Hotel California La From The Byrds To The Eagles Torrent
Hedy Madrid
Whereas, I like Eagles considerably more than you, your assessment isquite fair. You explore what Eagle Fans like and what Eagle Bashers Hate.They wrote songs that not only were in various keys both that covered manystyles and speeds. Again you are correct that they were good instrumentalistsnot superstars although Joe Walsh added alot to the band in that area.What probably keeps Eagle songs on the radio is the fact that they appeaserockers, country folk, and easy listening folk. I guess variety is thespice of life.
They were great for the first 3 & one-half albums but it was evidenton parts of One Of These Nights that the dry rot was starting. Thiswould set in permanently with the arrival of Joe Walsh. A pity becausehe was an okay rocker with the James Gang.
I agree with your comments for the most part. They weren't phenomenal,but they didn't suck either, not by a long shot. I enjoy them quite a bit,especially the earlier stuff. However, I do hold a wee bit of disagreementwith your comment that they didn't really have an identity of their own.What about the country/bluegrass touches? Granted, I do think that "countryrock" is a really stupid term, but the influences are undeniable,at least with the early work. Just listen to the beginning of "TequilaSunrise," for example - the opening guitar hook is pure country. Andfor me, being one of the very few individuals on this planet who will admitto liking country and bluegrass music, that's a definite plus.
While I'm no big Eagles fan, this is an obvious blind spot of yours,George, given that you have no Buffalo Springfield, Poco, or Flying BurritoBrothers reviews on your site and still lack reviews of crucial Byrds albums.But simply put, the Eagles were initially popular because they took membersof beloved L.A. bands -- the Burritos, Poco, Linda Ronstadt's band -- andformed a potential supergroup. Only it didn't turn out quite as super asit was supposed to due to an increasingly conservative record industry,a dismally limited FM radio format in most of '70s America, internal frictionswithin the band, and finally a very calculated strategy to break them onAM radio in a way that bands like the Springfield, Poco, and the Burritoscould never quite pull off. All that is to say that while I consider theband to be a rather pale imitation of the bands that inspired it, thereare plenty of reasons why the generation that had heard about groups likethe Byrds and the Springfield but were too young to buy their albums adoredthe Eagles. (To Henley's credit, he and others in the band always go outof their way to say that they were enormous fans of the groups I'm mentioning.Indeed, Henley introduced the Byrds upon their induction into the AmericanRock 'N' Roll Hall of Fame. And I remember hearing Glenn Frey defend DonFelder in '74 by saying he felt Felder was "carrying on the work ofClarence White and Duane Allman," almost as if he had to apologizefor daring to have made the big money that the Byrds and the Allmans neverscored.)
I think your definition of The Eagles was spot on - the band was merelygood, never great. I don't pretend to be an expert on the country-rockgenre, but somehow I think The Eagles were not the best of their styleof music, just the most commercially-successful. Having said that, theywrote some incredible (if more than a little lazy) melodies that probablydeserved the commercial success they attained (although 'Witchy Woman'is probably one of the worst songs written by a respectable band to reachthe upper regions of the charts).
I believe the number of records this band sold in the 70s isn't quiteproportional with the quality of their music. The released some very goodsongs, but these could be collected on 1 CD, and they have been. Apartfrom these songs, they have released a lot of boring material and whatI like least of all is when they try to 'rock'. Desperado is thealbum that has the highest level of quality throughout, although it isno classic. Their best song is "Hotel California" - lyric andall those guitars. On a scale from 1 to 6 I would give every album ***,except Desperado which gets ****. A well-compiled collection I wouldgive *****.
These guys are so easy to listen to.I mean don't dig beneath the surfacecos there's nothing there(apart from working out the concept),or sit ina dark room with a set of headphones expecting to to be taken to anotherplane cos you won't - but they are so easy to listen to.Who can't be sweptalong by songs like "lyin eyes" or "take it easy"?Okyeh some of the rockers don't well..i mean....they just don't rock likeyou say but i think you're rating of one is a little harsh.
Are they Beatles of the 70s? Hell no. Are they an enjoyable little band?Yup. Overrated as hell, though. The Eagles were possibly the most professionalsongwriters ever. They studied what the great acts of the 60s were doingand then used the formula to create fun, intentional "classics"like 'Take It Easy', 'Lyin Eyes' and 'The Long Run', to name a few. Thatsaid, I do really like this band and enjoy most of their output. I noticedyou are missing reviews of On The Border From 1974 and the partlive, part studio Hell Freezes Over from the reunion tour in 94.Both are worth checking out, particularly the later for 4 new songs whichare pretty damn good and a very interesting acoustic verison of 'HotelCalifornia'. The one thing that I whole-heartedly disagree with is youraccessment of 'The Last Resort'. It's one of my favorite songs ever. It'sreally a beautiful piece, George, give it another chance.
