Happy 30th: Joe Walsh, The Confessor

30 years ago today, Joe Walsh released the seventh studio album of his solo career, an effort which didn’t manage to change his commercial fortunes but did offer a title track that has since come to be viewed as one of his signature songs.

The Confessor broke a two-year silence from Walsh, with his previous album, 1983’s You Bought It – You Name It, having left critics less than amused even as it entertained fans and radio listeners with singles like “I Can Play That Rock & Roll” and “Space Age Whiz Kids,” with the latter track also providing Walsh with a minor MTV hit.

When Walsh reemerged in 1985 with his new effort, it didn’t exactly burn up the charts – indeed, it only hit #65 on the Billboard Top 200, 17 spots lower than its predecessor – but when “The Confessor” was released as a single, it actually proved to be more successful than either of the singles from You Bought It – You Name It, hitting #8 on the Mainstream Rock charts.

It’s well-documented that Walsh was pretty tight with Stevie Nicks at the time he was making The Confessor – he’s said in the past that she was “riding shotgun” on the album – which helps to explain why so many of the musicians for the sessions were regulars on Nicks’ recordings. When Walsh appeared on The Howard Stern Show in 2012, Stern grilled him about the couple’s relationship, which Walsh took in stride, saying that he loves her like a sister but that the relationship developed because they were on tour together, they were both lonely at the time, and they sought refuge with each other, but they broke up after the tour ended. Nicks, who wrote “Has Anyone Ever Written a Song for You” for Walsh, once described him to the Daily Telegraph as “the great love of my life.”

To complete this flashback, we thought we’d share with you something that the folks from Goldmine dug out of the archives and posted awhile ago: the bio Walsh and Warner Brothers delivered to the press in conjunction with the release of The Confessor. He’s a funny guy, that Joe…

“I was born on November 20, 1947, in a place called Wichita, Kansas. I was 0 years old. Wichita is almost exactly in the middle of the continental United States, if you ignore Alaska and Hawaii. Most folks in Kansas do. Wichita is also famous for being called “The Airplane Capital,” which it is, but I’m not sure how important this is outside Kansas. I’m sure it’s not a priority in Alaska or Hawaii. Kansas is also where Dorothy and Toto lived once. To the best of my knowledge, I was not born in New York, and whoever started that rumor is full of beans.”

Places I have lived:

1. Wichita, Kansas
2. Evanston, Illinois
3. Columbus, Ohio
4. Flushing, Long Island, New York (Queens)
5. Montclair, New Jersey
6. Kent, Ohio
7. Ipswich, Massachusetts
9. Nederland, Colorado
10. Boulder, Colorado
11. Los Angeles, California
12. In Irving Azoff’s car
14. Santa Barbara, California
15. Coconut Grove, Florida
16. Ringo’s house
17. Nowhere
19. Los Angeles, California, where I currently live as far as I can tell.

Things I have done:

— Produced albums for Dan Fogelberg and Ringo.
— Ran for President of the United States.
— Played on everybody’s albums.
— Flown in the Concorde.
— Met Robert Mitchum.

Brief summary of my careers:

1. Member of the James Gang (“Funk #49,” “Walk-Away”).
1. Ex-member of the James Gang.
2. Leader and founding member of Barnstorm (“Rocky Mt. Way”).
2. Only member of Barnstorm.
3. Brief but glorious solo career, So What, You Can’t Argue With A Sick Mind, ending with much public head-scratching because of career #4.
4. Member of The Eagles Hotel California (1977), Long Run (1979), during which also made 1 solo album, But Seriously Folks.

— Brief Interlude —

5. Right around in here somewhere is my present career — In a couple of years, I’ll be able to tell you how I did.

Things that might be interesting to know about me:

— I attended Kent State University regularly over a 6-year period without graduation.
— One time I crashed in a Boeing 727.
— Yes, on occasion I do saw up hotel rooms with chain saws and throw the pieces out the window. Why not?
— I have absolutely no idea whether I have a Maserati or not … probably. It would seem logical.
— No, I do not need a new nose.
— I prefer B.B. King to Don Ho.

Things that people like to ask:

— What does “The Smoker You Drink, The Player You Get” mean?
— “Where are you from?” (I’m from Ohio, I don’t know why.)
— “Hey Joe, what ever happened to the guys in the James Gang?”
— “Hey Joe, I love that song of yours — how does it go?”

My hobbies include such activities as:

Amateur radio (since 1962), blacksmithing (honest). Arguing all night about politics, (or, for that matter — anything.) Hooking stuff up to see if it works, and beer.

What my new album, The Confessor, is about:

My new album, The Confessor, is about 20 minutes a side.