Joe Walsh-The Smoker You Drink, The Player You Get (1973)

 

Artist: Joe Walsh

Title: The Smoker You Drink, The Player You Get

Label: ABC/Dunhill Records

Format: LP

Cat #: DSX-50140

Year of Release: 1973

Country and Year of Edition Issue: US 1973 gatefold

Listed Condition: VG/VG

Sell Date: 7/27/21

Sell Price: $2.99

Discogs Last Sold: 6/15//21

Low:$0.95 G/VG

Median: $4.50

Average: $7.50

High: $20.00 NM/NM

Current low price: $0.50 F/F, $3.00 VG+/VG

Current Number on Sale at Discogs: 20

Have/Want: 3021/172

Where Sold: White Cloud, MI

Time it took to sell: 6 years

Where and When Bought: Worcester, MA used Al Bums $3.99 early 80's

Gwiz-gau Letter Grade: B

Sad To See It Go: No

Every once in a while the Reverse Collector gets a shock sale.  In this case, it sold less than what I paid for it in the early 80's used.  Joe Walsh's second album I dutifully bought for "Rocky Mountain Way" when I was 12 or 13, played it once and filed it away.  James Gang Rides Again. which I bought used a couple years later,  had a better fate and all these years later, my estimation of that one is still high, even though I put in only slightly more time on that set, on the recomendation of some guy I met trolling import cutout bin cutouts in a local bookstore. 

But of this?  Well, I thought maybe I would finally unearth some gems that were never unearthed in my head before.  Well yes...and no.  After the overheard "Rocky Mountain..." I have to listen a second time.  For me the instrumental "Midnight Moodies" was cool with an almost Santana vibe by way of Cleveland and with nothing "ethnic" about it.  This segued nicely into the side finale "Happy Ways."

Side Two opened decently enough with with "Meadows," but overall this seemed like a set of songs more suited for the inspiration of a piano than one of guitars and amps cranked to 12.  There is an ethereal quality here that makes this album credible on one level, but at the end of the day it isn't what Joe Walsh does best.  "Days Gone By" sounds out of Todd Rundgren territory.   Not a bad thing, but pianos tinkle and guitars are buried until the end of the song which swirls somewhere south of BOC and Paris as my friend Kenny would attest if I told him this song had a "swirl" factor.

That this is a contender for his greatest solo work, and has arguably his biggest solo track says something.

Don't be like me!  James Gang first children.