Joe Walsh gets a lot of attention for the work he’s done as a guitarist within a band scenario. That includes groups he’s led (the James Gang) and those to whom he contributed as part of an ensemble (the Eagles).
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In between all that, he has occasionally stepped out as a solo act, with a catalog that includes a couple of songs that are right at home on any playlist of the most-played classic rock tracks. His last Top-40 hit in the U.S. is a song that you might have forgotten or maybe not heard in a while, but it’s an undeniable winner.
Tracking Walsh’s Career Path
Most rock fans know the broad outlines of Joe Walsh’s career. His first big exposure came as the principal guitarist and lead singer for the James Gang. He later joined the Eagles at a fortuitous time, considering the first album he recorded with the band was the massive hit Hotel California in 1976.
Meanwhile, his solo work included the iconoclastic hits “Life’s Been Good” and “Rocky Mountain Way.” Songs on which he sang lead, for both of the aforementioned groups, have become staples as well, including “Funk #49,” “Walk Away,” and “In the City,” to name just a few.
The largely forgotten part of the Walsh career arc is the band Barnstorm. They were a trio that recorded a pair of albums with him not long after he departed the James Gang. Why aren’t they mentioned more? Well, the record company at the time insisted on labeling their records as Joe Walsh solo efforts, even though they were quite collaborative. That Barnstorm history comes into play when discussing the last song that Walsh placed in the U.S. Top 40.
Neighborhood Watch
In 1981, Walsh was a free agent once again as the Eagles, awash in acrimony, disbanded. He took the time to record a solo album, which in keeping with his reputation as a free-spirited rabble-rouser, he titled There Goes the Neighborhood. Seeking material, he looked back to his Barnstorm days.
Back in 1973, the band had recorded the album The Smoker You Drink, the Player You Get, although it was released under Walsh’s name alone. One song the band recorded for the album, but didn’t include in the final running order, was a mid-tempo rocker with a distinctive bass line and philosophical lyrics.
The song had been written by Walsh and Kenny Passarelli, Barnstorm’s drummer. Walsh remembered the track and dug up the old recording, cleaning it up for a fresh release. “A Life of Illusion” was given another chance.
A Second “Life”
Most of “A Life of Illusion,” as it would be heard on car radios in 1981 as the lead single from There Goes the Neighborhood, comes from the Barnstorm recording. One addition: Passarelli’s wobbly trumpet blasts that resemble what you might hear from a mariachi band that’s enjoyed the party a bit too much.
The song squeezed into the Top 40 in 1981, peaking at No. 34. “A Life of Illusion” has enjoyed a subtle surge in exposure through the years as a needle drop in various TV shows and movies. Perhaps most memorably, it plays over the opening sequence of the 2005 comedy The 40-Year-Old Virgin.
Walsh very nearly crashed the Top 40 a few years later with the song “Space Age Whiz Kid,” which topped out at No. 52. Even though he wouldn’t score another hit of that magnitude under his own name, his guitar work would end up adorning Top-10 hits by artists ranging from his old Eagle buddy Don Henley to Richard Marx and Wilson Phillips.
Photo by Paul Natkin/Getty Images
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