Review of the album Ordinary Average Guy by Joe Walsh
Like most people have done, at some point in their lives, I listened to every single Joe Walsh album, in order. It took awhile. You probably remember his hit songs, “Rocky Mountain Way” from the 1973 album The Smoker You Drink, The Player You Get or “Life’s Been Good” from the album Seriously, Folks… in ’78. I bet you forgot about the album Ordinary Average Guy that came out in 1991.
Everyone did. It didn’t chart because America was busy listening to Vanilla Ice, Garth Brooks and Nirvana.
Let’s back up a moment to the 1980’s so we can give this album some context. Warner Bros. got tired of Joe Walsh’s bullshit around this time after his 1987 album Got Any Gum? did worse than The Confessor two years earlier. Many say it was Joe showing up drunk to the Howard Stern Show while promoting Got Any Gum? that made Warner Bros. give Joe the boot. I guess they hadn’t heard that Joe Walsh liked to party and was drunk for roughly 3 decades before he sobered up in the mid-90’s.
I planned to review every single Joe Walsh album in order, but didn’t think anyone would want to see that. Hell, I don’t think anyone is going to want to read this review, but if I learned one thing from listening to 12 Joe Walsh albums (I’m not counting the compilations or live albums) it’s that you just can’t give a fuck. Joe Walsh doesn’t give a shit about anything.
Epic Records was going through an identity crisis after Sony purchased them in ’88 (via CBS Records) and all they heard was, “Ex-Eagle” when Joe needed a record deal. Joe promised to bring back original Barnstorm members and the deal was sealed when he said Ringo Starr was joining his band.
Ordinary Average Guy was released in 1991 by Epic Records and it was a giant mess. No one knew what to make of it because it was all over the place. Adult Contemporary? Balladry? Yacht Rock? Some said it was a combination of two albums or that you had to get over the hump of the first 5 songs before it got good. No one could nail it down so it was quickly swept aside as another turd from a washed up rock star.
I’m not here to judge, just here to talk about Joe Walsh. Here to talk about a Joe Walsh album that has this song on it:
When you hear heavy synth do you become aroused? Are you into guitar talk box tunes? Were you into Survivor? (Yeah, Joe Walsh has a guy from Survivor playing on this album). I ask that you don’t let the first song on this album fool you when you get into it tonight. “Two Sides to Every Story” leads this hell bitch off with a double shot of cliche blues and Bullet mic harmonica.
By the time you take the huge ass whipping this album is and end up at song 10 “Where I Grew Up” Joe is talking about growing up in a small town to the sound of trickling keyboards. Don’t leave yet, this song is just the prelude to the last song, “School Days” where he starts rocking again talking about chopping down sycamore trees. (This song is actually sang by Joe Vitale from CS&N).
I know Sony heard this album and went, “Fuck yeah, we’ve got a soundtrack writing machine!” since most of the songs sound like they are from a movie scene.
And then next year he released Songs for a Dying Planet and Sony had enough. We wouldn’t hear from Joe again for over 20 years. Joe reappeared in 2012 to tell the world he was an Analog Man living in a digital world and no one cared. Especially Joe.