Thirds
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Album Summary
Thirds was laid down in late 1970 and released in 1971 on ABC/Dunhill Records, with the masterful Bill Szymczyk back in the producer's chair — the same cat who had been helping the James Gang find their sound and sharpen it into something truly dangerous. This Cleveland power trio came into these sessions with something to prove and something to lose, because as fate would have it, Thirds would be the last studio record to feature the incandescent guitar work of Joe Walsh before he stepped away from the band. The album carries a rawer, more blues-soaked feeling than some of what came before it, like a band playing with the kind of urgency that only comes when, somewhere deep down, everybody in the room knows the clock is ticking.
Reception
- Thirds performed respectably on the Billboard 200, keeping the James Gang's momentum alive as one of the early 1970s' most credible hard rock acts.
- Critics zeroed in on Joe Walsh's guitar work as a particular standout, with his playing drawing widespread praise as some of the most distinctive and commanding in rock at the time.
- Some reviewers, reading between the lines, sensed the internal tensions brewing beneath the surface — tensions that would soon send Walsh off on the solo path that would change rock history.
Significance
- Thirds stands as the definitive farewell document of the classic Joe Walsh-era James Gang, a snapshot of one of hard rock's most respected guitar-driven lineups captured at its final and fiercest peak.
- The album made a genuine contribution to the early 1970s evolution of the power trio format, helping lay groundwork for the heavier, riff-centered sound that would grow into the arena rock movement.
- As the last studio album featuring Walsh, Thirds holds a pivotal place in rock history — the closing chapter of one era and the quiet opening of another, as Walsh moved forward toward an even more storied career as a solo artist and later as a member of the Eagles.
Tracklist
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A1 Walk Away 103
3:32
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A2 Yadig? —
2:30
-
A3 Things I Could Be 82
4:18
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A4 Dreamin' In The Country 146
2:57
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A5 It's All The Same 81
4:10
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B1 Midnight Man 104
3:28
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B2 Again 82
4:04
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B3 White Man / Black Man —
5:39
-
B4 Live My Life Again 126
5:26
Artist Details
The James Gang was a hard rock power trio out of Cleveland, Ohio, formed back in 1966, cooking up a raw, blues-drenched sound that hit somewhere between the heaviness of Cream and the swagger of early Rolling Stones, with guitar god Joe Walsh laying down riffs so mean and clean they'd make your speakers beg for mercy. These cats never got the full mainstream shine they deserved, but anybody who was paying attention knew Walsh and company were laying the groundwork for arena rock before anybody even had a name for it. Their classic cuts like Funk 49 and Ride the Wind became the soundtrack for a generation of kids who wanted their rock with grit and soul, and Walsh's eventual move to the Eagles only proved what the James Gang already knew — that Cleveland had something serious to say to the music world.
