So, what have you been listening to lately?

[uwe]

Those guys were a great combination - but Montrose being the difficult chap he is ...  He should have kicked himself for ever letting Hagar go.

[uwe]

Witness one half of the James Gang some years later with some more, uhum, danceable music:



I wouldn't have recognized Roy Kenner visually without his James Gang beard, but that voice ... And even discofied, the music retains a Doobie Bros quality. That's Domenic Troiano playing guitar.

Interesting insights from Kenner on funking up the James Gang:

https://www.troianomusic.com/kenner.html

"There was a show that they did there for Murray the K, and there were all kinds of acts on the same bill, like Clapton, The Who, The Rascals, on and on. Everybody did 2 or 3 tunes. That's where they met Clapton. So he came in and sat in and played half a set with us. It turned out that the guys in the James Gang were in the audience, so that's where they had seen Domenic and myself live. When Joe decided to leave the James Gang, they got a hold of Donnie, but they weren't exactly thrilled with his vocals, relative to what they were doing, so they wanted to know what I was doing. He came back and said, "You wanna audition for the James Gang?," and I said, "Well, I'm not doin' nothin,' why not?" He ended up facilitating my entrance into that thing, too. So we were kind of joined at the hip for a long time, or as we liked to say in hindsight, going around ruining good rock bands and trying to turn them into R&B bands.

Donnie really worked hard at his craft. He was always trying to learn new stuff and was always growing musically, and he would take that wherever he went. He had a pretty "nose to the grindstone" kind of work ethic, and that could drive some people a little bit crazy if they weren't used to doing that. Jimmy and Dale were not the most rehearsingest guys on the planet, and I gather that there was a little bit of friction between he and Burton Cummings, because you've got two pretty strong egos at work there creatively. I guess they bumped heads a little bit, but I think there was still a lot of mutual respect there, too.

The label didn't really seem to give a flying f*** [about the direction of the band]. We never really heard much flak from the record company about that, but Jimmy and Dale were not predominantly writers. Joe did most of the writing in the band. We did, in hindsight, probably f*** with the sound a little bit more than we should've. Even Jimmy and Dale would say, "You know, this is very R&B." A few people that followed our careers that listened to it afterwards said, "Well, you almost turned them into Bush!" At the time, you're young, you're full of piss and vinegar, and you figure that this is the stuff you like and here's an opportunity to do it. This is something that Donnie and I discussed years later. I said, "We really shouldn't have screwed around with it as much as we did. We probably should've adapted a little bit more to it." After Donnie and I took a break from each other... he left and I stayed, because I kind of liked what Tommy Bolin was doing. If Donnie and I had been a little bit more flexible and open-minded, we would have, if we were smart, come up with an album for Straight Shooter that was more along the lines of what we ended up doing on Gang Bang, which was unfortunately a couple years later. I think we probably should have leaned more towards a rockier sound to what we were doing. But no, we had to be R&B!"

[westen44]

I wouldn't recognize anyone, even though I've seen Domenic Troiano up close.  He died in 2005.  Dom's brother, btw, has some comments under that video in case anyone wants to read through those. 

As for the Eagles, I've seen several interviews with Don Felder.  I think most of that writing of "Hotel California" was spontaneous.  Don  Henley wanted to keep the original guitar solo note for note.  Felder fully agreed that Henley should sing the song.  BTW, I personally really like the "Desperado" album, too.  Singing to the vocals is a great way to warm up your voice, back when I took that kind of thing more seriously.  Great respect to all the Eagles when it comes to their vocal talents. 

*I've just now seen the comments by Kenner.  I agree with him that they could have done things with a "rockier" sound.  In other words, Straight Shooter being more like Bang would have obviously been a good thing.  I'm actually listening to "Bang" at this very moment.  It's just a personal choice, but I like "Miami" as much as or probably even more than "Bang." 

[uwe]

Bang has more enthusiasm/energy performance-wise. Miami already sounds like the sparks didn't quite fly anymore. But the songs aren't bad at all! It has real moments, like Peters' creamy fuzz bass on Sleepwalker. As everyone here knows, I'm no great fan of distorted bass, but on that song and with that production I like it.

[westen44]

I like "Do It" a lot from the Miami album, but I'm having trouble posting it. 

[uwe]

It already has, scroll back a bit! That song even saw a bit of airplay on AFN (American Forces Network) in Germany. I remember being startled when I all of the sudden heard it in the radio after I had bought the album already a while before. I was probably the only person in Germany who owned a copy!

