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"...Life's
Been Good..."
This Review Along With Over 220 Others Is Available In My
SOUNDS GOOD E-Book on all Amazon sites
PROVE IT ALL NIGHT
Music Of 1977 to 1979
Your All-Genres Guide To
Exceptional CD Reissues & Remasters
Thousands of E-Pages - All Details and In-Depth Reviews From Discs
Just Click Below To Purchase (No Cut and Paste Crap)
***
This Review for 2012 Audio Fidelity CD – Steve Hoffman Remaster ***
On
first listen - and certainly without giving your stereo some welly - this
rather pricey and now long-deleted American-only Audiophile CD comes on as a
tad underwhelming. But crank it and
the Audio is absolutely gorgeous (no hiss, all muscle).
The
name of Audio Engineer STEVE HOFFMAN is enough to have most Audiophile
aficionados gripping their arthritic knees in too much excitement – and on the
evidence of this so subtly brilliant transfer on a really well produced album –
it's easy to hear why. To the Boat Weirdos and the display windows at a Second
Hand Store and the Maserati that does 185...
US-only
released 11 December 2012 – "But Seriously, Folks..." by JOE WALSH on
Audio Fidelity AFZ 079 (Barcode 780014207922) is a '24 KT + Limited Numbered Edition'
CD Reissue with a STEVE HOFFMAN Remaster that plays out as follows (35:53
minutes):
1.
Over And Over [Side 1]
2.
Second Hand Store
3.
Indian Summer
4.
At The Station
5.
Tomorrow [Side 2]
6.
Inner Tube
7.
Theme For Boat Weirdos
8.
Life's Been Good
Tracks
1 to 8 are his fourth studio LP "But Seriously, Folks..." – released 16
May 1978 in the USA on Asylum 6E-141 and June 1978 in the UK on Asylum K 53081.
Produced by BILL SZYMCZYK – it peaked at No. 8 in the USA and No. 18 in the UK.
Tracks 1, 3, 5, 6 and 8 written by Joe Walsh – Track 4 co-written with Joe
Vitale – Track 2 co-written with Mike Murphy of REO Speedwagon – Track 7
co-written with Bill Szymczyk, Jay Ferguson, Joe Vitale and Willie Weeks.
PLAYERS
were:
JOE
WALSH – Lead Guitar, Synths and Lead Vocals
JOEY
MURCIA – Second Guitar
JAY
FERGUSON – Keyboards
WILLIE
WEEKS - Bass
JOE
VITALE – Drums, Percussion, Synths and Flute and Backing Vocals on Tracks 1, 2,
3, 4, 7 and 8
(Producer)
BILL SZYMCZYK – Tambourine on "At The Station" and Backing Vocals on "Life's
Been Good"
GUESTS
were:
DON
FELDER of Eagles – Pedal Steel Guitar on "Second Hand Store" and
Guitar on "At The Station"
DON
HENLEY, GLENN FREY and TIMOTHY B. SCHMIT of Eagles – Background Vocals
(arranged by Frey) on "Tomorrow"
JODY
BOYER – Backing Vocals on "Second Hand Store", "Indian Summer"
and "Life's Been Good"
I
am a self-confessed Joe Walsh worshipper - 1972's studio debut "Barnstorm", 1973's
"The Smoker You Drink, The Player You Get", 1974's "So What" [1975 in the UK] and the live platter
from 1976 "You Can't Argue With A Sick Mind" – are all albums that make me wobble
on the inside (his three with The James Gang before he went solo are the same - reviewed the lot).
So the idea that I could nab a genuinely real Audio Upgrade of his underrated
fourth studio platter "But Seriously, Folks..." was always going to
get my headspace in a dither.
Audio Fidelity AFZ 079 certainly looks the part - the die-cut outer card sleeve showing the jewel case beneath,
itself numbered in gold on the rear (5000 copies), the 8-page booklet repro'ing
the US LP labels on Asylum Records, the inner gatefold and even that rather pointless table-cloth
inner too. Unfortunately there isn't any new liner notes apart from the AF
credits – Mastered for compact disc by
Steve Hoffman at Stephen Marsh Mastering – but as an audio experience - it rocks and is wonderfully
detailed (crank it). To the music...
The
tunes come across as simple at first – like the soft opener "Over And Over"
and the gorgeous "Second Hand Store" (which fades out and in again towards the end of the song) – Eagle Don Felder playing an
absolute blinder on Pedal Steel. But perceived as slight or not, they get their hooks into you. I mean was
there anyone out there making a single like "Life's Been Good" on the A-side
with "Theme For Boat Weirdos" on the flip-side in 1978? Not really...
Truthfully,
I have had my problems with Audio Fidelity releases – the Randy Newman one, the
Rod Stewart and Faces issues all felt decidedly ordinary to me – better
Remasters available Universal and at a fraction of the cost. But here – you
crank "Tomorrow" and those Eagles harmony vocals come soaring out –
that fantastic break in the middle – the huge riffage in "Life's Been Good"
rattling the cones (as it should). But that floating keyboard ditty called "Inner
Tube" – even at one-minute and twenty-five seconds sounds more
substantial too. "At The Station" and it's guitar chugging is superb and at 4:20 when it fades out and returns with the "Over And Over" guitar refrain, it is so clean yet ballsy. And the instrumental "Theme From Boat Weirdos" is just magnificent –
Bass, Guitars, all those swirling keyboard and flute ideas from Walsh and
Vitale – fabulous.
You could argue that it wouldn't have taken a whole lot of
effort to include the 4:35-minute single edit of the near nine-minute "Life's
Been Good" as a Bonus Track – but no such luck. Man what a great tune,
knowing, funny as fuck and still relevant. About five minutes in – when all those
guitars start to crescendo – what a glorious sound Walsh and his band made – including the
very silly flock of wah-wahs at the
end (8:56 minutes).
"I
make hit records, my fans they can't wait, they write me letters, tell me I'm
great, just leave a message, maybe I'll call..." – Joe Walsh sang on the
fabulous "Life's Been Good". He was/is a journeyman who had made it out of the
insanity alive. And in 2022, he is still with us and never stops thanking the Universe
and Friends for being able to play and enjoy life in sobriety – a fate that was not to be for far too
many of his contemporaries.
I
love Joe Walsh – this world-class guitarist and songwriter - always have and
always will. And CD Remaster of "But Seriously, Folks..." is a great
way to celebrate one of his undervalued albums from that halcyon decade – the
Seventies. Joe for President folks (and I don't mean Biden)...
PS:
Check out my review for (Audio Engineer) Kevin Gray's equally magnificent Audio Fidelity
Remaster of JW's second studio album "The Smoker You Drink, The Player You
Get". AFZ 059 was issued in 2009 and is also deleted, but in October 2022 –
still remains the best version of a great album ("Rocky Mountain Way" and "Meadows")...
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