Search - James Gang :: Funk 49

NOT THE BEST "BEST OF", AUDIO-WISE

BOB | LOS ANGELES, CA | 04/28/2008

(2 out of 5 stars)

"
Between Joe Walsh retrospectives and James Gang compilations, there are a plethora of "best of" CD's that have been released thru the decades. This is one of them.



However, strictly from an audio standpoint, all pale to the 1998 Repertoire remastered "Best Of" 2CD collection. This remaster is even superior to the individual MCA 1999 remasters, and the later BGO remasters.



Unfortunately, the Repertoire disc also has the abbreviated "Bomber Medley", which is an enormous sore point for JG fans. Also, Repertoire allotted a major portion of the set to the non-Walsh JG years; only 14 of the 40 tracks are Walsh-era material. I'm sure many JG fans will have their opinions over excluded tracks, but the selections were made with input from Jim Fox, who contributes a song-by-song synopsis of each track in the booklet. There is also probably the best essay on the history of the band of any JG CD ever released.



But what 14 tracks they are; the Repertoire set is the James Gang album you never knew you really wanted. All the muddy sound of the MCA discs is gone; the percussion is clear, the bass thunders and Walsh is there in all his distorted glory.



It's a shame that Repertoire didn't produce individual editions of the first three JG albums, because they would have blown away the lackluster MCA discs. I've heard just about every other JG "best of", and the Repertoire set towers above them all."

Best Gang Album Ever

Kevin F. Williams | 08/12/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The best rock trio of the seventies, espescially with Joe Walsh at the helm.Great guitar work and lyrics........Spend the money"