The Smoker You Drink, the Player You Get

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 MCA 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.

The Smoker You Drink, the Player You Get
Studio album by
Joe Walsh
Released18 June 1973 (1973-06-18)[1]
RecordedDuring late 1972 (1972) – Early 1973 (1973)
Genre
Length35:44
LabelABC-Dunhill
Producer
Joe Walsh chronology
Barnstorm
(1972)		 The Smoker You Drink, the Player You Get
(1973)		 So What
(1974)

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. However, the album is only credited to Walsh as a solo artist, not to Barnstorm,[2] which led to the band's demise.[3] After the success of this album, Walsh continued making albums as a solo artist.

The title is a play on words "The higher you get the better you play!"

Cover artwork

The cover art for the album features a British Sopwith Snipe fighter with French colours 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
SourceRating
AllMusic [4]

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."[4]

Release history

In addition to the usual 2 channel stereo version this album was also released in a 4 channel quadraphonic edition on LP and 8 track tape. The quadraphonic LP is encoded using the QS Regular Matrix system. Germany Released an edition in September, 1973 under the MCA label and GEMA Audio Fidelity reissued a limited 24-karat gold edition CD in 2009. This was followed in 2011 by a reissue in Japan with a miniature replica of the original sleeve in the SHM-CD format.[5]

Track listing

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

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Rocky Mountain Way"Joe Walsh, Joe Vitale, Kenny Passarelli, Rocke Grace5:15
2."Book Ends"Vitale2:45
3."Wolf" 3:09
4."Midnight Moodies"Grace3:39
5."Happy Ways"Passarelli, Bernard Zoloth2:40
6."Meadows" 4:36
7."Dreams" 5:50
8."Days Gone By"Vitale5:54
9."Day Dream (Prayer)" 1:56
Total length:35:44

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.

Personnel
Barnstorm
  • Joe Walsh – guitars, keyboards, synthesizer, backing vocals, lead vocals (on 1, 3, 6, 7, 9)
  • Kenny Passarelli – bass, guitar, backing vocals, lead vocals (on 5)
  • Joe Vitale – drums, percussion, piano, keyboards, flute, backing vocals, lead vocals (on 2, 8)
  • Rocke Grace – keyboards, backing vocals lead vocals (on 4)
Session musicians
Production
Engineering
Album Artwork

Charts

Album – Billboard (United States)

Year Chart Position
1973 Pop Albums 6

Singles – Billboard (United States)

Year Single Chart Position
1973 "Rocky Mountain Way" Pop Singles 23
1974 "Meadows" Pop Singles 89

Certifications
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See also

References
  1. Martin C. Strong, The Great Rock Discography, Random House, Inc., New York NY, 1998, p. 900
  2. Classic Rock Review. "The Smoker You Drink, the Player You Get". Retrieved May 8, 2019.
  3. Adams, Deanna R. (2002). Rock 'n' Roll and the Cleveland Connection. Kent State University Press. ISBN 0-87338-691-4.
  4. Davies, Ben. "The Smoker You Drink, the Player You Get > Review". Allmusic. Retrieved July 9, 2011.
  5. http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/UICY-94063
  6. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on January 24, 2013. Retrieved August 27, 2009.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. http://riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?content_selector=gold-platinum-searchable-database
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