''There Goes the Neighborhood'' is the fifth solo studio album by the American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist

Joe Walsh Joseph Fidler Walsh (born November 20, 1947) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. In a career spanning over five decades, he has been a member of three successful rock bands: the James Gang, Eagles, and Ringo Starr & His All-Starr B ...

, sometime-guitarist for the

Eagles Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just ...

. The album was released in May 1981, by

Asylum Records Asylum Records is an American record label, founded in 1971 by David Geffen and partner Elliot Roberts. It was taken over by Warner Communications (now the Warner Music Group) in 1972, and later merged with Elektra Records to become Elektra/As ...

, three years after Walsh's album '' But Seriously, Folks...'' (1978). The album features contributions from two Eagles' members

Don Felder Donald William Felder (born September 21, 1947) is an American musician who was the lead guitarist of the rock band Eagles from 1974 until his termination from the band in 2001. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998 with th ...

and

Timothy B. Schmit Timothy Bruce Schmit (born October 30, 1947) is an American musician, singer, and songwriter. He has performed as the bassist and vocalist for Poco and the Eagles (band), Eagles, having replaced bassist and vocalist Randy Meisner in both cases ...

as well as

session musician Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a ...

s including

Russ Kunkel Russell Kunkel (born September 27, 1948) is an American drummer who has worked as a session musician with many popular artists, including Jackson Browne, Joni Mitchell, Jimmy Buffett, Harry Chapin, Rita Coolidge, Neil Diamond, Bob Dylan, Da ...

, David Lindley,

Bob Mayo Robert J. Mayo (August 25, 1951 – February 23, 2004) was a session keyboardist and guitarist, perhaps best known for his work with Peter Frampton. Biography Mayo was born in New York City, and grew up in Westchester County. He began studyin ...

, and

Victor Feldman Victor Stanley Feldman (7 April 1934 – 12 May 1987) was an English jazz musician who played mainly piano, vibraphone, and percussion. He began performing professionally during childhood, eventually earning acclaim in the UK jazz scene as ...

. The album peaked at No. 20 on the ''Billboard'' 200. The album only spawned one charting single, "

A Life of Illusion "A Life of Illusion" is a song written by the American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Joe Walsh and guitarist Kenny Passarelli, which became a hit and one of Walsh's most recognizable songs. It appears as the fifth track on Walsh's fi ...

", which would become one of Walsh's most popular songs and reached No. 34 at on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The single also topped the

Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks Mainstream Rock is a music chart in ''Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States, a category that combines the formats of active rock and heritage rock. The chart was launched in Ma ...

chart.

Cover artwork

The cover art for the album features Walsh leaning, while at the top of an American tank with rubble around him. Additionally, the single release of the song "A Life of Illusion" used the same image of Walsh. The promotional video for the track shows the coming to life of the album's cover.

Background

"A Life of Illusion" was recorded in 1973 with Joe Walsh's first solo band Barnstorm but was not completed. The overdubs and final mixes were completed during the ''There Goes the Neighborhood'' sessions and released on the album. This song also appeared in the opening credits of ''

The 40-Year-Old Virgin ''The 40-Year-Old Virgin'' is a 2005 American romantic comedy film directed by Judd Apatow, who produced the film with Clayton Townsend and Shauna Robertson. It features Steve Carell as the titular 40-year-old virgin Andy, an employee at an el ...

'' (2005) and appears as the first song on its soundtrack. Another track "Rivers (Of the Hidden Funk)" was a track Walsh wrote for the Eagles' sixth studio album '' The Long Run'' (1979), but was left off. The track featured a guest appearance by Walsh's Eagles-mate

(who co-wrote the track) on

talk box A talk box (also spelled talkbox and talk-box) is an effects unit that allows musicians to modify the sound of a musical instrument by shaping the frequency content of the sound and to apply speech sounds (in the same way as singing) onto the sou ...

guitar. The album's final track "You Never Know" is a song about rumors and hearsay, including not-so-veiled swipes at other members of the Eagles and their management with lines like "The Frontline grapevine jury's in a nasty mood / you might be guilty, honey, you never know." (Frontline Management was Irving Azoff's management firm at the time). Don Felder appears on guitar on this track performing rhythm and dual lead guitar solos with Walsh. Eagles bandmate

sang backing vocals on the opening track "Things".

Critical reception

Writing retrospectively for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

, critic Ben Davies wrote of the album "Joe Walsh's long and varied career has had its ups and downs, to say the least. Here, you see Walsh in good old rock form... The rock legend's trademark sound is prominently featured throughout the album, and undoubtedly here he performs some of his finest solos. The only qualm that one can pick is that the whole album is in a much-similar vein."

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Joe Walsh, except where noted.

Personnel

Musicians *

– vocals, guitars, acoustic piano (1), synthesizers (1), keyboards (2),

jawbone In anatomy, the mandible, lower jaw or jawbone is the largest, strongest and lowest bone in the human facial skeleton. It forms the lower jaw and holds the lower teeth in place. The mandible sits beneath the maxilla. It is the only movable bone ...

(3),

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

(4), noises (7) * Tom Stephenson – organ (6) *

– guitars (4, 8),

(4) *

– 12-string guitar (4) *

Kenny Passarelli Kenny Passarelli (born October 28, 1949 in Denver, Colorado) 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 ...

–

guitarrón Guitarrón or guitarron is a common name for a number of stringed instruments found in Latin America and may refer to: * Guitarrón argentino, a six-stringed musical instrument from Argentina * Guitarrón chileno, a 25-stringed, plucked instrument ...

(6), trumpet (6) *

George "Chocolate" Perry George Wesly Perry (born 1953), known professionally as "Chocolate Perry" is an American bassist, songwriter and producer. Perry has worked with the Bee Gees, John Cougar, Jon Secada, Stephen Stills, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Al Kooper, D ...

– bass (1-4, 6, 7, 8), backing vocals (1), percussion (7) * Joe Vitale – drums, backing vocals (1, 2, 7), tambourine (4), acoustic piano (6) *

–

triangle A triangle is a polygon with three Edge (geometry), edges and three Vertex (geometry), vertices. It is one of the basic shapes in geometry. A triangle with vertices ''A'', ''B'', and ''C'' is denoted \triangle ABC. In Euclidean geometry, an ...

(3) *

– percussion (8) * David Lindley –

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

(3, 6), backing vocals (6) *

– backing vocals (1) * Jody Boyer – backing vocals (4, 6, 8) Production and artwork * Joe Walsh – producer * George "Chocolate" Perry – producer * Jim Nipar – recording, mixing * James Geddes – recording assistant, mix assistant * Mike Reese – mastering * Jeff Adamoff – art direction, design * Jim Shea – photography * Todd Andrews – sleeve photography *

Irving Azoff Irving Azoff (; born December 12, 1947) is an American entertainment executive and chairman of Full Stop Management, which represents recording artists. In the mid-1980s, he brought success to MCA Records. Since September 2013, he has been chai ...

– management for Front Line Entertainment * Recorded and mixed at Santa Barbara Sound Recording (Santa Barbara, California). * Mastered at The Mastering Lab (Hollywood, California).

Charts

References

External links

* {{Authority control Joe Walsh albums 1981 albums Asylum Records albums Elektra Records albums Albums produced by Joe Walsh