James Gang Rides Again

James Gang Rides Again
Studio album by James Gang
Released	July 1970
Recorded	November 1969 at The Record Plant
Genre	Hard rock, folk rock
Length	35:09
Label	ABC
Producer	Bill Szymczyk
James Gang chronology
Yer' Album (1969) James Gang Rides Again (1970) Thirds (1971)

James Gang Rides Again is the second studio album by the American rock band James Gang. The album was released in mid 1970, on the label ABC Records. It is the James Gang's first album to feature bassist Dale Peters.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
Robert Christgau	B–[2]

Writing for AllMusic, critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote of the album "With their second album Rides Again, the James Gang came into their own... Walsh's songwriting had improved, giving the band solid support for their stylistic experiments. What ties the two sides of the record together is the strength of the band's musicianship, which burns brightly and powerfully on the hardest rockers, as well as on the sensitive ballads."^[1]

Track listing

All songs by Joe Walsh, except where noted.

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Funk #49" (Fox, Peters, Walsh)	3:54
2.	"Asshtonpark" (Fox, Peters, Walsh)	2:01
3.	"Woman" (Fox, Peters, Walsh)	4:37
4.	"The Bomber: Closet Queen"/ "Boléro"/ "Cast Your Fate to the Wind" (Fox, Peters, Walsh, Maurice Ravel, Vince Guaraldi)	7:04
5.	"Tend My Garden"	5:45
6.	"Garden Gate"	1:36
7.	"There I Go Again"	2:51
8.	"Thanks"	2:21
9.	"Ashes, the Rain and I"	5:00

• On the initial pressings of James Gang Rides Again, a 1:25 electric rendition of Maurice Ravel's "Boléro" is interpolated into the song "The Bomber." Ravel's estate threatened suit against both the James Gang and ABC Records for its unauthorized use.^[3] As a result, the track was edited, and the "Boléro" section was removed on most subsequent pressings of the album. The edited song's running time on such pressings is 5:39. Some late 70's LP pressings included "Boléro" by mistake, and the most recent CD re-issue of Rides Again contains the full version of "The Bomber," with the "Boléro" section restored.

Personnel

• Joe Walsh – guitars, vocals, keyboards, piano, percussion
• Dale Peters – bass guitars, vocals, guitars, keyboards, percussion
• Jim Fox – drums, vocals, percussion, keyboards, organ, piano

Guest Musician

• Rusty Young – pedal steel guitar (7)

Production

• Producer: Bill Szymczyk
• Engineer: Bill Szymczyk
• Remastering: Bill Szymczyk and Ted Jensen
• Liner notes: Dale Peters, Jim Fox and Joe Walsh
• Photography: Tom Wright

Cultural significance

James Gang Rides Again's lead track "Funk #49" has become a standard of the "classic rock" period, and has been used in various media, including:

• in the 1998 film Rounders
• in the 2000 television drama The '70s
• in the 2002 documentary film Dogtown and Z-Boys
• in the 2004 drama film House of D
• in the 2005 horror film The Devil's Rejects
• in the sixth season episode Soprano Home Movies of the HBO drama series The Sopranos.
• in the 2006 comedy film Artie Lange's Beer League.
• in the 2008 drama film Sleepwalking.
• in a sample at the opening of NOFX's song "Straight Edge," from their album White Trash, Two Heebs and a Bean.
• in the video game Test Drive Unlimited.
• in the video game Grand Theft Auto: The Lost and Damned.
• in the video game Rock Band (as downloadable content).
• in the video game Rocksmith (as downloadable content).
• during the closing credits of the Season 1 finale of Entourage.
• in commercials for Fox Sports 1.

The track "Ashes, the Rain and I" was sampled by Fatboy Slim for the song "Right Here, Right Now".

References

1. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "James Gang Rides Again > Review". Allmusic. Retrieved July 9, 2011.
2. Christgau, Robert. "Album: James Gang: James Gang Rides Again". Robert Christgau. Retrieved April 29, 2013.
3. Refer to Both Sides Now's ABC Records discography Web site(http://bsnpubs.com/abc/abc700.html).

External links

• James Gang Rides Again Archive [dead link]