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

Shaw was right — “Youth is wasted on the young.”

ugh fuck this creep

there is nothing like watching someone who had never learned how to play the bass play the bass for 30 years. so bizarre. on the other hand, some of them are inadvertent Boredoms-level dementia noise solos.

― scott seward, Thursday, September 19, 2013 5:42 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i wld like a grayfolded-like disc of this, pl

hello FCC! enjoying the assholes complaining about how NYC/Brooklyn is no good now that they're no longer in their 20s on that other forum you and I fuck with?

ha! and yes! and since you are asking me this in the middle of a discussion about the eagles, i will note that here in LA, home of the eagles, i have never heard a single person complain about how much better things used to be. not once. ever.

It's hard to think critically about this track---it's the sound of my childhood, still stuck in the first floor of my memory (for some reason, I associate it with a shabby steakhouse off the Blue Ridge Parkway that my folks went to on their anniversary)---but I agree that Henley isn't quite the right fit here, though he's by far the best singer in the band.

As much as I've blasted him, and will continue to, this song might've worked better with Frey. Because there's a real callowness in the lyric, sung by a dude who promises "the best" of his love is still reserved for the girl he's leaving (the bottom 40% of his love gets spent elsewhere, one imagines). Sung in Frey's voice, its innate shadiness would've come through stronger; Henley sweetened it out too much. Still, this is the song that broke 'em big; there's a sort of B.C./A.D. Eagles moment with this one and tomorrow's (unless there's a B-side i've forgotten) entry.

no non-album b-sides for on the border.

yeah, from a quick look at the singles: the Eagles were pretty stingy on non-LP b-sides, huh? there's like one in the whole decade.

The Christmas/New Year single is the only other non-lp item from their Imperial Phase.

any link to the Henley interview about "Sara"? I've heard this story for years. I hope it's true.

I forgot to say yesterday, but the key change in Good Day In Hell is disgusting

@FCC could that be because people in LA are stupid and shallow? that's not my impression…but that's inevitably what people who have lived there but are now in NYC believe…

Odd that so many of you don't seem to care for Kiss. I have a certain amount of NYC pride in them, as they are indisputably the biggest NYC band ever. I look at them as the Yankess to the Ramone's Mets. I also think they wrote and recorded awesome, well-crafted songs about partying and fucking: alongside Van Halen and Aerosmith, they are part of the Holy Trinity that inspired a bunch of dirtbags to move to the Sunset Strip, fuck chicks, do drugs, look ridiculous and make frequently great songs about partying and fucking. The Eagles, notably, yielded the mantle of dominant SoCal band to VH: you didn't see a bunch of bands in 80s LA evoking them.

It is true that Kiss doesn't have much of footprint on Classic rock radio. On another thread, i spoke of the tendencies of AOR radio in Louisville KY, more or less reflective of mid-south/Mid west culture. Kiss was not played on this format in the early 80s. I think, to programmers in the era that immediately predated "classic rock" and for that matter Clear Channel, Kiss were embarrassing. They were for kids, and also were kinda old-fashioned by 82-83. By that same token, I never ever heard Springsteen, Van Morrison, or Led Zeppelin or in fact the Eagles on the AOR station in Louisville. Those acts were basically gone.

But they did play don Henley. They played John Cougar. They played Journey. They played 38 Spayshul. They played the new singles by the acts that AOR programmers and the consultants I'm sure were on the case knew young southern/midwestern males dug. In many ways, AOR was just the top 40 of guys that were suspicious of black people and what their girlfriends liked. Classic rock radio, which emerged a few years later, is really quite boring relatively speaking.

But in my experience, AOR never fucked with glam metal. they started and stopped with Van Halen. No Motley Crue and no Ratt. Kiss of course hitched their cart to the genre they inspired, and this was reflected by their presence on MTV in the mid '80s. but later, I think, Kiss is still held at arm's length by classic rock radio. which speaks well of Kiss.

I am the king of "good day in hell" thread drift. Look upon my works, ye mighty, and despair!

KISS is held at arm's length by classic rock radio because the vast majority of their songs are shitty. those dudes could not write a tune (and they know it!), their playing barely qualifies as "workmanlike" most of the time

i've never liked Kiss. they may be the only well-known american hard rock band that i don't like! how's that for a distinction? on paper they are the greatest thing on earth. i've said it on here before, an evil fire-breathing bloody kabuki devil comic book band? it can't lose! i'd rather listen to the archies any day of the week. my brother loved Kiss when we were kids. my youngest song went through a Kiss phase that lasted for a while and i think i heard enough Kiss to last me my entire life. i have never owned one of their records either. i think if you loved them when you were a kid you will always kinda love them. i can dig it. i like Ace okay. saw him play in a bar in brewster, ny once pre-comeback tours and he was lots of fun. i like his big hit. but even his big hit is nowhere near as good as the original version of his big hit.

as a kid I liked KISS without ever being able to identify their songs on the radio or even tell you what any of their songs were. the music was completely incidental. and you go back and look at their recorded output and it's obvious to see why - their songs suck, they didn't have the hooks or the chops to pull it off.

they needed someone like Chinn/Chapmann behind them feeding them tunes, which just didn't happen for whatever reason (greed probably)

naw. I humbly submit that Clear Channel and its discontents care not one single whit, despite various station Id spots proclaiming fealty to notions of enduring quality, etc etc, for the merits of songs. They care about familiarity. I'm sure market research has decreed Kiss' lack of prominence as such.

