Wow. Great news. I love Joe so very much and I'm a big Jeff Lynne fan (I know some here are not). I very much look forward to this one.
On a related topic, could anyone list what Walsh albums have been remastered and what ones have never been remastered and might be OOP?

From antimusic.com:

If you though Hell froze over when The Eagles reunited, you were right; it may have frozen over yet again with the news that Eagles’ guitarist Joe Walsh will release his first solo album in 18 years in 2011.

In a new interview with undercover.fm, Walsh discussed the yet-to-be named album, his first since 1992’s “Songs for a Dying Planet.”

Joe has been working on the new record with Jeff Lynne producing at least half of the songs; he has done the rest.

“I’ve been working on it for a long time during the Eagles downtime,” Joe tells undercover.fm. “I’ve got new stuff after about 18 years that I haven’t done an album. I really like it. It’s Rock and Roll and its new songs. Hopefully it will get out April/May.”

Joe can easily explain the gap between records. “I finally got sober in 1994 and I had to learn actually to write and play and do everything sober,” he says. “I just didn’t write for quite a while. Also the Eagles have really been busy. During downtime I can work on doing an album and I just decided that however long it took would be okay. It’s nice to do one because I want to, and not because I have to, and I’m really happy with it.”

Joe Walsh has had some of the best album titles ever. “You Bought It, You Name It,” “The Smoker You Are The Player You Get” and “You Can’t Argue With A Sick Mind” are just some of his gems. So what will the new one be called?

“I got a couple of them,” says Walsh. “I wish I had some funny ones for you, so I guess I don’t have a title. I went to this Whole Foods Market and the bags that they put the food in, it’s all recycled. On the side of the bag it says, “I used to be a plastic bottle”. And I thought that's a brilliant title. This may be a green album titled “I Used To Be A Plastic Bottle”.

Me too IP. I've never heard an album that Lynne was involved with that I didn't love. Armchair Theater is one of my all time favorite albums.

Joe Walsh albums nearly always have some great material mired by a lot of filler. Hopefully, the two of them have stayed out of each other's ways and didn't just water each other down (which happens so often when good producers work with strong artists). If Walsh lets Lynne do his thing, I would think his production would be perfect for Walsh's style.

Too bad Lynne didn't produce the whole thing.

I am all over this.

Lynne has a great track record when it comes to incoherent artists.

Armchair Theater was a wonderful album. I gifted many a copy.

About time! I can't help but wonder if the Eagles were part of the reason why Joe hasn't done much in the last several years. But then I know that makes no sense at all because the Eagles haven't done much in the last couple of decades. Except, of course, tour with ridiculous ticket prices and then turn around and sell their new release exclusively through Wal-Mart. Not to get political, but are these guys Republicans?

Still, there's an artist who could use the remastered treatment! I love his stuff. James Gang onward!

i just hope lynne doesn't elo-ize joe walsh. meaning using that wall of sound he used for elo all the time and sort of burying the vocals in the mix.

joe should have gotten t-bone burnett or jackson browne to produce and went in that direction.

notwithstanding, whichever way it goes, i will buy it.

The James Gang catalog was remastered a few years back. And Barnstorm was remastered and released through HIp-O-Select. And The Smoker You Drink... was issued last year as a remastered gold disc, so some of Joe's catalog has been redone.

I think that the vocals that Lynne would bury were usually his own. He was called on his lack of confidence, you can hear the difference in Armchair where he let his voice show through a bit. For Petty, Orbison, Harrison... it was more of him putting his pop stamp on the music. I can understand the frustration from fans. If you don't like Lynne's music, you're not going to like your favorite artists compromising their style to make room for Lynne's.

I've been a huge fan of everyone that he's produced and I'm a big fan of Walsh, so this is a win-win for me.

I agree totally. He's a great producer, although you instantly know it's him-he doesn't differentiate too much artist to artist sonically-especially those drum sounds he gets. But I've never had a problem with the vocal production on any of his albums.
I just hope Joe brings the goods with his writing. Without it, the production won't matter much.

I'm a huge Joe fan but not a fan of Lynne/ELO/Travelling Wilburys at all.

Am I incorrect in my perception or does a Lynne produced album mean overproduced arrangements with orchestras, horns, big band sound as opposed to just natural sounding rock guitar/bass/drums (which is what I want to hear from Joe, not ELO)??

Have you heard the Petty albums he produced? Or Dave Edmunds? They're just gtr/bass/keys/drums.
Man, he also did great production on Joe Cocker, Roger McGuinn, Roy Orbison, Del Shannon and Regina Spektor to name a few. I haven't heard him do the ELO production with many acts at all. I also really liked his production on the final 2 Beatles songs in 1995.
One of the best producers ever in my book.
I think the Washington Times agrees with me:
In 2008, The Washington Times named Lynne the fourth greatest record producer in music history.
Anyway, different strokes to quote Conrad bain, but I think Lynne is a genius.

Can't wait for the Walsh/Lynne collaboration! Sounds like a perfect match to me, and Lynne is certainly an adaptable, sympathetic producer. Indeed, his ELO stuff doesn't sound like his Petty stuff which doesn't sound like his Regina Spektor stuff. Lynne has been known to take his time with productions, but usually they're more than worth the wait.

No, I've never heard any of that stuff (strike that - what Tom Petty did he produce? I used to have Damn the Torpedos on LP many years ago). I am unfamiliar with Lynne's work other than thinking of him as big orchestra ELO type stuff. That would be a major bummer for me, being a huge Joe fan, to have him finally come out with a new album & have it sound like ELO (which I don't like). It is a relief to hear that may not be the case.

omg. Jeff Lynne produced Tom Petty's "solo" album Full Moon Fever and the Heartbreakers album Learning to Fly – arguably Petty's two best.

Thanks for saving me the time of saying it myself!

I just hope that the next album has a "Theme From _____ Weirdos" on it. I love those!

I'm not much of a Petty fan so not much I can say about that I guess. My impression of the Petty I have heard is straight ahead rock and if that is what those are like then I am somewhat relieved about JL working with Joe. Again, my naive impression of JL as a producer & what my original post was about - what I think of when I hear his name (wrongly it sounds from you guys) - is ELO, big strings, big arrangements etc. And I don't want to hear Joe Elo.

"Joe-ELO" is A-OK by me. I agree with IP's earlier comment that Lynne is of the best producers ever. Based on Walsh's output since "There Goes the Neighborhood," I'd have minimal interest in this without Lynne; with him, it's an instant purchase.

I'd almost bet on it.

But I'd just be happy to hear new solo Walsh at this point.

let's also hope joe vitale is the drummer.