The James Gang The Best of the James Gang Featuring Joe Walsh 1973

Joe Walsh made three records with the James Gang, a formidable power trio with Jim Fox on drums and Dale Peters on bass. None of those three records was great, but they all included great moments, which is what this record is about.

The hits are here (Funk #49, Walk Away, Must Be Love) but so are a nice set of album tracks that show the band as more than just a power trio. Walsh had a ballad side that almost lives up to his rocking.

Walsh went on to a lengthy solo career and of course joined the Eagles and made a ton of money while raising that band from country-rock status. That's him and Don Felder rocking the twin guitar parts on the title track of Hotel California. I know plenty of people are sick of that song, and for good reason, but it is an outstanding guitar duet.

This one isn't available on CD, and the available CDs have too many other songs on them to really be called "best of". A great find for a vinyl hunter, and an excellent example of why Pete Townsend admired Walsh as a guitar player.

Todd Rundgren Runt 1970 and alternate reissue 2023

I broke one of my own "rules" just this week. I purchased the new reissued Runt album. I have bought many expanded and remixed records over the years and I generally find little of importance in the "bonus" tracks, and the newly remixed or remastered versions may sound a little better, but rarely enough to make the purchase essential. I had mostly given up on the whole reissue idea, at least if I had the original.

Sal Nunziato over at the Burning Wood blog went gaga over this reissue a couple of weeks ago, and he is a bona fide Rundgren afficianato. I think he likes everything Todd ever did, even the recent stuff. But he knows his Todd, and I always liked this debut. Also, I always thought that the first print Ampex copy I own didn't really sound that great. Sometimes it sounds like there's tape wobble changing the pitch of the piano, and there are other problems. I think the spindle hole is too far off center.

This reissue is significantly different from the original pressing (I haven't heard the other reissues). There are new songs. One is Say No More, which seems to serve as an intro to Birthday Carol. It's nothing special. There's also Hope I'm Around, which was on his second album in essentailly the same arrangement. Devil's Bite opens the record in place of Broke Down And Busted (the two songs swap positions on side one). Right from the get-go, the mix on Devil's Bite is vastly superior to the original. We Gotta Get You A Woman also sounds better, but not enough to buy this record.

But here's the coolest thing. I always loved the three song medley of Baby Let's Swing/The Last Thing You Said/Don't Tie My Hands. On this new version, the songs from the medley are each presented as separate songs, and both Baby Let's Swing and The Last Thing You Said have additional verses not included in the medley. It is a treat to hear the three of them, and the medley is on the flip side of the We Gotta Get You A Woman 45 that accompanies the LP, so you get that too.

But I have to say that having heard this version, I'd be OK without it. I mean really, how bad did I need to have this version of a record I have enjoyed for 50 years? Then again, the sound of the mix is certainly an improvement on the original. Any way you cut it, it is an excellent record, and this new one sounds much better than the original. But I won't be changing my basic opinion of reissues in general, and it'll probably be a while before I break the rules again.