Celebration of "Analog Man"

[Midnight Visitor]

Analog Man is not my favorite. I do blame Jeff Lynne. I just want Joe to go back to sounding like Joe. No Mark Knopfler. He has nothing to do w/Joe and I don't want Joe to sound like Dire Straits. I really wish Bill S. would come out of retirement. THAT's how you get a Joe Walsh album. I wish the Eagles would work with him again as well. HE was the man behind the sound. Since that's very unlikely, I'd settle for Joe & Joe Vitale working together again, producing and creating.

[Funk 50]

Am I the only person who thinks "Hi Roller Baby" is catchy and fun?

While Analog Man isn't the strongest of Joe's albums, it's leaps and bounds ahead of anything he'd done solo since The Confessor. I'm so glad his last solo album wasn't Songs for a Dying Planet.

I tried and tried and tried to like The Confessor but I was convinced that Joe was finished, he'd lost whatever it was that made me love him and his recording career was over.

Got Any Gum wasn't as bad but no cause for optimism, Ordinary Average Guy seemed like Joe jumping through hoops to be worth a record contract, Songs For A Dying Planet, was a bolt out of the blue, unexpected joy. The first time I played the CD, I was in tears during the amazing intro to Decades, and then again when the background music fades to leave just Joe and his acoustic playing.

1992, 16 or so months after Ordinary Average Guy, Joe releases the best album he's done since joining the Eagles in 1975. Not a collection of songs but a series of moments of delight for Walsh fans.

Since joining the Eagles, I think Joe's become too song based and as albums have given away to individual track downloads, I wasn't expecting anything as immersive as Songs For A Dying Planet from Analog Man.

I was a big ELO fan but Jeff Lynne is not the man for Joe's music. Joe say's everything Jeff touches sounds perfect for the radio but the radio isn't anywhere near as important as it was in the analog days to promote new music.

Opening track, Analog Man is a great concept but some of the lyrics were already old hat when it was released and it seems to me to be a perfect launchpad for an extended instrumental section that sadly, never happens.

Wrecking Ball is a fine rocker with great lyrics and a nice riff. It deserves to be more substantial but it's a little too short.

Lucky That Way is an affable country pop song. Well executed but there are dozens of guitar strumming artists, releasing this type of material. I'm more opposed to songwriters for hire, like Tommy Lee James than I am to Jeff Lynne.

I actually listen to Spanish Dancer quite a lot. Lyrically very similar to I Love To Watch A Woman Dance, musically it's Joe singing ELO. I wish it had a bit more of an intro and a bit more of an outro.

Again, Band Played On, too concise for me. It has a fabulous concept. Using the band playing on, as if nothing is happening as the Titanic was floundering to it's/her death as a metaphor for people in power today, inventing ways to avoid addressing the ecological problems that are causing the destruction of the planet's ecosystems. I like the sitar, I like the melody. Could do without the bubbles at the end though. Could Band Played On have followed Long Road Out Of Eden on disc 2 of that Eagles album?

Almost every Walsh album has a synth laden ballad and Family ticks that box for Analog Man.

I'm convinced One Day At A Time has the wrong tempo. Straightforward ELO backing again. I'd like to hear it with a more relaxed Reggae feel. It has another Walsh solo that is simply, Walsh guitar over an instrumental verse. I expect a little more from Joe.

Hi Roller Baby is apparently a song that Joe was asked to sing to provide a guide vocal for somebody else. Written by Tim Armstrong of Punk Rock band, Rancid, and female artist LP. I'm not sure Joe was initially aware that she wrote it too. He checked her out on YouTube after the album was released and was impressed. Tim and Joe share a Lawyer or some other guy who wears a suit and tie and works in an office.
I'm not sure about HRB's cluttered arrangement, again too busy but there's some lovely acoustic guitar in there somewhere and it's a fun, singalong ditty. Just Joe and his acoustic would've done for me.

Funk 50, my adopted moniker again too short, (unlike most of my posts) so short you could say inconsequential. Great lyric, always destined to be overshadowed by Funk #49 but I'm glad he did it. I just wish he'd done a little more of it... and used a live drummer/percussionist.

Never thought I'd hear Joe playing dance music but India is Joe playing dance music. A pleasant and undoubted surprise, I hope he explores it a little more in future.

Fishbone is Joe playing blues. Joe's an outstanding all round musician/guitarist. Great blues players are pretty common. I think Joe should leave the blues to those guys and play the stuff that's out of their league.

