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When the startled James Gang made their way to Richard’s dressing room, Fox told Wardlaw that the rock legend surprised them even more by saying: “I love you guys, I want to make a record with you. “We had played on the first night and all three of us said, ‘We have to stay and see Little Richard.’ We’re sitting out in the audience and a note was put in my hand and it says, ‘Little Richard would like to see you after the show.’ I looked at Joe and I said, ‘This is a joke, isn’t it?’” “We’re playing in Pittsburgh and Little Richard was on the bill,” Fox said.
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The good news for James Gang fans was that all involved ultimately made it work, by hook or by crook, emerging with another eclectic set of songs ranging from the riff-driven muscle of “Walk Away” to the grandiose, Beatles-esque “It’s All the Same” from the funky licks and soulful organ of “Things I Could Be” to rural sounds of “Dreamin’ in the Country” from the Southern rock of “Midnight Man” to the church-like social consciousness of “White Man/Black Man.” Oh, and there was also Little Richard. And how did we repay him? We got smart-assed and said, ‘Uh, we’re going to produce the third album ourselves.’ And then of course, went back to him with our collective tails in between our legs and said, ‘Would you mind mixing this for us, Bill?’ Having a guy like Bill on our team, you know, who would fight the battles with the label. So time passes and they call me up and say, ‘Well, we decided that we want to finish the album on our own.’ I went, ‘Okaaaay.’”įox continued: “We were so naive and so happy to be doing what we were doing. As Szymczyk himself described it to Wardlaw, “We went into the Record Plant and cut three or four tracks, then they had to go back on the road. King and the Eagles) and attempt to produce themselves. Then the band made their lives more difficult when they decided to dispense with longtime producer Bill Szymczyk (renowned for his work with Elvin Bishop, B.B. You guys have to contribute.’ I’m not sure we were up for it.” In fact, the power trio composed of vocalist/guitarist Joe Walsh, bassist Dale Peters and drummer Jim Fox were somewhat short on new material, as Fox recalled when speaking to UCR’s Matt Wardlaw: “ Thirds was a little tougher to finish, because we felt a little low on songs we felt strong about ‘I don’t want to be the only writer in the band. Unfortunately, that didn’t necessarily pave the way for a predictable, or even smooth process when time came to record their next studio record, the obviously named Thirds. The James Gang was seemingly on the road to career prosperity after the success of their sophomore album, Rides Again.