"But Seriously, Folks..." by JOE WALSH – May 1978 Fourth Studio Album on Asylum Records featuring Joey Murcia on Second Guitar, Joe Vitale of Barnstorm on Drums, Keyboards and Flute, Jay Ferguson of Spirit and Jo Jo Gunne on Keyboards with Willie Weeks on Bass – Guests included Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Don Felder and Timothy B. Schmit of Eagles with Jody Boyer on Backing Vocals and Production by Bill Szymczyk (December 2012 US-Only Audio Fidelity 24 KT Gold Audiophile CD Reissue in Die-Cut Numbered Card Sleeve (5000 Copies) with Original Artwork and a Steve Hoffman Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

 

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"...Life's Been Good..."

 

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*** 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")...

"Leon Russell" by LEON RUSSELL (1995 The Right Stuff CD Reissue - Steve Hoffman Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...He Sang A Dixie Lullaby..." 

Oklahoma's Claude Russell Bridges (Leon Russell to you and I) had already built up enough insider clout as a jobbing musician (stints with Phil Spector, The Byrds, Delaney and Bramlett, Ron Davies and Joe Cocker's first two LPs on Regal Zonophone) to form Shelter Records in 1970 with Producer Phil Cordell and use that platform to launch his own self-titled debut LP.

This beautifully-transferred 1995 CD Remaster from America's 'The Right Stuff' label is a cheap but audiophile-sounding Reissue of that mighty beginning. And with Leon Russell's sad loss in November 2016 aged 74 – I think it's high time we revisited this blindingly good debut and tip our collective fedoras to the original Big Top Hat songwriter beloved of so many in and out of the music business. Here are the Delta Ladies...

US released 4 July 1995 - "Leon Russell" by LEON RUSSELL on The Right Stuff T2-34028 (Barcode 724383402823) is a straightforward CD Reissue and Remaster of the original 12-track version of his 1970 debut LP and plays out as follows (38:55 minutes):

1. A Song For You
2. Dixie Lullaby
3. I Put A Spell On You
4. Shoot Out On The Plantation
5. Hummingbird
6. Delta Lady [Side 2]
7. Prince Of Peace
8. Give Peace A Chance
9. Pisces Apple Lady
11. Roll Away The Stone

BONUS TRACK:
12. Masters Of War (Old Masters)
All songs are Leon Russell originals except "Old Masters" which is "Masters Of War" by Bob Dylan. "Dixie Lullaby" is a co-write with Christ Stainton of The Grease Band and Boxer, "Prince Of Peace" and "Roll Away The Stone" are co-writes with Greg Dempsey and "Give Peace A Chance" is a co-write with Bonnie Bramlett.

First thing you notice is that the rear sleeve credits "Masters Of War (Old Masters)" as a 'Bonus Track' - which is both right and wrong and needs some explanation. Recorded across five sessions stretching between September 1969 and January 1970 - original pressings of the "Leon Russell" LP hit US shops 23 March 1970 on Shelter SHE 1001. American First-Issue 'Monarch Pressings' and British A&M issues (June 1970 in the UK on A&M Records AMLS 935) had 12-tracks - 5 on Side 1 and 7 on Side 2. But later reissues on Shelter SHE 8901 (probably pressed around Autumn 1970) had only 11 tracks - withdrawing the 1:20 minutes of Bob Dylan's "Old Masters" originally slotted in-between "Prince Of Peace" and "Give Peace A Chance" as Track 3 on Side 2. The album stayed as an 11-track version thereafter. It's said that because Russell did the short Dylan cover in the style of the American Star-Spangled Banner - it caused offence in certain quarters and was given the axe. Hence TRS can technically call it a Bonus Track.

The 8-leaf foldout inlay with liner notes from TODD EVERETT gives us a good overview of his career and the formation of the album (the LPs artwork isn't here as its single sleeve wasn't much to look at in the first place) - but it's the sound that's the star here. Originally produced by PHIL CORDELL and GLYN JOHNS – this STEVE HOFFMAN Remaster uses the original Shelter Master Mixes and has done this largely forgotten beginning a proper solid. The sound is gorgeous…warm and clear and none too pushed…lovely…

Even though there are no official musician credits on the LP (Russell dedicated the music on the rear sleeve to members of The Beatles, The Stones and many others) time has unfolded a huge uncredited array of stellar performers including Eric Clapton, George Harrison and Delaney Bramlett on Guitars – Steve Winwood and Chris Stainton on Keyboards – Jim Horn on Saxophone – Klaus Voorman, Alan Spenner and Bill Wyman on Bass – Buddy Harman, Ringo Starr, Charlie Watts, BJ Wilson and Jim Gordon on Drums with Joe Cocker, Mick Jagger, Bonnie Bramlett and Merry Clayton on Vocals. Although no one seems to know who plays on what track – it’s a line-up most debut artists would gladly lose a limb for.