As to Kiss' musicianship: the only person onboard who you might cast aspersion towards is Peter Criss, who, BTW, did a better job at enacting his band's rhythmic agenda then Henley did for his. Marginally.

I still dig a tiny handful of Kiss songs, and Alive! is a decent record (though ffs, they were not by any stretch "the P-Funk of white rock" that the 1994 Book Of Rock Lists -- or, more specifically, James Bernard -- proclaimed).

I saw them in 1997, thinking it'd be a fun spectacle, and it was. But two songs in, it dawned on me: they don't swing for shit. They're not AC/DC.

Clear Channel and its discontents care not one single whit, despite various station Id spots proclaiming fealty to notions of enduring quality, etc etc, for the merits of songs. They care about familiarity

not denying this (its definitely true) but the reason KISS songs aren't familiar to most listeners is because their shit isn't actually catchy. "Rock and Roll All Night" is as hook-laden as they got, and that one wears out it's welcome by the end of the first chorus.

i like, don't love, kiss and my favorite song of theirs is "beth," which i'm sure makes me suspicious at best and criminally soft at worst, and which also probably explains why i'm here hanging out on an eagles thread instead of, for example, the bunnybrains thread.

@veronica i have no grand theory re people in la vs people in ny except that maybe i'm not hanging around with enough hipsters and media elitists here in the california sun. also, classic rock radio here plays both the eagles and van halen to death, as one might expect. it also plays both boston and the cars to death. go figure.

I was kinda shocked watching a live clip of their 70s stage show awhile ago at just how leaden they were. I have a dim memory of Simmons willingly copping to their lack of musicianship and songwriting abilities as a factor behind their decision to go so hard with the schtick - they knew they needed something else to get over.

xp

Why in the hell did I think Kiss was from Boston.

I wasn't getting them confused with Aerosmith? But I could've swore that where Kiss was from.

But they're not. Nowhere in the world does it say Kiss is from Boston except wherever my head was at two minutes ago and for the past 35 years.

they are soooooo deadly slow and plodding. and not in a cool doom metal slow and plodding way. and they weren't heavy enough! some good talented heavy band should do an album of kiss songs where everything is faster and heavier. i know people have covered a million kiss songs, but one actual good Kiss album with Kiss nowhere near the place would be cool. i always wished that someone would do that with guided by voices too. have a really good rock band with a good singer cover their best and catchiest songs. and i still want willie nelson to do an album of Dead covers. there is still time. would be his biggest album ever. and he could really do them great. i have a lot of ideas...

Not to distract from the Kiss Konversation, but I just wanted to share that in order to balance out this thread, I ordered and now have received today the first six (count 'em) Michael Nesmith albums on CD.

I'm thinking right now, which would sound better/worse: an album of KISS songs covered by the Eagles, or an album of Eagles songs covered by KISS? Either could be so cringeworthy it would be great......

Back to "Best Of My Love". Nothing to sneer at here; this is a great song and the Eagles' best. Nice guitar picking, a strong melody, gorgeous pedal steel guitar throughout courtesy of Bernie Leadon, and lyrics that adroitly capture those three words I've heard (and said) too many times - "this isn't working":

"I'm going back in time and it's a sweet dream
It was a quiet night, and i would be alright, if i could go on sleeping
But every morning i wake and worry what's gonna happen today
You see it your way, i see it mine, but we both see it slippin' away"

I can't help but imagine an alternate reality where, as with the previous album Desperado, the label issued two flop singles (in this case "Already Gone" which barely cracked the top 40 and "James Dean" which fell far short), and decided to quit there, not bothering to release "Best Of My Love" as a third single just as they didn't "Desperado". They wouldn't have had their first of five chart-toppers, and maybe the Eagles would have shortly thereafter fell into obscurity, or at least a band that couldn't fill stadiums at $150/seat at reunion concerts.

Apparently John Lees released BOML as a single before the Eagles did. I like his vocals better than Henley's on this song, but don't care for the arrangement.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlX-mfrFGPw

oops I tried to post that as a link but it imbedded anyway

its funny i love barclay james harvest (much more than eagles) and there is nothing better about that version to me.

don't stress about embeds. it was just a suggestion. i think if i keep 80+ eagles songs or whatever it is off of this thread we should be readable for the forseeable future.

This is an Eagles song even Ronnie Van Zant or Merle Haggard couldn't fix. Flat, motionless, as dynamic as unflavored gum.

