''Analog Man'' is the eleventh and latest solo studio album by the American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist

Joe Walsh Joseph Fidler Walsh (born Joseph Woodward Fidler; November 20, 1947) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. Best known as a member of the rock band Eagles (band), Eagles, his five-decade career includes solo work and stints in other ...

, formerly of the

James Gang James Gang was an American rock band formed in Cleveland, Ohio in 1966. The band went through a variety of line-up changes until they recorded their first album as a power trio consisting of Joe Walsh (guitars, lead vocals), Tom Kriss (bass) a ...

and lead guitarist for the

Eagles Eagle is the common name for the golden eagle, bald eagle, and other birds of prey in the family of the Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of Genus, genera, some of which are closely related. True eagles comprise the genus ''Aquila ( ...

. The album was released in mid 2012, on the label

Fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, It is also his first new solo studio album to be released since 1992's ''

Songs for a Dying Planet ''Songs for a Dying Planet'' is the tenth solo studio album by the American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Joe Walsh. It was released in mid 1992, on the label Epic. Keen to re-establish himself after his ill-received 1991 album, '' ...

'', 20 years prior. The album features 10 new songs, and was co-produced by Walsh,

Jeff Lynne Jeffrey Lynne (born 30 December 1947) is an English musician, singer-songwriter and record producer. He is the co-founder and, latterly, sole member of the rock band Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) which was formed in 1970. He has written all of ...

, who also performs various instruments and backing vocals on the album, and

Tim Armstrong Timothy Ross Armstrong (born November 25, 1965) is an American musician, songwriter and record producer. Known for his distinctive voice, he is the singer/guitarist for the punk rock band Rancid (band), Rancid and hip hop/punk rock supergroup T ...

from the

punk band Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music Rock is a Music genre, genre of popular music that originated in the United States as "rock and roll" in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of styles from the mid ...

Rancid who co-wrote and plays guitar on one of the album's songs. The album also features contributions from the former

Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

drummer,

Ringo Starr Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the group, us ...

, the former Barnstorm members,

Kenny Passarelli Kenny Passarelli (born October 28, 1949) is an American bass guitarist. Passarelli was a founding member of the Joe Walsh-led band Barnstorm, co-writing the hit "Rocky Mountain Way". He later served as a contract player for a number of other ...

and Joe Vitale, former James Gang members, Jim Fox and Dale Peters,

David Crosby David Van Cortlandt Crosby (August 14, 1941 – January 18, 2023) was an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He first found fame as a member of the Byrds, with whom he helped pioneer the genres of folk rock and psychedelic music, psych ...

and

Graham Nash Graham William Nash (born 2 February 1942) is a British and American musician, singer and songwriter. He is known for his light tenor voice and for his contributions as a member of the Hollies and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Crosby, Stills ...

Crosby, Stills & Nash Crosby, Stills & Nash (CSN) was a folk rock supergroup comprising the American singer-songwriters David Crosby and Stephen Stills and the English-American singer-songwriter Graham Nash. When joined by the Canadian singer-songwriter Neil Youn ...

and also a duet with

Little Richard Richard Wayne Penniman (December 5, 1932 – May 9, 2020), known professionally as Little Richard, was an American singer, pianist, and songwriter. He was an influential figure in popular music and culture for seven decades. Described as the "Ar ...

. The album peaked at No. 12 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' 200 chart, as well as No. 4 on the top rock albums chart. In the UK it reached No. 53, his first chart album there for 34 years.

Production and recording

After touring with the

and struggling with alcohol and drug addictions for many years, Walsh decided that it was time to record a new album while being supported by his wife, Marjorie Bach (sister of

's wife, Barbara). To pursue making the album, she also gave Walsh

's contact number. When Walsh was asked about his collaboration with co-producer Jeff Lynne, he said "Jeff and I met socially, and at one point he said, "Why don't you bring your tracks over sometime and we'll have a listen." That led to some comments and ideas that he had. Gradually, we worked on some stuff and checked out some of his stuff too. It ended up that he really helped me finish it up and ended up producing. He really put his stamp on my music and took it in a direction I never would have gone, and I'm really grateful to him."

