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

its kind of hard to overestimate the influence of the byrds on so many different types of people from 1966 until the 70's. but certainly dylan/band had just as much influence. both coasts were covered. folk people in general get lost in the shuffle as far as getting credit for bringing old country/mountain music to the kids/hippies. people like mike seeger and a million others toured college campuses for years all through the 60's and made country music cool to non-country audiences. thus the college jug band/string band phenomena of the 60's. every hip college having their olde-tyme combos. just as their were a million collegiate hot jazz societies and bands all across the country in the 40's and 50's.

(not to mention the endless stream of actual folk/blues/country vets who made the college circuit back then.)

Their whole attitude seemed to revolve around being a version of The Band that made a shitload of money and had huge hits

Flying Burrito Bros surely?

But, yeah, the Byrds, but if you thought the Eagles were "hardly Marty Robbins", what about McGuinn?

A related question: what was the relationship, if any, between this album and the crossing-over of outlaw country, which I guess came a little later? Coincidence? Common influences? The idea that Waylon, Willie, and the boys were somehow copying the Eagles seems comical, but something was going on.

it was in the air. well, a lot of things were in the air, but this was one of the things in the air. southern rock via allman brothers and Capricorn really starting to take off too.

outlaw also a reaction to country pop of the era. those dudes weren't having it. no sir.

Their whole attitude seemed to revolve around being a version of The Band that made a shitload of money and had huge hits

Flying Burrito Bros surely?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b7/Poco_1970.jpg

(Frey said as much)

As for "Desperado", I get kind of a Tumbleweed Connection vibe off of this one. Haven't heard Linda's yet, but it seems like the lyric (which, iirc, is written in the voice of a female character) would suit her well. I also remember hearing how bad Henley sounded on the Johnny Cash version when it came out, and at the time if I'd been able to wager money on who'd be dead within a year of it's recording, I wouldn't have picked Johnny.

The idea that Waylon, Willie, and the boys were somehow copying the Eagles seems comical

Waylon's rock roots pre-date the Eagles (and the Byrds too for that matter). Willie never rocked, really.

Nash has got a tell-all book coming out in a couple of weeks.

drug the one you're with

Suite: Judy Glassy Eyes

wineevere

Take It, Sleazy

Crosby himself had just recently ended things with Mitchell, but he was generous with his women, one night even asking his girlfriend, Christine Hinton, to head downstairs to share Nash’s bed.

bleargh...

yet Joni Mitchell is never called 'generous with her men' despite bedding the three of them.

I don't see Frey nor Henley doing that.

Crosby's sexual appeal is a complete mystery to me

o

t

m

I mean I get the whole "power is an aphrodisiac" thing but he was a bald, bloated coke-addled walrus

he's so hobbity

Shakey is good at demystifying the fucker. Those in the know laughed their asses off looking at him.

i think david crosby had extremely high levels of #swag

some women find it irresistible

J.D. Souther is the only one of these soulless miscreants I would've allowed to fuck me, after which I'd cry and write a ballad for Linda Ronstadt.

lol

yeah in Hotel California Souther comes off as this super Lothario who seemed to hold sway over Frey and Henley even at their peak....

loooool Alfred

like in the band private jet JD got to sit in the front w.Frey and Henley and the other dudes in the Eagles had to sit in the back

as far as desperado

i can't really hear this song anymore

"You're a musician?!"
http://i500.listal.com/image/1028921/500full.jpg

and if I remember the book correctly Souther acknowledges that Geffen eyed him a few times.

this is the only way I would have hung out with them

http://www.urbanfarmonline.com/images/bee-keeping/safe-beekeeping_250.jpg

you would have needed that suit and a Publix bag full of poisoned nettles.

i would have a bee-cannon as well to spray them with live bees if needed

Souther comes off as this super Lothario who seemed to hold sway over Frey and Henley even at their peak...

and he's pretty much the only person who holds any real sway over rayna james. i'm sure she'd let him sit in the front of her jet.

haha ok i had to look that up i've never seen nashville but glad JD is working

I thought Souther would be set financially for the rest of his life.

Souther has credits on most the big imperial era Eagles tracks, with some reports claiming a bunch of those songs began with him. Very front of the plane dude.

So Dylan is to blame for all this like "The Band" bs. Figures since he and The Grateful Dead are the only ones that ruined American music more than The Eagles.

mellow out man

take it easy

literally

so is desperado the template for the power ballad? are there earlier power ballads to be aware of?

it's a pretty immaculately constructed song, but it's also just so totally ridiculous.

This is flawless of course. Why on earth did they not release it as a single though? Was that a trend at the time, holding the best thing back for the album, like Gimme Shelter or Stairway to Heaven?

― Ismael Klata, Wednesday, September 4, 2013 9:06 AM (9 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I think the A&R guys genuinely thought this wouldn't likely be a hit. Thus far, their uptempo singles tended to sell better, especially those by outside writers. The two singles that had already been released fell far short of the top 40, and were ignored outside the US. I think they wanted more crazed banjos, or at least gritty guitars on the instrumental bridge.

Is it just me, or does the string section hold onto certain notes on the outro way past their sell-by date?

Also: the Eagles' rise as multiplatinum threat coincided with the softening of the American and British charts. Check out the non-disco and R&B hits on the 1974-1976 charts; then El Lay studio rock rose as a complement to disco.

desperado's just a ballad though? it's not really a power ballad imo

Even if "Desperado" is a power ballad, there's got to be some that came before it. Like Bread for example starting in 1969 - "Make It With You" and "Baby I'm a-Want You" were the power ballads against hard rockers like "Mother Freedom" and "Truckin'". It's just that their rockers didn't become hits, so they became perceived as a (very) soft-rock act rather than a rock band balancing their rockers with AM radio-friendly power ballads.

but it's not a power ballad

its got drums kicking in midway through, strings, backup vox, it's a total power ballad!

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