A Good Day In Hell - The Official ILM Track-By-Track EAGLES Listening Thread

Don't know much about Rick Roberts beyond the 3rd Burrito Bros album, which I love

I despise this, it's so complacent. I mean, if you're dispensing wisdom about how life is so great, and more particularly how your life is so great and nothing's going to get to you, don't make it a midtempo major key number with a perfect arrangement and full harmonies. There's no way in.

The voice whispering in his ear, and what he learned years ago, maybe, and 'already standing on the ground' - they're a neat lyrical trick but neutralised by the vocal and arrangement. This guy's a winner, not a resigned loser.

How did these uptight prickly guys get a monopoly on easy anyway? It plainly was what the public wanted. A big slab of easy, medium done. No garnish.

The thing is, it's undeniably nice and beautifully crafted, and it's a pleasure to hear; it's just so empty.

I like the long guitar solo though, nice and understated. The last few bars remind me of something off (I think) Exile In Main Street. I like that thin tone.

peaceful easy feeling is a good song

but yeah this is a really mediocre album

opening lines for this, especially with Frey's delivery, just make me lol bcz they sound like bad highschool love poetry

I like the way your sparkling earrings lay
against your skin so brown

also I've related elsewhere that I always get a weird creeped out vibe from it, it sort of sounds vaguely threatening in parts if you imagine the dude singing the lines is like a Jim Thompson stalker creep

if i'm in a less than generous mood i hear the lyrics these days as a come on to a groupie (a la the faces "stay with me") but when i'm feeling it, it's not a douchey statement from some asshole winner but from a regular bro who's been through a few heavy relationships, reflecting that he isn't looking for romance to save him anymore

Oh, but she can't take you anyway,
You don't already know how to go

acknowledging here he's gotten carried away, and appreciating what he has/who he is, almost as an affirmation, to prevent himself from seeing something that isn't there (yet)

i don't know if fairly ugly misogyny has ever sounded more genial than on "stay with me"

I can't be objective about this song because I've been hearing it my entire life. I can tell I'm going to get real tired of the casual, 70s dude sexism in their lyrics, though.

xp heh

I get this feeling I may know you
As a lover and a friend

I guess we found that seventh woman from "Take It Easy".

we need a venn diagram

Nice guitar work, but otherwise meh. In the Crowe interview for the Very Best of notes, Frey says this:

Back then, Poco was the band that impressed me most. Their vocals were pristine and perfect. They were the band I wanted to model us after. We loved all the singing bands — The Byrds and The Beach Boys — but to be honest, right then I had my eye on Poco… and I wanted to chug go beyond them too.

Classic Frey. I'll be a good boy & only link to the Spanish version of the Lebowski scene. Apparently this was the scene that convinced Allen Klein to clear the TVZ "Dead Flowers" for the film (he hated the Eagles too). Jeff Bridges later claimed that Frey gave him some shit about the scene, but he didn't remember specifics, other than "my (own) anus tightened as I listened to him".

to me this sounds like early dylan in the full chords and shameless changes. there was a latent complacency & sexism in that folk/hippie scene that i always hear ringing in that stuff, readymade for crossover into this countrified americana. the retreat from the political into the personal that you hear talked of re: '70s Laurel Canyon scene etc. wasn't such a big one.

Anyone see the BBC doc "Hotel California: From the Byrds to the Eagles?" I've heard good things.

"Tryin'"

http://randymeisneronline.com/images/poco.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fsWqJSaAMA

a little sub-Poco filler to close out the album. seems appropriate. we just have one non-album b-side to go and we will close the book on this album. so close!

a little palate cleanser:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfQjLxAeRZo

damn i've already forgotten my own rule about links and embeds. need more coffee...

More boilerplate. Again the intro is good, and the growly lower register that the guitars deploy suits them. I like the lead guitar, though it's completely standard; but the tame backing in the verses/solo spoils it. The bridge/chorus is much better. The breakdown and outro are boring, as are the vocals. They should just ditch any attempts at prettiness, or at least deploy them only occasionally for effect - it's not too bad when the harmonies appear one-word-per-verse, but the coda is rubbish. And for once the drumming's only wussy.

