The Confessor

While Joe Walsh’s 1985 album The Confessor is not the work of an artist out of ideas, it definitely reflects a man low on energy, and slowly coming undone. While those aren’t the qualities fans look for in a Joe Walsh record — or rock records in general, for that matter — The Confessor is nonetheless a fascinating listen that emits a distinct and often unsettling energy. “I Broke My Leg,” “Slow Dancing” and “15 Years” could accurately be described as ZZ Top on Quaaludes. Unlike contemporaneous songs by that famous group, Walsh’s embrace of drum machines did not result in a revitalized sound, but rather an atmosphere of claustrophobia. This is not necessarily a bad thing — “15 Years” bears a resemblance to the kind of warped blues you might hear in a roadhouse in a David Lynch film. When Walsh gets his blood up for “Good Man Down” the results are much more generic than the slow songs, which have a creepy allure. The album is anchored by its title song, an existential blues that eventually erupts in what is probably the angriest guitar work of Walsh’s career.