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

Amazing, this is pure Neil Young to me, even more than the other Neil Young one. It's neater and slicker but there's much less character in the vocals. Again the guitars sound great, but I'd rather be hearing Neil play. And a Neil lyric too, not this outlaw theme.

Can you key me in on the outlaw thing actually? I mean we like a bad boy too, but a big part of it is that they supposedly only hurt their own. Not the case for the guys I've been reading about thanks to this album.

Very weird they chose this one as a single over "Desperado," esp. as "Tequila Sunrise" had pretty much stiffed. & hearing this in sequence, you're really starting to reach the limits of the concept: okay, guys, you're outlaws, jesus, enough.

doesn't hold up well when A/B to the original: the way Frey spits out "man" in the chorus doesn't work for me. Some odd Glyn Johns choices, too: why are the cymbals mixed so loud? first E's track in a while I recall have so much keyboard on.

last line in English: first Eagles track in a while to have so much keyboard on it, if i recall

to be fair, i had a REALLY hard time finding a decent youtube audio track. there were a bunch and almost all of them seemed to come from the same bad digital source. very hissy and tinny. so, you'd have to check a better quality rip or the cd or vinyl for what it actually sounds like.

Eagles are rock and roll posers. Yeah I said it. This is the real thing. This is the original artist. Yeah I said it. Pay your hundred dollar plus tickets so you can brag about seeing the Eagales

Some odd Glyn Johns choices, too: why are the cymbals mixed so loud?

Yeah, that's definitely not Glyn's style at all. Might've been Henley's choice, given that the main reason for splitting from Glyn was so Henley could have more control over the drum mix.

Glenn Frey is in the backup vocal mix on the David Blue version too (i think - he's credited with backup vocals on the album, but it's not broken down song by song). Produced by Graham Nash btw.

I was away for the last two days; "Doolin-Dalton Instrumental" - they really should've put a banjo reprise on all their albums, like a 48-second frenzied banjo version of Hotel California. "Certain Kind of Fool" - the Eagles should have replaced Meisner with a dog, too.

Since we started this record I have constantly had a weird eagles-petty conflation going through my head

They were doolin
Doolin dalton
Down in Dixie
On a Sunday mornin'

I think that's just Nash doing the harmonies on the David Blue version.

Anyway the Eagles: I see they changed the lyrics to make it more cowboy (dropping "'56 Chevrolet" for "Santa Fe") and the Johns production is certainly more full-bodied. Frey gives a fine 'in character' vocal. Blue is more casual, with a stoner cool fitting the timeline of his lyrics, whereas Frey comes off like a gunfighter living off more a perceived reputation than any real accomplishments.

My parents have this weird Warner Bros. 2 lp set called Heavy Metal from '74. Supposedly a review of their hard rock/metal roster of the time (which is served by including "Iron Man", "Smoke On The Water" and the censored "Kick Out The Jams"), it also features less rockin' stuff from rockin' bands ("D'yer Maker", "Cindy Incidentally") and popular hits of the day ("Ride Captain Ride", "Right Place, Wrong Time") and what would become rarities (a Bolin-era James Gang track, the extended 'Stephen Stills Sex Sounds' version of "Bluebird"). The Eagles are represented by "Outlaw Man", which is sandwiched between "Domino" and "Starship Trooper".

Here's the discogs page for that album.

Fun Fact: "Outlaw Man" is the only single from the band's heyday that never made it to any of their comps, which means David Blue (or whomever it is that controls his publishing) has never benefited from as much royalty-wise as he could have.

david blue died pretty young.

and to tie everything here together neatly, one of the last things he did before he died was appear in human highway.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/be/Humanhighwaystill06.jpg

Human Freyway

"Saturday Night"

http://www.donhenleyonline.com/images/DHenleyJennyHalsallMeisnerLindaPenneyLondon.jpg

http://youtu.be/PC2YG2WSrtE

Where is everybody?

This one is pleasant, with lovely instrumentation. I guess they didn't know The Springfield tackled the same query (albeit in unreleased fashion) some time before: http://youtu.be/IDCnGZMhpow

Sorry, was listening to this over and over earlier but couldn't think of anything to say. It's nice, but really boring. In fact that's my takeaway from the thread - a lot of the time, The Eagles are really boring. It's a deep kind of boredom too - they can bore you over the course of a few seconds, just by repeating a phrase where once would've been enough. The intro to Certain Kind Of Fool is a top example.

Actually I'm being a bit unfair to this, it's very pleasant. The mandolin is nice. They could've gone so many more interesting places with it, but it's a decent job.

There's a couple of nice unexpected chords in the coda too.

One last thing on Outlaw Man - the bass gets good towards the end when it gets high. I didn't pick up on it until I had the headphones on today.

its pretty. this last song. but again listen to it 2 or 3 times and then try and remember what it sounds like in an hour. you will have trouble remembering.

So true. I was wondering if that explained the success of the Greatest Hits - that generally these albums would be poor investments, but they have a *just* high enough strike rate to make a compilation worthwhile before the band is completely spent. So come 1975 or whenever, they're good enough to put out a killer ten-tracker, seasoned enough pros to cash in properly, yet average enough to not attract diehards and hence were able to keep their bad bits unknown and effectively be launching as a new band. I can't think of anyone else who quite meets all these tests.