But I Try isn't a Joe Walsh track. It's a James Gang track with Lttle Richard singing and playing piano. Joe Vitale says Little Richard can only play in the key of C so I guess, But I Try is in the key of C.

All those people who say Joe should never have joined the Eagles, he was at his best in the James Gang, this is Joe in the James Gang. I'm pretty sure it was the first song voted off the Analog Man Song Survivor but I think it's great. Sure it's a Jam that kind of loses it's way but it was never meant to be released on a record so I'm delighted that I've had a chance to hear it.

I wouldn't add it to a James Gang compilation though.

Much like Long Road Out Of Eden, Analog Man is almost a rebirth album, just getting used to the environment again after a mighty long break. Pretty good with the promise of better to come.

Thanks for your post honeymoon critiques WalshFan88, Freypower, sodascouts and Midnight Visitor (Szymczyk would be great but I wouldn't deny a guy his retirement)... and enjoy your journey through the Walsh albums kaikoura, there's a few nearly Walsh albums to enjoy too.

I hope you get as much joy as I did although I hope Joe stays clear of Mark Knopfler. I don't dislike MK but it seems to me that he'd rather be M.O.R, (middle of the road) than rock.

[Freypower]

Analog Man is not my favorite. I do blame Jeff Lynne. I just want Joe to go back to sounding like Joe. No Mark Knopfler. He has nothing to do w/Joe and I don't want Joe to sound like Dire Straits. I really wish Bill S. would come out of retirement. THAT's how you get a Joe Walsh album. I wish the Eagles would work with him again as well. HE was the man behind the sound. Since that's very unlikely, I'd settle for Joe & Joe Vitale working together again, producing and creating.

You can work with someone you have had 'nothing to do with', you know. Knopfler's solo work doesn't really sound like Dire Straits, not that there is anything wrong with that, in my humble opinion. I doubt it would happen, but as I am a huge Knopfler fan the idea intrigues me. One track would be enough; not a whole album.

Oh, and F50, I don't think Knopfler is 'MOR' at all. I don't know if you have listened to his solo albums but they are not 'MOR'. They just don't all sound like Money For Nothing.

[kaikoura]

Im going out on a limb here..
We are all Analog People?! :group hug:
In actuality..

[Midnight Visitor]

I tried and tried and tried to like The Confessor but I was convinced that Joe was finished, he'd lost whatever it was that made me love him and his recording career was over.

Got Any Gum wasn't as bad but no cause for optimism, Ordinary Average Guy seemed like Joe jumping through hoops to be worth a record contract, Songs For A Dying Planet, was a bolt out of the blue, unexpected joy. The first time I played the CD, I was in tears during the amazing intro to Decades, and then again when the background music fades to leave just Joe and his acoustic playing.

1992, 16 or so months after Ordinary Average Guy, Joe releases the best album he's done since joining the Eagles in 1975. Not a collection of songs but a series of moments of delight for Walsh fans.

Since joining the Eagles, I think Joe's become too song based and as albums have given away to individual track downloads, I wasn't expecting anything as immersive as Songs For A Dying Planet from Analog Man.

I was a big ELO fan but Jeff Lynne is not the man for Joe's music. Joe say's everything Jeff touches sounds perfect for the radio but the radio isn't anywhere near as important as it was in the analog days to promote new music.

Opening track, Analog Man is a great concept but some of the lyrics were already old hat when it was released and it seems to me to be a perfect launchpad for an extended instrumental section that sadly, never happens.

Wrecking Ball is a fine rocker with great lyrics and a nice riff. It deserves to be more substantial but it's a little too short.

Lucky That Way is an affable country pop song. Well executed but there are dozens of guitar strumming artists, releasing this type of material. I'm more opposed to songwriters for hire, like Tommy Lee James than I am to Jeff Lynne.

I actually listen to Spanish Dancer quite a lot. Lyrically very similar to I Love To Watch A Woman Dance, musically it's Joe singing ELO. I wish it had a bit more of an intro and a bit more of an outro.

Again, Band Played On, too concise for me. It has a fabulous concept. Using the band playing on, as if nothing is happening as the Titanic was floundering to it's/her death as a metaphor for people in power today, inventing ways to avoid addressing the ecological problems that are causing the destruction of the planet's ecosystems. I like the sitar, I like the melody. Could do without the bubbles at the end though. Could Band Played On have followed Long Road Out Of Eden on disc 2 of that Eagles album?

Almost every Walsh album has a synth laden ballad and Family ticks that box for Analog Man.

