James Gang - Rides Again (1970)

Rides Again was soon-to-be Eagles member Joe Walsh’s second album with James Gang and the first to feature bassist Dale Peters. Whilst touring the UK supporting the Who to promote this album, James Gang never made much of an impact outside the US but are of importance in the rock family tree for being Joe Walsh’s first band and for largely launching the brief career of Tommy Bolin following Walsh’s departure . . . and for writing the odd one or two cracking tunes, some of which appear on Rides Again.

From the tortuously bent note that introduces Funk #49 things get off to a great start with a funky rock riff par excellence and a great vocal performance from Joe Walsh on what is one of, if not the most well known early James Gang tracks (however, please note that the video clip below shows a later version of James Gang performing the track after Walsh’s departure to join the Eagles with the late Tommy Bolin on guitar). A great way to start the album with a real classic and certainly a hard track to follow!

The oddly-spelt Asshton Park is up next with an upbeat blues jam intro feel with Walsh noodling around a central melody with a heavily delayed guitar throughout this 2 minute instrumental. Asshton park is followed by the heavier Woman which is a more plodding riff-based track featuring some nice drum breaks from Fox and a strong solo from Walsh.

Another gem is up next with The Bomber which is again a riff-based ‘heavy’ number which Walsh kept as a live number beyond his departure from James Gang. The mid-section is particularly interesting as the mood drops to a bass melody accompanied by drums with Walsh playing an atmospheric slide guitar solo over the top which continues for the majority of the rest of the track before a brief return to the main riff for the out-tro. Interestingly the track also featured a segment of Ravel’s Bolero but this was edited out at the request/insistence of the copyright holders!

Tend My Garden is one of the weaker tracks on the album and is a more commercial, mainstream US rock track of the period and seems a little limp following the preceding tracks . . . although it does feature a Hammond organ which is always a plus. As the track fades out, fading-in we get the second ‘garden’ themed track in Garden Gate. This short track features Walsh on vocals and acoustic and is a pleasant diversion into a folk styling for the duration of the number.

For There I Go Again, Walsh is again on acoustic guitar on a very mellow number hovering in Byrds/CS&N territory with a country lilt to proceedings. Thanks follows and opens with an acoustic guitar ‘riff’ heavily reminiscent of Funk #49 but then panning-out into a folk leaning number that is pleasant if not immediately as grabbing as some of the earlier tracks on the album.

The album closes with another acoustic-based track: Ashes the Rain and I which begins with a picked chord over which Walsh plays a melody on a second guitar. A very melancholy intro ensues which largely sets the mood for the rest of the track which later includes a full orchestra.

Rides Again is a good album but, to use a football analogy, is an album of two halves with the first four tracks being powerful hard/blues-rock tracks with Funk #49 in particular being very strong. The album then drifts into acoustic country/folk territory which is ok but for me rather lowered the tone to one of mediocrity. However, on the positive side Walsh is in fine form both vocally and on guitar and I’d definitely recommend giving James Gang a listen – especially for those of us in the UK who may not be as familiar with their pedigree as those from the US – to hear some good riffing rock and Joe Walsh before he became an Eagle!

• Joe Walsh – Guitar/Vocals
• Dale Peters – Bass
• Jim Fox – Drums

Heart - Little Queen (1977)

Before moving into the ‘hair metal’ power-ballad tedium of the late 1980s, and long before every American Idol auditionee routinely murdered Alone, Heart were a folky-rock group that produced a fine string of Zeppelin-esque albums during the 1970s and early 1980s. Little Queen, their second release in 1977, is a prime example of the band really firing on all cylinders with sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson in fine form.

The album opens with the powerful Barracuda, a single from the album and recently subject of a cover by the Black Eyed Pea’s Fergie, which features a heavy mid-tempo riff and a thunderous drum track from Michael DeRosier who, I would say with a reasonable degree of certainty, heavily modelled himself on John Bonham! As a single, Barracuda reached number 11 in the USA and provides the perfect opener for the album. Ann Wilson also gives everything on the vocals hitting both high and low range notes with precision and power.

Love Alive opens with an acoustic intro and shows a mellower side to the group with a picked melody and subtle vocals from Ann Wilson: there’s even some flute for good folk measure. After the lengthy intro verse the band go electric and we’re into Led Zep III territory with a distinct Heart flavour which works very well with ethereal vocal harmonies.

Sylvan Song is up next and is a very folk mandolin-led instrumental piece which leads into Dream Of The Archer, another folk acoustic number with Ann Wilson providing vocals on this very subtle track.

Things then shift up a gear with Kick It Out which opens with a ballsy riff that leads into a rocker with Ann Wilson really in her stride – Heart were never ‘heavy’ as such but did manage to come across as hard-edged from time to time but always with a melodic overtone.

The title track is a bluesy riff-based number with some great drumming from DeRosier and good vocal hook which is followed by a very melancholy acoustic and vocal number, Treat Me Well, in which the band drift almost into Carpenters territory but it works.

Say Hello is an upbeat, syncopated rhythm number with mandolin providing the riff which is followed by Cry To Me which is another melancholy acoustic number and was the b-side to Barracuda and is one of the standout tracks on the album. This is followed by Go On Cry which wouldn’t have sounded out of place on Dark Side Of The Moon – somewhere around the Great Gig In The Sky!

Little Queen is a very strong, well put together, album showing Heart doing what they did best; playing a melodic mixture of folk and blues rock. There’s enough variety here to provide something of interest to most listeners and whichever way a particular track leans – folk or rock – there’s a distinctive Heart sound throughout which makes for a very consistent, flowing feel to the album. Heart certainly plundered several notable rock band styles here but with enough integrity so as to make each track their own. Quite what they were doing later in their career is anyone’s guess but to hear them in their purest, and most comfortable, form I’d certainly recommend this album.

• Ann Wilson – Vocals
• Nancy Wilson – Guitar
• Roger Fisher – Guitar
• Howard Leese – Guitar
• Michael DeRosier – Drums
• Steve Fossen – Bass