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

Missing two pages (stupid Googlebooks), but here's Grace Lichtenstein's essay on the Desperado lp from Stranded

I had the first dredd foole and the din album too!

I like that essay; stoked for the album now

This is decent, but it kind of makes me think that, in their heart of hearts, they really wanted to be the west coast Band.

^^^

I had the Dredd Foole and the Din album too. Downloaded it to hear it again a few months ago, in fact.

I was 12 or 13 the first time I heard this album, my dad or step-mother owned a copy.

This track felt portentous, like the opening scenes of a grown-up Western. I'd seen "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" but but this seemed darker and meaner: Bill Dalton is not buying either God's will or the law books, he's cussing, he's clearly a serious outlaw. His sidekick appears out of nowhere and joins up like one of the Magnificent Seven. They ride out. To be continued!

At this point I was totally on-board. I loved how the album cover looked like the Time-Life "Old West" books I was getting in the mail:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b5/Thecowboys.jpg

Don't get the love for this one; find it rather dull and unspectacular country-rock, especially for an album opener.

Wow, the Time-Life "Old West" series!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8kZDZ4eXXk

http://img0.etsystatic.com/001/0/5863214/il_570xN.352465900_mckg.jpg

in the 70's there were Osmonds...and lots of cowboys.

and Osmonds dressed as cowboys. obviously. from time to time anyway.

[osmondscrazyhorses.jpg] haha xpost

Well they were a little bit country iirc

The story of the Desperado artwork:

http://youtu.be/lcTTdwv1Xp4

"Twenty-One"

http://www.rockcellarmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Henry-Diltz-Eagles-Gunfire.jpg

http://youtu.be/k-L_sxkI9xY

Digging this. Maybe because it reminds me of the Flying Burrito Brothers' "Christine's Tune." But so far, my favorite/least-annoying Eagles harmony singing.

pretty much "Son of Earlybird" but fine enough (Leadon's main lyrical theme of the time was "being young and a slacker is great, man"---hell, there are worse themes).

The subtitle “Musical Memoir” signals what Ms. Ronstadt’s book is about, but also what it’s not about — the hedonistic excesses of the pop star’s life. She sidesteps the rampant drug use, though in conversation she acknowledged, “I tried everything,” including cocaine, which she did to such excess that she needed to have her nose cauterized, twice. For Ms. Ronstadt, who was often the only woman on the bus and in the hotel, those were not always happy times. “All the men chased girls,” she said. “They were good guys,” she reflected. “Well, no they weren’t. They were cowboys. They were gunslingers.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/01/arts/music/linda-ronstadt-discusses-her-memoir-and-parkinsons.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0

I keep hearing songs like this and going, Really? The best-selling American band of all time?

But then I look at the list, see that ABBA even beats them and go, Damn, American bands. Get with it.

The Beatles
Michael Jackson,
Madonna
Led Zeppelin,
Elton John
Pink Floyd
Mariah Carey
Celine Dion,
AC/DC
Whitney Houston
The Rolling Stones
Queen
ABBA
Eagles

Doolin Dalton is nice and I like 21, I'm a sucker for banjo ..not a bad start

The Eagles have the best-selling album in the US, but Thriller still trounces it in the rest of the world.

Best selling album in the U.S. that's not a compilation by an American band : Rumours

Best selling album in the U.S. that's not a compilation by a full-blooded American band: Appetite for Destruction

Best selling album in the U.S. that's not a compilation by a full-blooded American band not from California: Boston

Nice one. A cool step back from "Doolin'"'s cinematic panorama. Who's on dobro?

Bernie.

Fleetwood Mac is an American band?

the restrictive clauses are confusing

I think of them as more of a multinational, the result of a series of well-planned mergers.

They are not coming to your town, nor will they help you party down.

loool

Fleetwood Mac is an American band?

That's why I had to add "full-blooded" to the next one. Thank God it wasn't Foreigner.

I wasn't aware until this week that Desperado and its singles sold relatively poorly upon its release. Unless there's some deep cuts I'm unaware of (and of course, there are many), I think they gave up this banjo-y stuff once they made it huge.

It's going to be weird doing a concept album day-by-day. What'm I supposed to say about Twenty-One? It's a banjo-led ditty that doesn't sound like The Eagles. I'd never listen to it if we weren't doing this thread. It's ... I don't know what it is.

Xpost Actually there's banjo stuff as long as Leadon was in the band.

makes sense

I had this silly image in my head of Bernie Leadon just constantly walking around playing banjo the whole time he's in the Eagles, it's just that they only decided to mike him every now and then

so far, this is my fave deep cut. it moves, it's got some banjo, and, well, the competition from the other deep cuts isn't all that strong.

You have to be 21 if you want to chug all night.

I had this silly image in my head of Bernie Leadon just constantly walking around playing banjo the whole time he's in the Eagles, it's just that they only decided to mike him every now and then

Makes me wish this was on Desperado.

"Out Of Control"

http://i.imgur.com/MmliVkD.jpg

http://youtu.be/g23Qj9iUgOA

This is rubbish. What are they thinking, putting this average bar band boogie third up on their big concept album?

reminds me a little of Slade.

Glenn Frey takes another dump midway through the 1st side of an Eagles record.

song plays over montage of Tom Cruise taking shots and impressing girl in 1987 Jerry Bruckheimer flick.

Actually there's banjo stuff as long as Leadon was in the band.

He did some pretty mean pickin' on one song on the BBC In Concert programme - I confess i have no idea what the song was, but it was one of these:

*Train Leaves Here This Morning
Saturday Night
*Peaceful Easy Feeling
Certain Kind Of Fool
Early Bird
Out Of Control
*Witchy Woman
*Take It Easy

*not these, I know those songs

Henley's drumming is surprisingly lively. But this is basically a 2nd-rate "Fool for the City" or "Rock & Roll Band" (the Boston song).

Sounds like a tape of my college-era band rehearsing - we could never all agree when to end the song and everyone wanted to get in the last lick.

I was kinda liking this album until this song....

Glenn Frey takes another dump midway through the 1st side of an Eagles record.

― col, Monday, September 2, 2013 9:37 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

beautifully put.

the first two songs on this record might actually get you thinking that there's a whole record of reasonably enjoyable music ahead of you, and then this song is like no way man you're still just listening to the eagles.