Overall the album scores a (4). Bitchin' one-two, thereafter mostly filler; but there are one or two good songs, and it always sounds nice. With a bit more confidence and more rigorous quality control I can see them putting out a much better second album. Otherwise wait for the Greatest Hits.

The guitar at the beginning, and the high vocals in the first line, reminded me of Rush's "Fly By Night."

Not a horrible song; if I heard it on the radio my reaction would be "That's the Eagles?" But I wouldn't be itching to hear it again.

I mentioned the Eagles to my guitar teacher yesterday, and he went into a total rage, relating what it was like to be stuck in the back of the family car on a road trip, with no option other than AM radio, and hearing the same Eagles songs, over and over again, hour after hour. There was practically spit flying from his mouth.

Nothing but good things to say about their musicianship and harmonies, though.

this defines "innocuous"

Tryin' sucks.

The message of the eagles s/t is that they need to get more negative ASAP. Their inner assholes are struggling to get out and this cap'n easytimes thing is stifling them.

This song makes me realize that this is going to be a very long thread.

it's a strong one!

btw every time I click on this thread and see the photo of Glenn Frey rocked by laughter I want to strangle babies

The Eagles as babies, presumably.

"Eagles Babies" with Linda Ronstadt as Nanny.

no hyperbole, i think i could make a mix of 500 similar songs from that era that are all better than "tryin'". eagles are definitely testing my faculties. uh....the guitars sound fine...???

i do like the little echo blasts of multi-tracking on some words. "get back...!"

FREY: Listen, Randy. You're going to get out there and do "Take It to the Limit" and you're going to hit all the high notes! We're Eagles, man.

MEISNER: But I'm sick! I can't do it every night! I miss my family!

FREY: OK, then if no "Limit", we're going to do "Tryin'" instead.

MEISNER: [CRIES] Get Schmidt to do it!

"In 2003, the album was ranked number 374 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time."

they need to listen to some more records over there at RS.

2003 though, there had only been about 510 albums released at that point

and Jann presumably has other things to do besides listen to 510 albums

btw every time I click on this thread and see the photo of Glenn Frey rocked by laughter I want to strangle babies

He's laughing at you. He's laughing at all of you.

I drove to work listening to the whole first album, and even though we discovered that a good majority of the songs are kinda sucky to some degree or another, as an album it really almost is the definition of easy listening. Don't crank it, just keep it down kinda mid-range or low, you can still think about whatever you want bcz it's not going to demand a whole lot of attention from you, and there's a nice innocuous groove for most of it. Which is not a thing I ever really want from music very often unless I've got a headache but, well there you go.

Does RS giving it a nod have more to do with it just being the *first* album and Witchay Woman and the bitchin album art? Someone shoudl find out if they actually listened to Chug.

Oh and re: Tryin?

"Hi we're Sucky Boston and we are gonna rock you tonight"

this rivals Chug for the worst song on the album imo. Randy's strangled vocals and general caterwauling and lame attempts to 'rock out' it's just all embarrassing

my two big probs with it are 1) the total lack of coherence--too many songwriters, singers, styles, etc. and it doesn't really come together, and 2) a couple of songs that had some potential just feel incomplete and rushed.

this reminds me sonically and vocally of Chris Bell-era Big Star. except it's way more boring.

it's v boring

on't crank it, just keep it down kinda mid-range or low, you can still think about whatever you want bcz it's not going to demand a whole lot of attention from you,

Don Henley sex advice

lol otm

I'm gonna bore you in the night until your skin turns red.

loool

7 women on my mind, four that wanna to bore me, two that wanna bone me, one says she's a friend of mine

yeah the first 30 seconds reminded me of Big Star

what's with all the intros on this album being better than the song?

man, these guys were lucky they got Take it Easy and Peaceful Easy Feeling handed to them or they could have been just another forgotten dollar bin 70s band

they got those songs and still almost pissed it way--desperado didn't exactly light up the charts.

v true re big star. a better lead guitarist would help. wonder what they'd sound like with someone like, say, joe walsh.

if he joined now though we'd be robbed of some awesome james gang which shits all over every eagles song

otm