It's nice. Great to listen to on Sunday. Proof that you have to give them their due for harmonies. It almost sounds like a toy box at the end. Would put on a mix tape for someone I didn't really know.

That maybe doesn't quite work; I see they were on a golden run right through late 74/75, with the Greatest Hits in 76. Which I guess may mean they were touring their asses off through 75, building momentum, and were then in the happy position of dropping a part-familiar-part-obscurish solid gold banker to consolidate.

So come 1975 or whenever,, they're good enough to put out a killer ten-tracker, seasoned enough pros to cash in properly, yet average enough to not attract diehards and hence were able to keep their bad bits unknown and effectively be launching as a new band. I can't think of anyone else who quite meets all these tests.

plus, they immediately follow up with their career album. how many bands do that?

Elton John, sort of. He followed up his first hits set w/Captain Fantastic..., which was like the first album to ship Platinum.

"Bitter Creek"

http://www.bernieleadononline.com/images/BLeadonBorderOuttake.jpg

http://youtu.be/cNzg7uSBkCQ

i dig it. i dig the vibe. now THIS is desert-swept chillwave. the percussion sounds nice. backing vocals suitably chilly. i don't even mind that its basically 5 minutes of meandering. i mean, its about a creek. creeks meander.

It sounds faintly like Gerry Rafferty. It's not offensive but no standout: the George Harrison track.

Not crazy about this one, but "Saturday Night" is lovely; the first new-to-me Eagles track I've really liked so far.

this experience was leaving me bored and irritated, so i gave up but then today i decided to give it a try.

i guess this song is ok? does he say "you know there ain't no cost of wheat?" the lyrics to this song are p weak (like every eagles song i've ever heard) but the music/his voice/the style of singing are pleasant enough. that's the most positive thing i can think of to say. it kinda reminds me of firefall and i like them.

the jam at the end was pretty good too

I liked the jam, too.

i used to think it was dumb when people said that punk rock saved us from prog rock and arena rock or whatever but i'm starting to think it makes sense that punk was trying to save us from eagles.

"cause to weep"

I think it was at this point in the album that my wife came in the room, paused to listen for a moment, and told me I might as well be listening to Bread.

But I like this one.

"So come 1975 or whenever,, they're good enough to put out a killer ten-tracker, seasoned enough pros to cash in properly, yet average enough to not attract diehards and hence were able to keep their bad bits unknown and effectively be launching as a new band. I can't think of anyone else who quite meets all these tests."

this is a good point--though it's not quite the same parallel, the Bee Gees and Fleetwood Mac also rebooted themselves in '75 as well.

missed "Saturday Night." have little to say about it but that it's the only full band composition?, suggesting maybe it was cobbled together from a couple of half-finished pieces the band. And did they do the Band-esque mic-passing from Henley to Meisner again?

"bitter creek": as odes to peyote go, this works. But Leadon's aesthetic of laziness and spaced-out meandering can only go so far before it starts feeling oppressive in its laid-back way.

I think it was at this point in the album that my wife came in the room, paused to listen for a moment, and told me I might as well be listening to Bread.

hahaha I would rather listen to Bread than more than half of the Eagles songs we've heard so far in this thread, but I'm a total sucker for 70s AM soft rock.

The last two songs've been keepers IMO.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_Springs_Massacre

idk if there's any real connection -- probably they just liked the sound of the placename -- but an interesting article nonetheless

i love Bread. Guitar Man and Manna might be my favorite albums. they were such a great studio band. and much more varied than people might think if all they know is the hits. and most people probably only know the hits. all kinds of goodness on Bread albums.

(I noted the same about Bread upthread....)

Desperado is the only Eagles album I own on vinyl (or on any physical or digital format), and I bought it largely for "Bitter Creek and its gorgeous CSN&Y-esque harmonies toward the end at 2:06-2:23 and again from 3:15 to the end of the song. I didn't until last week know this song was part of the album's "concept", but it works on it's own too. Heard it on an AAA station mid-'80s and was surprised to learn this was an Eagles song. One of their best.

So Firefall comes along, takes one look at the Eagles catalogue and says, "'Bitter Creek', that's what we should base our entire sound on."

Nice rattlesnake sound with the tambourine, though.

I love this. Like the percussion sounds and the tea-chest bass - it's like some kids have rigged up a skiffle band, only with really expensive guitars and mics, plus expert harmonising. its gorgeous CSN&Y-esque harmonies toward the end at 2:06-2:23 and again from 3:15 to the end of the song otm, and I dig the guitarwork throughout.

The slow pace really works here, giving it an air of menace, heat and laziness as appropriate. But importantly balanced out by drop-ins and unexpected twists, rhythms and playing. It keeps it interesting, unlike so much of the crap we've been sorting through to get here. The best yet.

this reminds me of pink floyd a bit in the carefully mic-ed fake blues, melody lines & high school poetry

playing catch-up

so far digging "Outlaw Man"....good chorus...really good guitar solo too...really nice basslines in the sped-up part...

"Bitter Creek"'s a good 'un. CSNY-esque with the emphasis on the 'Y'. Kinda wish the "jam part" was...jammier(?).

Bread >>> Eagles

So glad I'm not alone re Bread.

the people who know KNOW. you know?

Bread is Good.

Can I join the Bread love in?