But they did play don Henley. They played John Cougar. They played Journey. They played 38 Spayshul.

Every one of these people wrote at least six songs better than KISS.

Well. Not Journey.

live on stage with souther in 1977. not that it really matters that he's there too much.

http://youtu.be/vAoNKK32FiU

totally Journey! Journey wrote some great songs. i would totally be into a Journey discography party! that would be fun.

been listening a lot to the 3rd burritos record s/t.
it's such the blueprint for these dudes even factoring in the obvious leadon connection, way more than the parsons-era stuff
pretty slept on record, bernie such a tasty player

Xpost Journey would be weird 'cause the first couple weeks would be their fusion albums.

totally Journey! Journey wrote some great songs. i would totally be into a Journey discography party! that would be fun.

― scott seward, Friday, September 20, 2013 9:18 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

fuckin a

You guys have fun with that.

JD's voice still sounds good. from 2011:

http://youtu.be/Dy8yB9NfIQM

seeing as peter criss came up, i really like this picture of him & ny dolls drummer jerry nolan.
http://www.thingsfrommythings.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/PeteJerry.jpg

"One Of These Nights"

http://i2.listal.com/image/5210652/700full.jpg

http://youtu.be/T9ozGsAtY28

best intro ever in the history of intros.

now see here's ground zero for the Eagles we love to hate. Henley hones his persona.

kinda love this song. ultimate camaro rock.

http://www.dankoreproductions.com/wp-content/themes/danko/images/static-headers/1974-1977-camaro-z-28.jpg

Eagles Disco! How nuts it must have been to have heard this for the first time in '75. To go from "Best of My Love" to this. That said, I'm not too crazy about this one. Decent enough groove, but the guys once again prove that while they have excellent taste in influences, they were still streets behind in emulating them.

cameron:

ONE OF THESE NIGHTS
DON: We’d started to explore our love of rhythm & blues and the Gamble & Huff records that came out of Philadelphia. We were also huge fans of Al Green. Glenn was the catalyst for this song. I think he sat down with a guitar and started playing that rhythm part [sings it]. It was another song from the “Lyin’ Eyes” house. We like to call it our “satanic country-rock period” [laughs]. Because it was a dark time, both politically and musically, in America. There was turmoil in Washington and disco music was starting to take off. We thought, “Well, how can we write something with that flavor, with that kind of beat, and still have the dangerous guitars?” We wanted to capture the spirit of the times. So, perched up there on top of that hill, almost all night, every night, we had a big, phantasmagorical scene which included songwriting and, uh — research. Lots of research.

The song is a great showcase for high harmony. Meisner hit some notes that only dogs could hear. We also started getting into harmony parts on guitars that simulated horn riffs. It was a cool record.

GLENN: We had Don Henley’s voice, which allowed us to go in a more soulful direction, which made me exceedingly happy. There’s no doubt in my mind that One Of These Nights was the most fluid and “painless” album we ever made. A lot of things came together on One Of These Nights — our love of the studio, the dramatic improvement in Don’s and my songwriting. We made a quantum leap with “One Of These Nights.” It was a breakthrough song. It is my favorite Eagles record. If I ever had to pick one, it wouldn’t be “Hotel California”; it wouldn’t be “Take It Easy.” For me, it would be “One Of These Nights.”

I'm gonna start calling all the bad stuff I do "research".

Roach otm, this is their best track

if i were in that camero i'd be playing air guitar on the first two notes of that guitar solo.

the whole arrangement is so tight. the major sevenths behind the "oooohs" on that bridge part. where did this thing come from?

for a long time I thought "Nights" was the Eagles hearing "Jive Talkin'" and firing this off in response (esp given the falsetto harmonies in the outro), but as it turns out it pre-dates any of the '75 Bee Gees records. So working in parallel courses w/the Gibbs, it seems.

it's basically "Son of 'Witchy Woman'," much like how "Already Gone" was a snottier update of "take it easy." Build on the original hit, play it hard and give it even more hooks. This is a monster: ultimate Camaro rock as scott said.

yt commenter: "This verse may possibly be some of the best songwriting in history. I feel so cheated as my generation seem to think songwriting means saying "bitch", "dollar" and for some reason "jagger" over and over until you have a hit. This here is the real stuff!"

verse in question is the "searching for the daughter of the devil himself" w

I'm with Henley here: when they started to fuck with R&B, that's when they started to get truly great. This record is fucking exquisite, and there were more in this vein to come, all of which I treasure.

I like how he hints there that disco is of a piece with the Nixon end times. I'm sure at the time he and Frey would have said that disco en masse is worse than Kiss or the New York Dolls. But his groove here is leagues better than when he tried to rock via "James dean" or "Already Gone." He mentions gamble and huff, and we will get to their version of Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes in…the middle of next week? I guess the producer whose name is too difficult to remember how to spell got the flavor that Randy wanted from the dismissive Johns.

poor Leadon looking like a guy captured and brainwashed by some knock-off Aleister Crowley cult in the above photo