Walsh's second album of the 80's improves upon the apathy of the previous record but also has its' flaws, and overall, has to be taken with a few grains of salt. Once again, "Chocolate" Perry is in the producer's chair, along with long time James Gang and Eagles associate Bill Szymczyk, and in the very least the vibe is more adventurous for the listener. Furthermore, Walsh really turns up the volume as far as his "Clown Prince of Rock" role goes, with some risqué material. Curiously, the album doesn't start that way, with "I Can Play That Rock and Roll" and "Told You So" being the first two tracks and playing it rather safe, but even here, Walsh's guitar is more prominent and his vocals have more of a loony edge to them. However, the album doesn't get rolling until the third track, "Here We Are Now", which is a very pleasant and harmonious reggae-style exercise which might have fit in with quirky vibe that There Goes the Neighborhood was going for, if Walsh had bothered to branch out into this realm. From here, it's a bit more anything goes: "The Worry Song" is a Perry/Walsh collaboration that updates Joe to the realities of the 80's - both technically and socially - and does a fairly adept job, because at the end of the day, Joe's mantra is usually pretty much, "why worry?" And this is followed up by the first of three collaborations between Walsh and his old buddy Joe Vitale, the raunchy tack piano-driven goof "I.L.B.T.s" - which, if you bother to unravel the acronym, doesn't have anything to do with BLT's. Vitale/Walsh next comment on the then-video game craze on "Space Age Whiz Kids", which for me is notable more for how well they arrange their instruments to make them sound like an 80's video game, than any wise-crackin' lyrical commentary within the track. The rest of the album harkens back to late 70's Walsh - "Class of '65", "Shadows", and "Theme from Island Weirdos" (the last Vitale/Walsh contribution) function together as one mysterious suite intended to look back on the past with fondness and longing, rather than the static bitterness of the last record. If I was to go strictly by the letter of the law here, I would actually apply the previous album's title to this one, because it seems more appropriate, in this case. Then again, it does not mean we are talking about a serious improvement from one album to the next, either. It just means there was more of the classic Walsh attitude infused into this record, that's all.

This is not Joe Walsh's stand-up comedy album, but it is a bit different than the three Barnstorm records that were recorded in the earlier part of the decade. Gone is the askew imagery of bi-planes, aviator goggles, and lonely homesteads, and in its' place is a party-time Walsh somewhere near the Keys trying to fix a hole in his damn boat underwater after three or four drinks. Strangely enough, the change in scenery gives the man a boost of needed inspiration. The first half of the album deals with past memories and gradually builds from easy, innocuous rhythms, into the innocent wonder of "Indian Summer", to the all-out attack and aggression of "At The Station". However, where the album really stands out is on a mesmerizing second half that cruises to self-effacing victory on the strength of "Life's Been Good", a shiny pop-rock anthem tailor-made for the late 70's, and "Theme From Boat Weirdos", which is great mystery theater. As a whole the album plays out like that last great vacation you thought you would never get to take, flocks of wah-wahs included.

The third Barnstorm album, and already the lines are being blurred between the band concept, with Walsh co-mingling with his buddies from the Eagles, even though he would not be officially joining them for another couple of years. From a number of angles, this was not a bad move, and a thoroughly logical one, but if you were hoping from some sort of progression from the previous two albums, forget it. So What further dilutes the formula created by the initial Barnstorm record - there's lots of weird, Western-themed atmosphere, good guitar playing, occasional artistic tangents, and a re-do of an old hit - but nothing much from the bag of Walsh tricks that we have not seen before. That's not to say it's not an entertaining record, because it is, but if you want the real inventive stuff, I point you straight back to 1972. The remake of "Turn to Stone" is a bit of a disappointment for me. I prefer the original version with its' chunky and dirty sound, whereas this version is lighter, cleaner, with backing vocals from three-fourths of the Eagles, and does not convey the cold desperation of the original. And why are we still quoting Maurice Ravel? Didn't Walsh do this way back when he was still in the James Gang? It just seems like "Pavanne" was done for contrast only. Another interlude I can do without is "All Night Laundry Mat Blues". Still, there is a nice collection of three tracks which go down as classics in Walsh lore. "Welcome to the Club" has a similar feel to "Here We Go" from the debut record, but with the tempo slightly faster. "Time Out", on the other hand, evokes memories of "Mother Says", without some of that track's epic feel. And if you are looking for a semi-worthy successor to the original version of "Turn to Stone", look no further than "County Fair", which takes the listener through a myriad of moods and changes. Overall, though, I echo the sentiments put forth by title - so what, Joe, and what's next?

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.