[Review] Joe Walsh: There Goes the Neighborhood (1981)

Following an exhausting run with Eagles, there wasn’t much gas left in the tank.

Kronomyth 6: The wrong lung.

After the Eagles inevitably imploded, Joe Walsh resumed his solo career with the usual suspects. There Goes the Neighborhood was arguably his weakest album to date. The lone hit, A Life of Illusion, was actually a holdover from his second album. The remaining seven songs feel hastily conceived and unfinished. The opening Things, for example, attempts to tap into the same vibe as “Life’s Been Good” but quickly falls apart. Made Your Mind Up and Down on the Farm are best (and easily) forgotten. Things begin to turn around on Rivers, one of two tracks featuring Don Felder, and the rest of the record is plenty tolerable. “A Life of Illusion” would have benefitted from a complete overhaul to match Walsh’s current sound, but it’s still a good song. Bones has a nice sharp edge to it, Rockets features some lovely Beach Boys-like harmonies, and the sharp-tongued You Never Know provides a perfect postscript to the Eagles’ infamous in-fighting. As a solo artist, Walsh’s best years were behind him. He still had plenty to say with his guitar, however, and was sought after as a session player for his distinctive sound. Also, his self-effacing sense of humor was always good for a sound bite. The trouble with his 80s output seems to be a lack of direction and inspiration. Walsh had obviously made it, whatever that means, and didn’t need to keep making records to keep in the public eye or pay his bills. (I’m assuming; I’m not his accountant.) So, there’s the sense that There Goes the Neighborhood and the albums that followed are just Walsh going through the motions of a rock & roll star, writing the songs that he felt like writing, recording with the people that he felt like recording with. Maybe you’re interested enough to tune into these albums as old loyalties die hard. But when an album prominently features garbage on the cover, you’ve only got yourself to blame.

Original elpee version

A1. Things (Joe Walsh) (5:36)
A2. Made Your Mind Up (Joe Walsh) (4:24)
A3. Down on the Farm (Joe Walsh) (3:11)
A4. Rivers (of the Hidden Funk) (Don Felder/Joe Walsh) (5:03)
B1. A Life of Illusion (Kenny Passarelli/Joe Walsh) (3:30)
B2. Bones (Joe Vitale/Joe Walsh) (4:32)
B3. Rockets (Joe Walsh) (3:51)
B4. You Never Know (Joe Walsh) (5:20)

Original 8-track version
A1. Things
A2. Down on the Farm
B1. Made Your Mind Up
B2. Bones
C1. Rivers (of the Hidden Funk)
C2. A Life of Illusion
D1. Rockets
D2. You Never Know

The Players

Joe Walsh (guitars, synthesizers, piano, keyboards, organ, jawbone, miscellaneous noises, vocals), George (Chocolate) Perry (bass, background vocals, percussion), Joe Vitale (drums, background vocals, tambourine) with Jody Boyer (background vocals on A4/B2/B4), Don Felder (talk-box guitar & guitars on A4, guitar on B4), Victor Feldman (percussion on B4), Russ Kunkel (triangles on A3), David Lindley (violins on A3, violin & background vocals on B2), Bobby Mayo (12-string guitar on A4), Kenny Passarelli (guitarone & trombone on B1), Timothy B. Schmit (background vocals on A1), Tom Stephenson (organ on B1). Produced by Joe Walsh; recorded and mixed by Jim Nipar.

The Pictures

Photography by Jim Shea. Sleeve photograph by Todd Andrews. Art direction & design by Jeff Adamoff.

The Plastic

Released on elpee, 8-track and cassette in May 1981* in the US (Asylum, 5E/5T8-523/5C-5523), the UK (Asylum, K 52285), Canada (Asylum, X5E/XTC5-523), Germany (Asylum, AS 52 285) and Japan (Asylum, P-11008Y) with lyrics innersleeve. Reached #20 on the US charts. (*First appeared in 5/9/81 issue of Billboard.)

1. Re-issued on compact disc in the US (Asylum, 5E-523-2).
2. Re-issued on compact disc on February 23, 2011 in Japan (Elektra, WPCR-75604).