Critical reception

The album received mixed reviews, with review aggregator

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

assigning an overall rating of 57/100. Reviewing the album in ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'', critic Jon Dolan wrote of the album "life's clearly been pretty good to Walsh: He's sober ("One Day at a Time"), loves his family ("Family") and still has good command of his guitar chops (check out "Funk 50," a reinvention of the

's 1970 killer "Funk #49," complete with new, carefree lyrics)." Reviewing for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

, critic

Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and former senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of multiple artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance ...

wrote of the album "apart from the odd lyrical reference to an

iPod The iPod is a series of portable media players and multi-purpose mobile devices that were designed and marketed by Apple Inc. from 2001 to 2022. The iPod Classic#1st generation, first version was released on November 10, 2001, about mon ...

or Walsh's ongoing recovery, ''Analog Man'' sounds like it could have come out in 1992 and that's all due to Lynne, a man who makes a record in one particular way: crisp, clean, hook-laden, and sequenced so tightly there's no room to breathe."

Track listing

All songs written by

, except as noted.

Vinyl LP track listing

All songs written by

, except as noted.

Personnel

– guitars, lead vocals (1-4, 6–8, 11), vocals (5, 9), bass (5, 7, 10), drums (5), acoustic piano (7), string arrangements (7), synthesizers (10), backing vocals (12) *

– keyboards (1, 2), guitars (1, 2, 8), bass (1, 2, 4, 8), drums (1, 2, 4, 8), backing vocals (2, 4, 8) * Bruce Sugar –

organ Organ and organs may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function * Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body. Musical instruments ...

(3), percussion programming (6), programming (10, 11) * Joe Vitale – keyboards (6),

sitar The sitar ( or ; ) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form in 19th-century India. Khusrau K ...

(6) * Richard Davis – synthesizers (7), programming (7) *

– acoustic piano (12), lead vocals (12) *

Greg Leisz Gregory Brian Leisz ( ; born September 18, 1949) is an American musician. He is a songwriter, recording artist, and producer. He plays guitar, dobro, mandolin, banjo, lap steel and pedal steel guitar. Biography Leisz grew up in the garage ba ...

–

pedal steel guitar The pedal steel guitar is a console steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings, enabling more varied and complex music to be played than with other steel guitar designs. Like all steel guitars, it can play ...

(3) * Jay Dee Maness – pedal steel guitar (3) *

– guitars (8) *

Rick Rosas Rick "Rick the Bass Player" Rosas (September 10, 1949 – November 6, 2014) was an American musician, and one of the most sought after studio session musicians in Los Angeles. Though largely known for his long collaboration with Neil Young, throug ...

– bass (3) *

– bass (6) * Dale Peters – bass (12) *

– drums (3, 6) * Jim Fox – drums (12), backing vocals (12) *

Steve Jay Eugene Stephen Jay (born January 26, 1951) is an American bassist, best known for working with "Weird Al" Yankovic. Early life Jay was born Eugene Stephen Jay in Detroit, Michigan on January 26, 1951. He auditioned for "Weird Al" Yankovic in 1 ...

– percussion (1, 2, 4) *

Tommy Lee James Tommy Lee James is an American country music songwriter and record producer with Still Working Music Group. Based in Nashville, Tennessee, he is originally from Roanoke, Virginia. He graduated from Northside High School then attended Radford Uni ...

– backing vocals (3, 6) *

– backing vocals (7) *

– backing vocals (7)

Production

* Jeff Lynne – producer, mixing (1, 2, 4, 8, 11) * Joe Walsh – producer (3, 5–7, 9, 10, 12) * Tim Armstrong – producer (9) * Steve Jay – engineer (1, 2, 4, 8) * Bruce Sugar – engineer (3, 5–7, 9, 10), mixing (3, 5–7, 9, 10, 12) * John Morrical – engineer (9) * Ken Hammon – engineer (12) * Dan Gerbarg – mastering *

Howie Weinberg Howie Weinberg is an American audio mastering engineer. Over the course of his career, he has received over 2,257 mastering credits, three TEC Awards, 21 Grammy Awards, two Juno Awards, and one Mercury Prize. Career Weinberg mastered Herbie Ha ...

– mastering * Jeri Heiden – art direction * Ryan Corey – package design, background photography * Andrew MacPherson – photography *

Irving Azoff Irving Azoff (; born December 12, 1947) is an American businessman, who is chairman of Full Stop Management, a company that represents recording artists. During the course of his career, he has worked as an agent, personal manager, concert pr ...

– manager for Azoff Management (Los Angeles, CA)

Charts

References

External links

{{Authority control Joe Walsh albums 2012 albums Albums produced by Jeff Lynne Albums produced by Joe Walsh Fantasy Records albums Albums produced by Tim Armstrong