The Smoker You Drink, the Player You Get

The Smoker You Drink, the Player You Get
Studio album by Joe Walsh
Released	18 June 1973 (1973-06-18) (U.S.) September 1973 (1973-09) (U.K.)[1]
Recorded	During late 1972 (1972) – Early 1973 (1973)
Genre	Rock hard rock blues rock
Length	35:44
Label	ABC-Dunhill (U.S. and U.K.) Probe Records (G.E. only)
Producer	Joe Walsh Bill Szymczyk
Joe Walsh chronology
Barnstorm (1972) The Smoker You Drink, the Player You Get (1973) So What (1974)

The Smoker You Drink, the Player You Get is the second studio album by the American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Joe Walsh. The album was released in 1973, on the label ABC-Dunhill in the United States, and United Kingdom, and it was also released on Probe Records in Germany. It proved to be his commercial breakthrough, largely on the strength of the Top 40 hit single, "Rocky Mountain Way", which helped propel the album into the Top 10.

On this album, Walsh shares the vocals and songwriting with the other three members of Barnstorm, drummer/multi-instrumentalist Joe Vitale, bassist Kenny Passarelli, and new member, keyboardist Rocke Grace. As a result, a variety of styles are explored on this album. There are elements of blues, jazz, folk, pop, and even Caribbean music.

After the success of this album, Barnstorm disbanded, and Walsh continued making albums as a solo artist.

Cover artwork

The cover art for the album features a British Sopwith Snipe fighter that appears to be flying upside down (sky blue is at the bottom, brown ground is at the top).

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]

Writing retrospectively for AllMusic, critic Ben Davies wrote of the album "Walsh's ability to swing wildly from one end of the rock scale to the other is unparalleled and makes for an album to suit many tastes... [it] features some of the most remembered Joe Walsh tracks, but it's not just these that make the album a success. Each of the nine tracks is a song to be proud of. This is a superb album by anyone's standards."^[2]

2011 reissue

On 29 December 2011 the original mix of the album was reissued in Japan in a miniature replica of the original album artwork. The album was remastered using Direct Stream Digital (DSD) to transfer the digital files. The release was a limited edition in the SHM-CD format. The reissue included a picture of the original vinyl label.^[3]

Track listing

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

Different versions of the album have various spellings for two of the tracks. "(Day Dream) Prayer" is spelled "Daydream (Prayer)" on the CD versions, and "Book Ends" is spelled as "Bookends" on some other releases

Quadraphonic release

This LP had a stereo release as well as a quadraphonic release. The quadraphonic sound information on the quad LP is matrix encoded using the QS matrix system, and can be extracted by any receiver with a built in QS decoder.

Personnel

Barnstorm

• Joe Walsh – Lead and backing vocals, lead and slide guitars, bass guitar, keyboards, synthesizer
• Kenny Passarelli – Bass guitar, guitar, Backing vocals
• Joe Vitale – Drums, percussion, piano, keyboards, electric piano, flute, backing vocals
• Rocke Grace – Keyboards, Backing vocals

Session musicians

• Joe Lala – Percussion
• Venetta Fields – Backing vocals
• Clydie King – Backing vocals

Production

• Joe Walsh – Record producer
• Bill Szymczyk – Record producer

Engineering

• Bill Szymczyk – Engineering, Mixing
• Mike "Clay" Stone – Engineering
• Ronnie Alpert – Engineering
• Al Blazek – Engineering

Album Artwork

• Jimmy Wachtel – Album design
• Bob Jenkins – Photography

Charts

Album – Billboard (North America)

Singles – Billboard (North America)

Certifications

• UK-Silver ^[4]
• US-Gold ^[5]

See also

• List of albums released in 1973
• Joe Walsh's discography

References

External links