Thirds (album)


Thirds is the third studio album by the American rock band James Gang. The album was released in mid 1971, on the label ABC Records. It is the last studio album featuring Joe Walsh. "Walk Away" was released as a single, making the Top 40 on at least one national chart, reaching #51 on the Billboard Hot 100, the best placement of a James Gang single. The album reached Gold status in July 1972.
On the liner notes to the LP version of this 1971 album, Joe Walsh is credited with "guitar, vocals, and train wreck", the latter for his work on the song "Walk Away" as a wry commentary on the multi-tracked, cascading lead guitars that clash as the song fades out.
The Walsh period of the band came to a close with the release of the next album James Gang Live in Concert.

Critical reception

Writing for AllMusic, critic William Ruhlman wrote the album "though Thirds quickly earned a respectable chart position and eventually went gold, it was not the commercial breakthrough that might have been expected."
Billboards review stated: "The James Gang has another good one here, another set scoring artistically and slated to score commercially. This hot trio has solid material, such as "Walk Away," country-flavored material such as "Dreamin' In The Country," and other top material, including "Midnight Man." "White Man/Black Man" is another winner." John Mendelsohn in Rolling Stone was equivocal stating "By no exertion of the imagination are James Gang the greatest rock and roll band ever to walk the face of the earth or anything... but they are capable of some nice little treats every now and again." Mendelsohn conversely called "White Man/Black Man" "a real no-two-ways-about-it embarrassment in the form of an overproduced plea for Greater Understanding between the races so that we can all Live Together."

Track listing

Side one
  1. "Walk Away" – – 3:32
  2. * Joe Walsh – guitar, lead vocals, "train wreck"
  3. * Dale Peters – bass
  4. * Jim Fox – drums
  5. "Yadig?" – – 2:30
  6. * Joe Walsh – guitar, electric piano
  7. * Dale Peters – upright bass, vibraphone
  8. * Jim Fox – drums
  9. "Things I Could Be" – – 4:18
  10. * Jim Fox – drums, lead vocals, organ
  11. * Joe Walsh – guitar
  12. * Dale Peters – bass
  13. "Dreamin' In The Country" – – 2:57
  14. * Dale Peters – bass, lead vocals
  15. * Joe Walsh – guitar, steel guitar
  16. * Jim Fox – drums, tack piano
  17. "It's All The Same" – – 4:10
  18. * Joe Walsh – guitar, lead vocals, piano
  19. * Dale Peters – bass
  20. * Jim Fox – drums
Side two
  2. "Midnight Man" – – 3:28
  3. * Joe Walsh – guitar, lead vocals
  4. * Dale Peters – backing vocals
  5. * Jim Fox – drums
  6. * Bob Webb – backing vocals
  7. * Mary Sterpka – backing vocals, lead vocals on the third chorus
  8. "Again" – – 4:04
  9. * Joe Walsh – guitar, lead vocals, electric piano, violin arrangements
  10. * Dale Peters – bass
  11. * Jim Fox – drums
  12. "White Man/Black Man" – – 5:39
  13. * Dale Peters – bass, lead vocals
  14. * Joe Walsh – guitar, piano
  15. * Jim Fox – drums
  16. * The Sweet Inspirations – backing vocals
  17. "Live My Life Again" – – 5:26
  18. * Jim Fox – drums, piano
  19. * Joe Walsh – guitar, lead vocals
  20. * Dale Peters – bass

    Personnel

James Gang