James Gang Thirds CD

The James Gang: Joe Walsh (vocals, electric & pedal steel guitars, acoustic & electric pianos); Jim Fox (vocals, piano, organ, vibraphone, drums); Dale Peters (vocals, acoustic & electric basses).
Additional personnel: Tom Baker (horns); The Sweet Inspirations, Bob, Mary Sterpka (background vocals).
Producers: The James Gang, Bill Szymczyk.
Recorded at the Record Plant, Los Angeles, California; Cleveland Recording, Cleveland, Ohio; Hit Factory, New York, New York. Includes liner notes by Dale Peters and Jim Fox.
Cleveland hard-rockers The James Gang were soon to kiss their golden age goodbye when their third album (helpfully titled THIRDS) was released; it would be their final studio recording with singer/guitarist Joe Walsh. From the soul/gospel inflections of "White Man/Black Man" to the string arrangements of "Again," and the country rock of "Dreamin' in the Country," THIRDS was the band's most diverse outing to date, but the centerpiece was the rocker "Walk Away," which remains one of the band's best-known tunes. Walsh would soon walk away himself, replaced by Domenic Troiano, and later by Tommy Bolin, so THIRDS is the last waltz for the classic version of the James Gang, whose popularity would soon begin to decrease even as Walsh' own star continued to rise, on his own and then with the Eagles.
The James Gang Rides Again set the stage for the group's third album to propel them to Top Ten, headliner status, but that didn't happen. The band was on its last legs, rent by dissension as Walsh became the focus of attention, and the appropriately titled Thirds reflected the conflict. Among the nine original songs, four were contributed by Walsh, two each by bass player Dale Peters and drummer Jim Fox, and one was a group composition. But it was Walsh's songs that stood out. His "Walk Away," was the first single, and it climbed into the Top 40 in at least one national chart, the group's only 45 to do that well. "Midnight Man," the follow-up single, was another Walsh tune, and it also made the charts. The Fox and Peters compositions were a step down in quality, particularly Peters'. But the problem wasn't just material, it was also musical approach. James Gang Rides Again had emphasized the band's hard rock sound, which was its strong suit. But they had never given up the idea of themselves as an eclectic unit, and Thirds was their most diverse effort yet, with pedal steel guitar, horn and string charts, and backup vocals by the Sweet Inspirations turning up on one track or another. At a time when Walsh was being hailed as a guitar hero to rank with the best rock had to offer, he was not only submerging himself in a group with inferiors, but also not playing much of the kind of lead guitar his supporters were raving about. As a result, though Thirds quickly earned a respectable chart position and eventually went gold, it was not the commercial breakthrough that might have been expected. ~ William Ruhlmann

Remastered

Rolling Stone (7/22/71, p.37) - "...they are capable of some nice little treats..."