me over a decade to fully appreciate two tracks, Tend My Garden and It's Alright after initially being indifferent to them. There aren't any Walsh tracks that I've fallen out of love with.

The digital age has destroyed the process of saving up to buy a record and then playing it to death to get your hard earned, money's worth.

I've grown to love But Seriously Folks! as I've become acquainted with the live versions of the tracks (AFAIK he didn't promote BSF! with a tour due to Eagles commitments) but I've always rated it below his pre Eagles albums, including the live You Can't Argue With A Sick Mind offering that only has a measley six tracks

It'll take me a while to catch up. Given how much I liked and played Joe's albums he recorded before the Eagles (I even had a James Gang best of), it's slightly mystifying to myself how I lost track. However, I do like a lot of artists. I went on a Bowie kick when he died and filled in a lot of gaps. I had watched the documentary and done some Eagles catchup before Glenn died, so I'm not in a depressing cycle of only catching up on artists when they die.

So, I should definitely catch up on Joe now. Though, as I mentioned, it is a problem for me that the post-Eagles albums compare in my mind slightly unfavourably to TSYDTPYG and SW.