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It’s hard to believe that 20 years has elapsed since the release of second of these two albums in 1992 and Joe’s recent ‘Analog man’. But rather than absence making the heart grow fonder, both albums appear to be remnants of a solo career with diminishing returns.
Walsh’s problem, other than his widely reported substance abuse, was simply that he set himself the highest standards with The James Gang and then with The Eagles. Thereafter he seemed to lose the lyrical bent that gave songs like ‘Life’s Been Good So Far’ their ironical edge.
Both the straight faced ‘Ordinary Average Guy’ and ‘Songs For A Dying Planet’ were recorded at a time when in Europe at least, rock/blues made a significant comeback, but it was an opportunity that obviously passed Joe by. There’s too little guitar work and his previously astute lyrics struggle to overcome cliché, as on the opening ‘Two Sides To Every Story’, while the title track’s paucity of insight, matches the vacuous letter play of ‘Alphabetical Order’.
‘All of a Sudden’ is better, touching on the vague conceptual thread of time, that is woven into the fabric of both albums; ‘All of a sudden something’s wrong, You take it for granted, All of a sudden time is gone.’ But for the rest, ‘I’m Actin’ Different’ is forgettable MOR, while ‘Look at Us Now’ is a Bo Diddley beat fused with a George Harrison slide and the Latino feel of ‘Up All Night’ is early MTV fare.
In fact the best comes last, with an inspired cover of Tom Snow’s ‘You Might Need Somebody’ and two closing autobiographical songs. ‘School Days’ has a patchwork quilt vocal, but as Joe reflects; ‘They took it down, everything that was good, And nothing’s left of my neighborhood’, he was probably too wrecked at the time to notice!
*** (3/5)
‘Songs For A Dying Planet’ is a more ragged affair with only intermittent glimpses of Joe’s biting humour and musical acumen. Indeed, all too often it sounds like an artist in search of an identity. He rocks out on the opening ‘Shut Up’ and the potent slide led ‘Fairbanks Alaska’, and reverts to his irreverent self on ‘Coyote Love’, which sounds like its urban dictionary definition of; ‘waking up trapped in bed with a woman so ugly that, rather than risk arousing her by removing your arm from under her head you bite it off at the shoulder’.
From thereon the album dips alarmingly with the lamentable country tinged ballad ‘I Know’ and the frankly redundant white boy reggae of ‘Certain Situations’. The booming synths of ‘Vote For Me’ doesn’t quite have the warped humour of say The Tubes to pull it off, though it does provide an overdue solo, that shows how much better all of this could have been
Carol King’s ‘Will You Still Love me Tomorrow’ is the best produced track on the album but it merely adds to the confusing kitchen sink and all feel.
The pretentious and overwrought ‘Decades’ and the short end-piece title track look to macro concerns almost as if to disguise his own failings at the micro level, leaving fans to ask the legitimate question, where’s the beef?
*** (3/5)
Pete Feenstra
Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK
Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions, streamed via Facebook.
In 2023 he signed a recording deal with Sony in Canada and released a new single on 15 September.
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David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast on 3 March 2024.
UK Blues Broadcaster of the Year (2020 and 2021 Finalist) Pete Feenstra presents his weekly Rock & Blues Show on Tuesday at 19:00 GMT as part of a five hour blues rock marathon “Tuesday is Bluesday at GRTR!”. The show is repeated on Wednesdays at 22:00, Fridays at 20:00). This show was first broadcast 19 March 2024.
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