I'm convinced One Day At A Time has the wrong tempo. Straightforward ELO backing again. I'd like to hear it with a more relaxed Reggae feel. It has another Walsh solo that is simply, Walsh guitar over an instrumental verse. I expect a little more from Joe.

Hi Roller Baby is apparently a song that Joe was asked to sing to provide a guide vocal for somebody else. Written by Tim Armstrong of Punk Rock band, Rancid, and female artist LP. I'm not sure Joe was initially aware that she wrote it too. He checked her out on YouTube after the album was released and was impressed. Tim and Joe share a Lawyer or some other guy who wears a suit and tie and works in an office.
I'm not sure about HRB's cluttered arrangement, again too busy but there's some lovely acoustic guitar in there somewhere and it's a fun, singalong ditty. Just Joe and his acoustic would've done for me.

Funk 50, my adopted moniker again too short, (unlike most of my posts) so short you could say inconsequential. Great lyric, always destined to be overshadowed by Funk #49 but I'm glad he did it. I just wish he'd done a little more of it... and used a live drummer/percussionist.

Never thought I'd hear Joe playing dance music but India is Joe playing dance music. A pleasant and undoubted surprise, I hope he explores it a little more in future.

Fishbone is Joe playing blues. Joe's an outstanding all round musician/guitarist. Great blues players are pretty common. I think Joe should leave the blues to those guys and play the stuff that's out of their league.

But I Try isn't a Joe Walsh track. It's a James Gang track with Lttle Richard singing and playing piano. Joe Vitale says Little Richard can only play in the key of C so I guess, But I Try is in the key of C.

All those people who say Joe should never have joined the Eagles, he was at his best in the James Gang, this is Joe in the James Gang. I'm pretty sure it was the first song voted off the Analog Man Song Survivor but I think it's great. Sure it's a Jam that kind of loses it's way but it was never meant to be released on a record so I'm delighted that I've had a chance to hear it.

I wouldn't add it to a James Gang compilation though.

Much like Long Road Out Of Eden, Analog Man is almost a rebirth album, just getting used to the environment again after a mighty long break. Pretty good with the promise of better to come.

Thanks for your post honeymoon critiques WalshFan88, Freypower, sodascouts and Midnight Visitor (Szymczyk would be great but I wouldn't deny a guy his retirement)... and enjoy your journey through the Walsh albums kaikoura, there's a few nearly Walsh albums to enjoy too.

I hope you get as much joy as I did although I hope Joe stays clear of Mark Knopfler. I don't dislike MK but it seems to me that he'd rather be M.O.R, (middle of the road) than rock.

I too loved Songs From a Dying Planet!! The man was totally ahead of his time as far as the message he's delivering on that album. Also, it was the last time he worked with Bill S.! Bill always brings out the best in Joe.

However, I also love Average Ordinary Guy. So many great songs on that album! A fun time party album that was finally getting away from that keyboard sound of the 80's.

I prefer Joe's 2 albums from the 90's over any of his albums from the 80's. They were spotty at best. Even Joe thinks that the 80's were a waste of time.

I liked most of the songs on Analog Man. The only thing I really dislike about the album is that it sounds like a Joe Wilbury album. No more Jeff Lynne please and no Mark Knopfler. At this point I'd rather see him work w/the Foo Fighters than sound like another artist from the 70's - 80's.

[kaikoura]

Im going out on a limb here..
We are all Analog People?! :group hug:
In actuality..

And I mean this in true sense of the word..pre digital world..
(Not the album per se)..

happy Friday

[kaikoura]

Im watching Farewell Tour 1..as we speak..its so over the top!
And JW is the man!

[kaikoura]

Rocky Mountain Way is blowing me away as I write this

[kaikoura]

All she wants to do is dance..

Ive had a few beers..get up and dance..have a good night..

[Freypower]

I liked most of the songs on Analog Man. The only thing I really dislike about the album is that it sounds like a Joe Wilbury album. No more Jeff Lynne please and no Mark Knopfler. At this point I'd rather see him work w/the Foo Fighters than sound like another artist from the 70's - 80's.

You object to Mark Knopfler being from the 70s & 80s. He has been making solo albums since Dire Straits disbanded in the 90s. He is about to release a new one. If you don't like the guy, OK but he has done far more work than many other artists from the '70s & 80s'.

Also, one person made one suggestion that it would be an interesting collaboration, which I agreed with as I am a Mark Knopfler fan. That's all it was.