20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of Joe Walsh

This entry in the 20th Century Masters series is essentially the same as Joe Walsh’s 10-song Greatest Hits album, from 1997. The collection reaffirms Walsh’s reputation as a purveyor of hard- rock grit. Despite the massive success he found as a hard-rock gunslinger, Walsh matured very quickly, both as an arranger and a songwriter. The layered productions of “County Fair,” “Meadows” and “Help Me Thru the Night” are the ultimate headphone songs — with an amazingly full sonic palate, they encompass a range of moods within the structure of a simple pop song. While Walsh was undeniably the creative force behind his great '70s records, special credit is due to longstanding producer Bill Szymczyk. The groaning, writhing bass sound on “Turn to Stone” is just one example of what he brought to Walsh’s music over the course of their lifelong partnership. Additionally, these songs are elevated by Walsh’s great taste in drummers — first Jim Fox, who put all the thrust and bounce in the James Gang songs, and then Jim Vitale, the master drummer and multi-instrumentalists who stoked Walsh’s fire on nearly all of his solo albums.