Joe Walsh - There Goes the Neighborhood

When I first bought There Goes the Neighborhood I knew who Joe Walsh was, but other than a couple of songs on the radio I hadn't had the opportunity to hear any of his solo records. This was also true of the Eagles, but that's only tangentially related. The first Eagles record I'd pick up was Eagles Live in 1980 which more or less cemented my appreciation for Joe Walsh as a player. When Joe released There Goes the Neighborhood in '81 it would be my gateway into his solo career. I didn't quite know what to do with this one when I first heard it - this was a weird album. To me Joe Walsh was the rocker who wrote "In the City" for The Warriors soundtrack and was the guy who did "Rocky Mountain Way" and despite my teenage protestations that Triumph did it better - in the long run, Canada's other power trio couldn't hold a candle to the original. Of course "Life's Been Good" is pretty much the quintessential Joe Walsh song, but that was from But Seriously, Folks... his previous album from 1978.

All of this is just a long winded way of saying I was expecting (wanting) more of the rock and roll Joe Walsh, not whatever this was. I remember being profoundly disappointed the first time I played this through. However, it didn't take very long for me to change my mind. I didn't grow up on his solo albums, so I didn't realize that more often than not his music was introspective, organic and meticulously constructed. I just expected straight ahead three chord rock and roll.

Despite this not grabbing me right away, I still played There Goes the Neighborhood ... a lot. I was determined to like it, and by gum I was going to like it. Honestly it wasn't hard to like this. Probably the first song to get my attention was "Rivers (of the Hidden Funk)" with the steady groove that was masterfully played by George "Chocolate" Perry. It didn't hurt that the song also featured Don Felder, who co-wrote and accompanied Joe on guitar. I wish they'd have let loose at the end of the song ... instead we got a fade out. A bummer of a holdover from the '70s. FADE OUTS SUCK.

Once I started getting into the album it didn't take long for the songs to get under my skin. I liked that Joe revelled in the absurd as much as he did the reflective and poignant - yeah, that's right I think Joe Walsh is more often than not poignant. Just when you think you have him sorted out, up pops "Down on the Farm" and my first thought, and still is, what the hell is going on? The fact that he brought in David Lindley to play fiddle (credited as violin) and Russ Kunkel to sit in on the triangle while Joe Walsh tried not to hit his teeth while playing the jaws harp (which is the more polite name than what I grew up calling it) on what is essentially a throwaway track is mind boggling. I love this song.

Joe Walsh was at his best when balancing the absurd and the poignant (I told you he was poignant) and he never stoops to crafting novelty songs. "Things" that opens the album is a blend of both worlds and Joe and the band gamely work their way through the songs. This was Joe arguably at the top of his game.

I always thought this was a hit record, one that he'd be able to hang on his wall. After all his previous studio albums had been certified gold, with But Seriously Folks... going platinum it didn't seem unreasonable to think There Goes the Neighborhood would be another feather in his hat. Nope. To me it was a hit, and I would be in line cash in hand as each album dropped over the next decade. Sure each record would sell a little less than the one before but it didn't matter, there was always something worthwhile and this was the album that set the hook ... line and sinker.

Styx - Paradise Theater

Styx was hands down one of my favourite bands as a kid. They were a strange band, even back then. They were a hard rock band, almost progressive at times, who had a penchant for sucky ballads. I know there's a tendency for people to zero in on "Babe" as the song that killed the band's credibility. The roots go way back to almost the beginning when Styx released "Lady" on their second album. It showed a side to the band that needed to be kept in check, and for the most part the band kept things on a pretty tight leash. The band had been setting a gruelling pace, releasing an album a year (two in 1972) and by the time they released Paradise Theater (if I end up writing theatre later it's because that's how we spell it here) in 1981 they'd dropped ten albums in less than a decade. I snapped this up as soon as I saw it, and it became a fixture on my turntable. Like the band had announced on "Borrowed Time" from 1979's Cornerstone , ...

David Baerwald - Bedtime Stories

The little sticker on the shrinkwrap says, "You may remember David Baerwald from David & David's Boomtown ..." You bet, I remembered David Baerwald. Back in 1986 Boomtown was an album with moments of sheer brilliance. The whole album may not have been as top shelf as the first few tracks, but that didn't matter - it is an excellent album. I waited for a follow-up ... and waited, and then in 1990 it was a solo David, David Baerwald, who dropped Bedtime Stories . I snapped it up. "All For You," the opening cut, is still my favourite song on the album. It was mesmerizing. I'm not sure if the song got any airplay, it may have, but that may have been wishful thinking on my part as it was on a lot of mix tapes at the time and I heard it a lot in the car. The CD had a great booklet with all of the musician credits and lyrics. Oddly, when I found a sealed copy of the record (a great score), it just had a plain paper insert - the picture of David walking wit...

Gary Numan - The Pleasure Principle

"Cars" was really the only song I knew by Gary Numan. I knew the name of the album the song came from. Over the years bits and pieces of trivia are accumulated, but in terms of his music it was still distilled down to one song ... It would be too easy to write Mr. Numan off as a one hit wonder, and I suppose in terms of actual chart hits this was his defining moment as a solo artist. Of course this really means nothing, as Gary Numan would drop an album a year pretty much through to the end of the '80s. He'd then slow down a little but continued to make music. While The Pleasure Principle was Gary Numan's debut solo release in '79, he actually cut his teeth on a couple of albums in a band called Tubeway Army, first with the band's self-titled release in 1978, and then on Replicas that came out in April of '79. By the end of Tubeway Army's run most of the band would follow Gary into his solo career. Paul Gardiner, who had been with Gary from the b...

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