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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Classic Walsh album finally available on CD again, March 12, 2006
Revised: Originally Hip-O used the wrong mastertapes for this album and that CD version had A LOT of distracting tape hiss and had an edit between "One and One" and "Giant Bohemoth"--this edition has been corrected with a new remaster so those in stock SHOULD be the right one but there are a earlier editions out there.
Atmospheric and fascinating Joe Walsh's Barnstorm (aptly named)brought forth this terrific album after Walsh left the James Gang. Everything from the inspired opener "Here We Go" to the unusual "Birdcall Morning". From the instrumental "Giant Bohemoth" which slides right into the stunning "Mother Says" the album doesn't miss a beat. Although a tad loud and compressed when compared to the nearly flawless Mo-Fi transfer, "Barnstorm" sounds good in the remaster from Gavin Lurssen.
The biggest song here "Turn to Stone" would show up again in a slightly inferior version on "So What?" but the original primordial monster is here. Featuring crunchy a guitar lick and a stunning guitar solo Walsh never got this experimental again. The album closes out with the acoustic guitar/haronica driven "Comin' Down" which provides a tranquil close to a magical album.
Like the Mo-Fi release the magical sound qualty of the original recording has been retained (but honestly the Mo-Fi is still the best sounding version of this on CD). This is, in fact, the best the album has ever sounded outside of the Mofi. Walsh never got better as a songwriter than here (although he came close with another couple of strong albums such as "The Smoker You Drink, the Player You Get"). This classic album only lacks bonus tracks and outtakes which would have made this classy package complete and liner notes on the making of the album (we get a replica of the original artwork gatefold sleeve in the CD booklet with the credits but nothing more).
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Horrible sound quality!! Avoid at all costs!!, March 2, 2007
Yikes! This Geffen edition from Japan utilizes the same horrible master as the one Hip-O Select issued last year in which they managed to use the wrong tapes to produce the CD. It is LOADED with tape hiss, so much so that I could not get through the entire disc before turning it off. I have been in touch with Hip-O's parent company (Universal) and they acknowledged the mistake, saying that a vastly improved edition with the correct master tapes will soon be in stores, but after nearly a year it has yet to appear and when it does the consumer may not be able to distinguish between the two editions. It's hard to understand a mistake like this not being caught before production. But it's worse that a company would allow unsuspecting consumers to buy this garbage and not rectify the matter after all this time. Great music, bad business practice. I'm keeping my vinyl!
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Walsh's forgotten classic, December 25, 2004
I try not to be the kind of fan who automatically gives an artist 5 stars, but 'Barnstorm' earns every star it gets. For those into classic rock, this is a must-own that you can't easily get. The stars aren't for breaking new ground, but they're for the best use of classic/folk-based rock I have ever heard. If you're sick of your "local classic rock station" playing the same damn things over and over, "Barnstorm" is a breath of fresh air.
This album does everything many later classic rock albums overdid or underdid. It has its share of hooks but doesn't rely on them and let the rest of the musicianship suffer. There are some truly beautiful mixtures of electric and acoustic textures I haven't heard anywhere else; "Here We Go" starts slow and soft with acoustic guitars, but picks up power and rocks to the end, and the incendiary "Turn to Stone" is punctuated with acoustic transitions between verses. There's not a weak track out of the bunch--from the 'Lord of the Rings'-inspired "Midnight Visitor" (which manages not to become wrapped up in itself like Led Zeppelin's Tolkien-influenced works did), to the well-textured instrumental "Giant Behemoth" featuring drummer Joe Vitale on flute, a morse-code message and a passage Walsh would quote later on "Songs for a Dying Planet" (the album, not the song), and a cover done so well as to be his own--though, to be fair, I've never heard the original--of the Magicians' "I'll Tell the World." Walsh even pays homage to Neil Young with "Coming Down." Lyrics are strong, and although he never had the sweetest voice (kinda like the aforementioned Neil Young), he still makes the songs shine, in addition to some of his best guitar work, both catchy and sublimely beautiful. This is a great album to put on and become enthralled in--put it on, turn it up, and let your mind absorb it.
I know there's a million "Any rock fan MUST OWN!" albums out there, but this truly earns the title--and gets left out, unfortunately, as MCA still hasn't reissued an American version. Perhaps with the re-release of "You Bought It--You Name It" and "Got Any Gum" (inferior releases, relative to this), "Barnstorm" and "The Smoker You Drink, The Player You Get" will both get a long-deserved remastering; the Japanese import of Barnstorm is the only way for most fans to get the CD, but the sound quality of it is a bit sketchy, and may sound a bit thin on headphones.
But if you can get your hands on this in any medium (CD, cassette, vinyl, 8-tracks, etc.), do it. Whatever you pay, it'll be worth it.
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by Joe Walsh 