Must give credit to Thomas Silvestri, a fellow commentator whose reviewI read a while back. I think his remarks on the Eagles hit much closerto home than George's, although he does make one or two good points. TheEagles were next in line in the "country rock" vein. Bands likethe Buffalo Springfield, Poco, and The Flying Burrito Brothers all hadthe idea first. The Eagles came along, grabbed the ball and ran with it.To much more success than their counterparts. Other bands like The OzarkMountain Daredevils and Firefall would copy the Eagles in the same formatto limited chart success and than fizzle away. The influence the Eagleshave had on modern culture lies in todays top country music stars. Virtuallyall the big names such as Vince Gill and Travis Tritt name them as a majorinfluence and the fact that country has gone from the crying in your beertunes to sounding like a seventies rock record says something. As such,I don't think they are overrated at all. The songwriting team of Henleyand Frey turned in some real memorable tunes and the hooks were so radiofriendly they dripped of AM success. The problem that sank the ship wasthat the egos started to get bigger than the music. This one wanted toplay keyboards, this one wanted to write more songs...you get the picture.Happens to the best of them. The Eagles music will not fizzle out and die.It is a beloved part of American culture. They were the band that nextto the Beatles, everyone wanted to see reunite the most. With a new albumcoming out this year, new generations will be discovering their music instadiums all across the country with their parents who did the same thingthirty years ago. Some things are built to last.
For the longest time I could never figure out where to place this bandin terms of how they fit in pop/rock history. I've liked a lot of theirsongs ('On the Border', 'The Long Run' along several others, to name afew), but flat-out hated others ('Lyin' Eyes', 'One of These Nights' and'Best of my Love' always top my list). I also realize this was a very talentedband -- how many bands have multiple lead singers and multiple songwriters?But there's something missing with these guys and I think that for alltheir talent and success, they're not very important. By that I mean interms of what their mark on music is now. Bands such as the Velvet Underground,Sex Pistols, and the Ramones, to name a few examples sold only a fractionof what the guys sold yet their influence on what is happening in rockmusic now can still be felt through newer bands. The Eagles, as anotherperson pointed out, has influenced modern country acts like Travis Tritt.However, on the alt.country scene (Uncle Tupelo, Whiskeytown The Jayhawks,etc.) their influence is minimal, if at all. On the rock side, forget it.For a band as popular as the Eagles, their influence is not that great.As for comparing them to the Beatles, they're not even in the same universeas far as I'm concerned. The Beatles always pushed the envelope, and expandedtheir sound where as the Eagles always played it safe with their music.Always. Their first priority was to sell as many records as they couldand there's nothing wrong with that. They succeeded in that departmentbecause they knew that they could fill a niche that was open to them atthat time. The other country-rock bands at the time were too quirky or"country" for mainstream tastes, so the Eagles toned down thetwang a little and raised the rock a little and in the process scored big.Smart guys. But in doing so, their music turned out somewhat faceless andlacking in character -- a sort of country-lite or rock-lite -- good tolisten to, but not much there. The Eagles are a very good band that wrotea number of better-than-average to excellent songs and they deserve recognitionfor that, but concerning their place of importance in music history, I'dplace them far down in the pack.
I agree with many of the specific comments you make in your introductionto the Eagles. However, in the mid-seventies I was in my mid-teens andthe Eagles were certainly very popular with young people, in addition perhapsto the sixties generation, in the part of North America where I grew up.
I have seen him in Dallas in 1975 in the cotton bowl. The Eagles blewthe stones off the stage. I also 20 years later was talked into going overto Lauderdale to see the reunion 1 tour for $200 dollars. I am so gladmy brother talked me into the ticket price. Henley was as God Gifted ashe was 20 years ago and Jimmy Schmidts. And they found a "Nothingless than Great lead player we were all in awe of named Steuart Smith.I am so glad I saw that concert sober. I quit drinking thirteen years agoand this was the first large show I had seen since my doctor told me mydrinking and cigarettes were over at thirty-six. But watching Don Henleysing 'Desperado' in Lauderdale got me pulling out my Gibson ES137 witha 57high output humbucker slipped in the bridge. I strum it now and againto relax. I am extremely grateful to the Eagles and especially Henley.I am a Texan born in Temple, Texas in 1955. I like Henley also went toNorth Texas State five years after he left for LA. I flunked out my secondsemester and went back to Temple and wound up living in Austin for approx15 years. I promised my second wife if anything ever happened to her grandmotherin FL, we would go to Bradenton and take care of her. We have been livinghere ten additional years in Sarasota. I opened a mortgage company hereand in Texasaround six years ago. And we own a 30ft hunter sailboat, wedo not have time to sail. So it is for sale. With the proceeds, we aregoing to buy a lot on Lake Belton and build a small bungalo overlookinga hidden cove.Iread some of the critics before writing this note. I donot know how these talented men put up with you as a group.
7fc3f7cf58