By the time the James Gang got around to recording the follow-up to Rides Again the writing was on the wall - Walsh was edging his way out of the group and into a solo career. The end result was a de facto group effort in that song writing was roughly spilt among all three members, which worked to their detriment. However, the opening track "Walk Away" is the definitive peak of James Gang bar none. It takes every single element which set the band apart - good time heavy rock, funky rhythms, Walsh's versatile guitar lines, and interesting lyrics and vocals - and crams them into a succinct package, without subjecting the listener to the wild histrionics of "Funk #49" or the experimental nature of "The Bomber". And then, there is the rest of the album, which is mostly a chore to sit through. There are points where I feel like the band has gone back to the first record - "Yadig?" is the worst culprit - where random passages are deemed completed tracks then placed onto the completed product. If it's a Fox or Peters composition, about the only thing of note is whatever instrumental stamp Walsh can slap onto the track.

As it turned out there was a reason to take these guys seriously. Maybe Rides Again did not place them in the major leagues of hard rock bands, but it was a damn good try, and compared to some of their American counterparts, there were a lot of attractive facets to their sound. When all is said and done, what many people will remember is "Funk #49" - a hammed-up re-working of the previous record's "Funk #48", where the band's in-unison chant of "I KNOW WHERE YOU'RE GOING" was enough of a calling card by its' damn self - never mind that Walsh and new bassist Dale Peters trick out the track with loads of in-your-face guitar and bass lines. But the album has a few more epics in store. "The Bomber" has some big elements working in its' favor. The original "Closet Queen" section is more of a psychedelic take on the "Funk 49" idea, and then the group gets very mystical on our asses for the "Bolero" and "Cast Your Fate to the Wind" midsections, before bringing us back to the main groove for the finish. Then, buried in the second, more mellow half of the record, are purely gorgeous tracks such as "Tend My Garden" and "Ashes, the Rain, and I", which combine the orchestration from the debut album and Walsh's song craft to good effect. What works in JG's favor is that this is definitely a more realized experience, although, like the debut, there are quite a few bridge tracks that sound nice, but serve no real purpose other than to fill out the record as a whole. It would have been nice if Walsh or someone else in the band could have contributed a few more songs of the up-tempo variety.

When the James Gang were in existence I'm not sure anyone took them seriously, much less the band members themselves, and as it turned out, it became a vehicle for minor guitar gods like Joe Walsh, Tommy Bolin, and Domenic Troiano to use as a stepping stone to bigger gigs, while JG just kind of floundered around without much direction. But, in the beginning, it was created by drummer Jim Fox somewhere in Ohio, and after some years of slugging around through a few lineups, Walsh, Fox, and a guy named Tom Kriss came together and recorded this debut record. And what about Yer' Album? Honestly, it's a bunch of bass-heavy grooves, some interesting but overlong covers, a few artsy-fartsy piano-orchestral pieces, some studio cut-in interludes, maybe two or three actual songs, and there is the James Gang's debut album. Tailor-made for guitar/gear-head bud smokers. But, if you want my honest opinion, the real excitement starts on the next album.

Sometime in the early 90's Peverett returned to the U.S. after a long hiatus, and reformed the original lineup of Foghat. The eventual result was Return of the Boogie Men, which sounds, and is structured like the rote, fan-friendly comeback album we all would expect from these guys. On the one hand, I guess it's a good thing they are not messing with the formula which made them famous in the first place, but on the other hand, a lot of the aura and excitement which surrounded the band is sorely missing. The new cuts collected here have that whiff of ZZ Top-inspired hokeyness to them ("Motel Shaker"), while they elect to recycle a bunch of their old tunes acoustic-style, just to reinforce the elder statesmen vibe. There was always something unique in the mood department about a Foghat album, up to this one, but here, they finally fall in line with all the generic blues clichés, and the album suffers as a whole. So, they should have stayed hidden, I'm afraid.

Arguably out of gas a few albums ago, the Foghat camp soldiered on with this, essentially a covers record which is notable for its lack of presence just as much as Tight Shoes was. The 80's faux-modern production really works against the group now in a number of ways - the worst one being, the majority of the covers are in an old R&B vein, so the re-makes feel cheaper here. Also, I can't get over the feeling Peverett and crew were simply grinding this out to get it done. At least Tight Shoes had a certain feel of tense anguish going for it, and the previous album brought back a bit of the good times - this In The Mood hogwash does nothing in particular for anyone, sad to say.