James Gang – "The Bomber" (1970)

Will I be back tomorrow
For the punchline of the joke?

[NOTE: The James Gang may the least well-known of the bands to have a song included in this year's group of inductees into the 2 OR 3 LINES "GOLDEN DECADE" ALBUM TRACKS HALL OF FAME.  I don't know why that is, but no matter – they were one of the great power trios of that era, and their oeuvre includes several songs that are Hall of Fame-worthy.  What follows is a revised version of my original 2010 post about "The Bomber," which is really three songs in one.]

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There were some great three-member rock bands in the 1960's and 1970's:  Cream and the Jimi Hendrix Experience were probably the best of the power trios of the era, while Grand Funk Railroad may have been the most popular.  

The James Gang was right up there with the best of them.  A great power trio had to have a very good drummer and a very good bass player, but what it needed most of all was a great guitarist.  Cream had Eric Clapton, and the Jimi Hendrix Experience had you know who.  The James Gang had Joe Walsh, who was never as well-known as Clapton and Hendrix, but he was really, really, really good, boys and girls.

The "James Gang Rides Again" album cover

The first James Gang album, titled Yer' Album, was solid.  But their second album – James Gang Rides Again – was outstanding.  "Funk #49" and "Woman" are classics, but I've chosen to feature a cut off that album that you never heard much on the radio:  "The Bomber," or "The Bomber: Closet Queen/Bolero/Cast Your Fate to the Wind" as the title is sometimes rendered.

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"The Bomber" didn't get much airplay because it's about seven minutes long.  It's seven minutes long because it's really three songs in one.  

If you put the first and last parts of "The Bomber" together, you'd have a good, three-verse, three-minute rock song.  But instead of doing that, the band took a sudden detour after the first two verses and played abbreviated versions of two very different instrumental works.

First, we get a couple of minutes of Maurice Ravel's famous orchestral piece, Bolero, which was composed in 1928 and originally intended as a ballet.  Bolero was always popular, but became familiar to millions when it was later used in the soundtrack of the movie 10, which starred Bo Derek.

Click here to watch the original theatrical trailer for Bolero.

It turned out that the copyright on Ravel's composition was still valid in 1970, and the composer's estate threatened to sue the James Gang and its record company for their unauthorized use of Bolero.  "The Bomber" was edited for subsequent pressings of the LP, but the original version was eventually restored.

Vince Guaraldi

Next, the band gives us a couple of minutes of a well-known jazz composition, "Cast Your Fate to the Wind," composed and originally recorded by jazz pianist Vince Guaraldi.  After a TV producer heard this song, Guaraldi was hired to write and record the score for the Peanuts Christmas special.  He eventually composed the scores for 18 Peanuts television specials, plus the movie A Boy Named Charlie Brown.

Click here to listen to Guaraldi performing "Cast Your Fate to the Wind."

After that, the James Gang circles back and wraps up "The Bomber" (your guess is as good as mine as to where that title came from) by playing the final verse of the "Closet Queen" song.  It sounds crazy but it works.  In fact, it does more than just work -- it's genius, a tour de force.  

Click here to listen to "The Bomber."

Click on the link below to order the song from Amazon:

James Gang – "Walk Away" (1971)

You just turn your pretty head

And walk away

I recently stumbled upon an online trivia website that asked this question: “What band was Paul McCartney in before Wings?”

I’ve got a similar question for you.  What band was Joe Walsh in before the Eagles?

The James Gang

That question isn’t quite as stupid as the McCartney question, but it’s in the ballpark.

I’m not talking about Barnstorm, which was the group Walsh played in immediately before replacing Bernie Leadon in the Eagles.  (I wonder if Walsh ever thought to himself, “I’ve made a boatload of money since I joined the Eagles, but this music is crap!” when he performed with them.)

I’m talking about the James Gang, one of the great power trios of all time, and a favorite of mine when I was in college.

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Just before their second album was released, the James Gang (who hailed from Cleveland) opened for the Who in Pittsburgh.  Pete Townsend invited the band to join the Who on their upcoming European tour largely because he was so impressed by Walsh’s playing.  

“”I was flattered beyond belief,” Walsh later said, “because I didn’t think I was that good.”

(Here a clue, there a clue,
everywhere a clue-clue . . .)

Walsh was more than good, boys and girls.  Just listen to “Walk Away,” the first track from the James Gang’s third album (which was titled Thirds) if you don’t believe me.  (That album credited Walsh with guitar, lead vocals, and “train wreck” on the song – presumably “train wreck” is what the band came up with to describe Walsh’s multi-tracked guitar playing at the end of “Walk Away.”)

Not to change the subject, but have you figured out what the theme of this year’s “29 Songs in 28 Days” is?  (How many clues do you people need, for cryin’ out loud.)

Here’s “Walk Away”:

Click below to buy the song from Amazon: