Closing out the second part of Joe Walsh\u2019s career, You Can\u2019t Argue With A Sick Mind <\/i>is everything a live album should be, if a bit skimpy at only six songs and 35 minutes.<\/p>\n
Recorded on the So What <\/i>tour, the set list hits the highlights of Walsh\u2019s early career just before he joined the Eagles and before the days of \u201cLife\u2019s Been Good\u201d and the questionable \u201880s output. All of these songs are on all of Walsh\u2019s hits collections, so the list won\u2019t come as a surprise to fans.<\/p>\n
But what elevates this is the playing, the relaxed confidence of Walsh\u2019s boogie rock and guitar playing and his ability to create musical tension. That\u2019s not something normally associated with the dude who wrote \u201cRocky Mountain Way,\u201d but one listen to \u201cTurn to Stone\u201d should convince listeners that Walsh was more gifted than his caricature and what classic rock radio has made him out to be.<\/p>\n
\u201cRocky Mountain Way\u201d is stretched out a bit here with a good jam, although the verses lose something in the translation to the live setting. \u201cMeadows\u201d is improved in this setting because of the instrumental second half, \u201cHelp Me Through The Night\u201d remains the same as the studio but features three of the Eagles playing along and \u201cTurn To Stone\u201d is graceful, dramatic and all rock, marred only slightly by the Jethro Tull-ish flute solo in the middle that briefly stops the momentum.<\/p>\n
The opening \u201cWalk Away\u201d is the other highlight, an improved take on the old James Gang song with added piano and a rewriting of the bridge from the chorus back to the verse. The studio version\u2019s stop-start chords and sound effects would not have translated to the stage, so Walsh keeps the song chugging with a boogie breakdown and well-placed ascending chords. It will become your preferred version of the song.<\/p>\n
Given the overkill of most \u201870s live albums and the fact that Walsh clearly puts on a good show, the fact that this was kept to a single album under 40 minutes seems questionable; surely there were some other good songs from the tour worth showcasing. Maybe a CD reissue in the future will turn this into more of an actual tour document than the brief showcase that it is. Nevertheless, this is worth owning for Walsh fans of all stripes, especially those who only know the guy from two or three overplayed radio songs. As this proves, he had more to offer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":31940,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5685],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-43669","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-joe-walsh","rating-rating-b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/43669","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/45"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43669"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/43669\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=43669"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=43669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}