{"id":7353,"date":"2025-11-05T14:37:46","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T14:37:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/?p=7353"},"modified":"2025-11-05T14:38:01","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T14:38:01","slug":"shindig-169-james-gang","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/?p=7353","title":{"rendered":"Shindig! #169 \u2013 James Gang"},"content":{"rendered":"

Arguably the wildest, hairiest thing on six legs to come out of Ohio, heavy, groovy power trio JAMES GANG blazed through America and Europe for three years, rewriting the hard-rock rulebook, wowing their contemporaries and making a star of frontman Joe Walsh. <\/strong><\/p>\n

MARTIN RUDDOCK takes a look around <\/strong><\/p>\n

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Having proved himself, Walsh never quite shook his jitters. Ambivalent about his newfound role of frontman\/guitar hero and still in theory a Kent State student, he was unsure about the band\u2019s future as a trio. He almost quit himself to join The Human Beinz that August, rehearsing with them until rogue guitarist Dick Belly returned to the fold.<\/p>\n

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Fate intervened when hot young producer Bill Szymczyk discovered the Gang at a local show in late 1968. Szymczyk had been working as A&R at ABC-Paramount and signed them to subsidiary Bluesway for a very modest $1700. Arriving at New York\u2019s Hit Factory in January, they blazed through debut Yer\u2019 Album<\/em> in a few days. An uncertain singer-songwriter, Walsh worked like a madman, contributing a clutch of songs and doubling up on piano and organ. A bit of Dutch courage helped him cut loose on the harder tunes. \u201cI still think if my voice is okay, it’s better on my own stuff. I have to be real drunk in the studio before I can get into the rock thing properly,” Walsh told Sounds<\/em>.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/youtu.be\/zo0vBdlWQs0?si=hz6A2mBmyxBL0IPU<\/p>\n

Yer\u2019 Album<\/em> remains a thrilling, off the cuff soup of late psych, power trio wildness, wide-eyed canyon-rock, studio chatter and baroque orchestral interludes. \u2018Take A Look Around\u2019 is a yearning, organ-led anthem, while the ominous \u2018Fred\u2019 speaks darkly of \u201cpadded cells\u201d and moves nimbly between acid-rock crunch, prog and a brief jazzy interlude. And then there\u2019s \u2018Funk #48\u2019, a catchy, group-penned collection of riffs, daft vocal chants and convulsive drum breaks that would take on a life of its own. There\u2019s a softer side on show too. The stunning \u2018Collage\u2019 would get a definitive psych-soul treatment a year later by The Three Degrees on Roulette. The album is filled out by covers from the gang\u2019s repertoire. A tough slow-mo stoner version of Buffalo Springfield\u2019s \u2018Bluebird\u2019 had Walsh faithfully replicating Stills and Young\u2019s guitar battles on his own, while a breakneck nine-minute assault on The Yardbirds\u2019 \u2018Lost Woman\u2019 has Kriss and Fox taking solos of their own between Walsh\u2019s epic metallic Beck-isms. It closes on storming 12-minute hard-funk workout \u2018Stop\u2019, written by Szymczyk\u2019s mentor Jerry Ragovoy. Previously a hit for Howard Tate in December \u201967 and recently covered instrumentally on Al Kooper and Mike Bloomfield\u2019s Super Session<\/em>, The James Gang were joined by Ragovoy on piano for the occasion. With Szymczyk\u2019s immaculate, hard-hitting production the album roared. \u201cThis recording was mixed to be played at the highest possible volume,\u201d the producer wrote in his sleeve note.<\/p>\n

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