The LP first hit the US charts 11 April 1970 eventually rising to No. 60 with a stay of 18 weeks. His connections with Joe Cocker's Grease Band and the live extravaganza of "Mad Dogs And Englishmen" had served Russell well. Cocker took the then unrecorded Leon Russell "Delta Lady" composition and made a UK No. 10 hit out of it in September 1969 (Regal Zonophone RZ 3024) - even making something of a splash Stateside on the singles chart at a lesser No. 69. Leon does his own version here - and cool it is too – funking it up even more. The other two winners on the album picked up by other bands and singers in their droves are "A Song For You" and "Hummingbird". It’s said that as many as 100 artists have covered "A Song For You" in every genre - Donny Hathaway, Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin in Soul with The Carpenters, Willie Nelson and Simply Red to name but a few in Easy Listening, Country and Rock. Blues giant B.B. King had a Rock-Blues hit with "Hummingbird" taken from his superb 1970 LP "Indiana Mississippi Seeds” on which Russell plays with Carole King and Joe Walsh (see separate review) and the covers of the song go right up to Bonnie Prince Billy in 2012.

A co-write with Christ Stainton of The Grease Band - "Dixie Lullaby" opens with a Dylan-like Harmonica intro before the band gets all Little Feat Dixie Chicken funky on this tune about penniless Willie down on Beale Street smiling as he sings his tunes. There's messing around at the beginning of the reluctant bachelor song "I Put A Spell On You" with studio stops and starts - but when the song does kick in - you can feel that good-ole-boy Lynyrd Skynyrd vibe as the band takes off - Derek & The Dominoes type lead guitar backed up by righteous tambourine slapping ladies and a furious piano speed from Russell  ("...come quickly mama...") Apparently based on a true story of two men (Junior and the Drummer) fighting over a woman - "Shoot Out On The Plantation" is a "Watching The River Flow" rocker. His much-covered "Hummingbird" starts out as Funky Acoustic ditty but quickly settles into a lovely melody - his lady soothing - gets him where he lives - the audio on this baby is fabulous.

Over on Side 2 "Prince Of Peace" (not the Lennon song) is given a 'huge' Production - the boogieing guitars leaping out of your speakers accompanied by those complimentary backing singers - a sound that's akin to the Derek & The Dominoes "Layla" double (also from 1970). The 1:21 minutes of "Old Masters" is Bob Dylan's "Masters Of War" done on a lone piano to the melody of the Star Spangled Banner is a genuine unnerving oddity as he sings "...I can see through your mask..." You can so hear the fab rasp of Bonnie Bramlett on "Give Peace A Chance" which feels like a Hair rave up as loads of voices get all holy-roller, piano-banging, hand-clapping righteous about 'peace'. The gorgeous audio transfer continues on a crystal clear "Hurtsome Body" - a massive guitar rocker with a sound akin to Bobby Whitlock's debut LP. "Pisces Apple Lady" would be covered by England's Tucky Buzzard on their self-titled second LP "Tucky Buzzard" in June 1971 on Capitol Records - a jerk-funky little bopper about English gals that would equally have been at home on Little Feat's "Sailin' Shoes". It ends on the rollicking piano-boogie of "Roll Away The Stone" which bears a striking resemblance to the Mott The Hoople hit of same-name three years later in 1973 (naughty Ian).

Russell would follow his Shelter Records American debut LP with "Leon Russell And The Shelter People" in May 1971, "Carney" in July 1972 and the triple "Leon Live" in July 1973 - all of which charted well (Right Stuff have also reissued "Shelter People" and "Carney" with Steve Hoffman Remasters). But there's just something a bit special about this celebratory and raucous beginning. 

"...That Louisiana man's gonna get you yet with his Dixie lullaby..." – Leon Russell sang on the jaunty "Dixie Lullaby". Let him in and get to you...