Fun trivia fact: The James Gang Bang (such witty wordsmiths!) cover features the headless body of Domenic Troiano (Bolin's predecessor) on the far right, but with the face of (apparently leering) Tommy superimposed. That shot dated back to the Troiano line-up and as they were in a rush to release Bang they had to make do.



By today's standards that cover wasn't in good taste. Actually not even by the standards of 1973.  I always thought it devalued the album. And if groupie lore is to be believed then Tommy's delicate features and his general soft-spoken demeanor did not really force him to rely on "gang bang sharing". 

[westen44]

That cover is so small on the CD I have, you can barely even tell what it is.  It appears that really doesn't matter, though.  On mine, though, there is that cover, the Miami cover and something else in the background.  My CD is the Bang and Miami albums on one disc.  I just looked at it and as I suspected this is from the UK. 

[uwe]

Yup, that is a gentle, but good remaster of the two Bolin era releases on one CD from the BGO label, I have that too. Before that came out some years ago, there were only the original dull-sounding Atco CD releases as well as some limited quantity loudness war-boosted CD-Rs from the Tommy Bolin Archives, no idea how legal these were, they have over the years decayed to non-playability in any case (the fate of all CD-Rs).

But whether on vinyl or CD, Bang was for whatever reason always the more energetic, ballsy production (in so far the Gang was indeed back with a BANG!). Miami sounds laid-backish - I guess the recording location left a mark! And/or Bolin's galloping drug habit, by that time he wasn't very happy with the James Gang anymore. 

The first song I heard from Bang (or indeed from the James Gang who meant nothing to me then) was this one - at that point I wasn't even aware of the Purple connection via Bolin (I wasn't yet a Purple fan, would you believe?), but I liked the track with the wordy lyrics and Roy Kenner's Elvis impressions at 01:44. The slide intro was Bolin at his best (panned from left to right and then right to left, I like silly stereo stuff like that  ), there was this cool funk part in the middle of it (2:07, sounds like a Come Taste The Band outtake!) and the whole song was pleasantly lively and full of joyous energy - thinking about it, that is exactly what Miami lacks, it doesn't sound like they had fun anymore.

[westen44]

Most people I'm around focus mostly on the first three albums.  I agree, though, that they're all good.  I tended to focus more on the "Straight Shooter/"Passin' Thru" era because that's when I saw the James Gang in person.  Looking at things objectively, Bang and Miami receive more and more attention simply because it's natural to want to listen to Bolin's playing more closely.  I've never been able to find that live album.  I missed the time period when finding it on CD would have been easy.  That can be said about many CDs now, no matter who the artist. 

[uwe]

The James Gang Live in Concert album from Carnegie Hall? That is still readily available in the US.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/154889465742?hash=item241021af8e:g:~~EAAOSwh5RiJ8bW

https://www.ebay.com/itm/325088746513?epid=3116222&hash=item4bb0cc9c11:g:YwQAAOSwm0FiJgT3

By nature, the Walsh era stuff always had better availability than the line-ups that followed.

[westen44]

Thanks, but I've had too many negative experiences with ebay in the past to try to use them anymore.  I would if I could.  In general, Walsh era CDs are the easiest to find, but not in this case. 

[uwe]

And Jeff is also blacklisted with you? 

https://www.amazon.com/Live-Concert-James-Gang/dp/B000002R47/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3S5ZD3AN50GX3&keywords=james+gang+live+in+concert&qid=1647481251&sprefix=james+gang+live+in+concert%2Caps%2C300&sr=8-1

[uwe]

Won't pass the "real country" test here, I know, but still ... I guess it's Bob Seger'ish, not a bad thing in my book.

[westen44]

And Jeff is also blacklisted with you? 

https://www.amazon.com/Live-Concert-James-Gang/dp/B000002R47/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3S5ZD3AN50GX3&keywords=james+gang+live+in+concert&qid=1647481251&sprefix=james+gang+live+in+concert%2Caps%2C300&sr=8-1

Unfortunately, at this point in time, yes.  Years ago a hacker got into my Amazon account.  I haven't used Amazon since.  I've had computer experts come over from time to time.  The consensus among them is that I've been mixed up with someone else.  It's possible they think I'm a business.  However, I am thinking of trying to get my sister to order that CD for me.  Anyway, the Amazon problem was even worse than the ebay one for me. 

[westen44]

Won't pass the "real country" test here, I know, but still ... I guess it's Bob Seger'ish, not a bad thing in my book.

That may not pass Dave's country test, but I'll agree that's not bad.