Credit: TIDAL
As the soaring height of the Eagles, you’d think Joe Walsh would be in a complete league of his own. But as it turns out, there are still people who can make him feel a cut above his station.
But make no mistake: this was not a case of Walsh being struck down out of malice or spite. Indeed, it was a condition entirely of his own making, since he invited his heroes to work with him on his 2012 album, Analog Man. Perhaps to his surprise, and in other cases, perhaps not, they all accepted the invitation.
This gave rise to the set-up for a classic joke: Graham Nash, David Crosby, and Ringo Starr all walked into a bar – except, in this instance, it was actually real, as long as you were willing to swap out the setting of a bar for the recording studio… The point was that Walsh had managed to create a massive calibre of artists to collaborate with him – and sometimes, it might just have made him a little nervous.
It didn’t stop there, either, as Analog Man was co-produced by Jeff Lynne, featured songs with members of any number of his previous bands, and also held a duet with Little Richard. It was a better line-up than many rock festivals could ever imagine. Yet by the same token, having achieved all this, Walsh didn’t want to hedge his bets.
“Well, these are guys I’ve known for quite a while, and I would say we’re on the same wavelength,” he explained with regard to his seemingly seismic process. “Guys like that, you don’t really have to explain in depth what you’re trying to accomplish. That saves a lot of time.” He wasn’t wrong in that sense: after all, would you want to be the one telling Starr how to drum?
Walsh subsequently had the right idea when he said, “I’m a firm believer that, if you’re going to get somebody to play on your record, you let them play rather than tell them exactly what to do or have it written down. David and Graham – I’m not going to tell those guys what to sing. Whatever they do is fine with me.” Whether it was out of respect or intimidation, it was a formula that certainly worked.
Ultimately, through the scores of the Eagles, James Gang, and Ringo Starr and His All-Star Band, an album like Analog Man was a celebration of everything that the past half a century had held. It was an homage to the people he’s loved, and sometimes lost, along the way. To this end, he wanted to hear his friends play in all their prolific glory.
Further reading: From The Vault
On top of this, the fact that the album signalled what is so far a swan song for Walsh – albeit with the concession that he had waited 20 years between that and his previous record, Songs for a Dying Planet in 1992 – made it a particularly stellar note to go out on. What could be a better way to give a final farewell than alongside all your greatest friends and mentors?
If this was the plan all along for Walsh, then you have to hand it to him: it was going out with a bang. He wasn’t going to argue with the heavyweights of the rock world on how they wanted to play his songs, and at the same time, they were probably more than honoured to even get the call-up in the first place. It worked both ways, and it made for a pretty memorable album at the end of it.
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