Thirds (album)

Thirds is the third studio album by the American rock band, James Gang. The album was released in mid 1971, on the label ABC Records. It is the last studio album featuring Joe Walsh. "Walk Away" was released as a single, making the Top 40 on at least one national chart, reaching #51 on the Billboard Hot 100, the best placement of a James Gang single. The album reached Gold status in July 1972.

On the liner notes to the LP version of this 1971 album, Joe Walsh is credited with "guitar, vocals, and train wreck", the latter for his work on the song "Walk Away". The third element was a wry commentary on the multi-tracked, cascading lead guitars that clash as the song fades out.

The Walsh period of the band came to a close with the release of the live album James Gang Live in Concert.

Critical Reception

Writing for AllMusic, critic William Ruhlman wrote the album "though Thirds quickly earned a respectable chart position and eventually went gold, it was not the commercial breakthrough that might have been expected."

Album

Albums of recorded music were developed in the early 20th century, first as books of individual 78rpm records, then from 1948 as vinyl LP records played at 33 ¹⁄₃ rpm. Vinyl LPs are still issued, though in the 21st century albums sales have mostly focused on compact disc (CD) and MP3 formats. The audio cassette was a format used in the late 1970s through to the 1990s alongside vinyl.

An album may be recorded in a recording studio (fixed or mobile), in a concert venue, at home, in the field, or a mix of places. Recording may take a few hours to several years to complete, usually in several takes with different parts recorded separately, and then brought or "mixed" together. Recordings that are done in one take without overdubbing are termed "live", even when done in a studio. Studios are built to absorb sound, eliminating reverberation, so as to assist in mixing different takes; other locations, such as concert venues and some "live rooms", allow for reverberation, which creates a "live" sound. The majority of studio recordings contain an abundance of editing, sound effects, voice adjustments, etc. With modern recording technology, musicians can be recorded in separate rooms or at separate times while listening to the other parts using headphones; with each part recorded as a separate track.

Third

Third or 3rd may refer to:

Numbers

Music

Music theory

James Gang

The James Gang was a rock band formed in Cleveland, Ohio in 1966. The band enjoyed moderate success with the singles "Funk #49" and "Walk Away," and are perhaps best remembered as the first popular band to feature the guitarist/vocalist Joe Walsh, who later became a member of the Eagles.

History

Drummer Jim Fox first played with the Cleveland area band The Outsiders but left them in 1965 to attend college. After they scored a national hit the following year with "Time Won't Let Me," Fox returned temporarily to play with them after their other drummer was drafted. After leaving them to return to school once again, Fox, heavily influenced by the sound of British outfits, such as The Beatles, The Who and The Yardbirds, began to think about forming his own band, teaming up with schoolmate Ronnie Silverman (guitar), bassist Tom Kriss and keyboardist Phil Giallombardo in 1966. Reportedly, it was Silverman who suggested their name, "James Gang."

The James Gang's earliest lineup consisted of drummer Fox, Tom Kriss (bass), Ronnie Silverman (guitar), Phil Giallombardo (vocals, keyboards) and, after auditioning some twenty five candidates for lead guitar, the band decided to go with Greg Grandillo (who was later with another popular Cleveland outfit Rainbow Canyon), who was quickly replaced by Dennis Chandler, who was then succeeded by John "Mouse" Michalski (from the Count Five, who'd just scored a national hit with "Psychotic Reaction"). But Fox was still not entirely happy with the lineup.

Third World

The term Third World arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either NATO, or the Communist Bloc. The United States, Western European nations and their allies represented the First World, while the Soviet Union, China, Cuba, and their allies represented the Second World. This terminology provided a way of broadly categorizing the nations of the Earth into three groups based on social, political, cultural and economic divisions. The Third World was normally seen to include many countries with colonial pasts in Africa, Latin America, Oceania and Asia. It was also sometimes taken as synonymous with countries in the Non-Aligned Movement. In the dependency theory of thinkers like Raul Prebisch, Walter Rodney, Theotonio dos Santos, and Andre Gunder Frank, the Third World has also been connected to the world economic division as "periphery" countries in the world system that is dominated by the "core" countries.

Due to the complex history of evolving meanings and contexts, there is no clear or agreed-upon definition of the Third World. Some countries in the Communist Bloc, such as Cuba, were often regarded as "Third World". Because many Third World countries were extremely poor, and non-industrialized, it became a stereotype to refer to poor countries as "third world countries", yet the "Third World" term is also often taken to include newly industrialized countries like Brazil, Russia, India and China (see also: BRIC). Historically, some European countries were part of the non-aligned movement and a few were and are very prosperous, including Austria, Ireland, Sweden, Finland, and Switzerland.