Joe Walsh has a history of coming up with tongue-in-cheek titles for his solo albums, including ‘You Can’t Argue with a Sick Mind,’ ‘Got Any Gum?,’ and, of course, ‘You Bought It — You Name It.’ But for his upcoming release, due in the winter of 2012, he decided on a more reflective name: ‘Analog Man.’

Walsh explained the title during a recent interview with Ultimate Classic Rock, saying, “I know in the past, I’ve had screwy album titles, but I decided to call it ‘Analog Man.’ Because, you know, my generation of musicians, we grew up analog, and now it’s a digital world. We had to learn it, you know?” 

“Everything’s totally different,” continued Walsh. “There’s no record companies — who knew that would happen? They were so powerful when I was young!”

Album title notwithstanding, ‘Analog Man’ represents Walsh’s first foray into newfangled recording technology. “This is my first real experience doing my music digitally,” he admitted. “In the old days, there was more of a tendency to set up the band, mic everything, record the whole band together and when you got a good take, that was it. You couldn’t go in and make everything perfect. Nowadays, music is constructed. Musicians come in and play their part, and you put them on one at a time.”

Walsh intends to bring a few of the new songs with him on his fall solo tour, which kicks off Tuesday in Austin, Texas. That is, providing he and the band can pull them off. As he put it, “We’re working it up now, it’s kind of complex. I’ve never played it live, so I’m learning it right along with the band. Just cause you can write ‘em doesn’t mean you can play ‘em!”

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