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

take it to the limit on the highway until you see in the distance a shimmering light

Hmm, from which lane should I be in?

Yeah, definitely sounds like the soundtrack to somebody's personal hell. Playing this on tour must have felt like Sisyphus.

First off, I know this is off topic to the current song, so I apologize. Gotta say I've been following this thread as a lurker and someone who has a lifelong relationship w the Eagles (and solo Henley) yet has never voluntarily listened to one of their records, it's been great reading!

The music.... I don't know. Maybe I hate them on an instinctual level? I've been following this thread for about a month now and only just now listened to "Take It Easy" and "Take It To The Limit". There was no reason to listen to either of them, I'd heard it a million times on the radio, and in my mind I could re-create my favorite parts (and throw in some more cartoonish CCR-style fake southern accents for more fun) and when I got tired of the joke, just throw it aside.

In my memory these songs are pure radio cheese crafted as perfectly idealized cartoons. If The Ramones were in that Star Trek episode "Mirror Mirror", their evil versions would be The Eagles.

This is probably why they sold so many records. They are an archetype for post-psychedelic self-indulgence & social paranoia. That and it is the most indulgent kind of music-due in large part to their maturing drug-fueled lifestyles.

People always bring up 'the death of the 60's' or 'the death of the American dream' as themes the Eagles played with, and they themselves accept that critique because it's certainly part of the Eagles brand that works. What is this dream? Is it different than the dream of easy sex and drugs? Because if not, then the 60's never ended for the Eagles. They were living that dream. Sorry dudes, Manson beat you by almost a decade.

Btw I did re-listen to some songs, and did enjoy them! Just not as much as when i was a kid.

The EGOS

Take It... To the Limit!
Take It... To the Limit! ooooh yeeeeeeah
Take It... To the Limit! waaaaa haaaaa
Take It... To the Limit!
Take It... To the Limit!
Take It... To the Limit! eeeee oooooo
Take It... To the Limit!
Take It... To the Limit!
Take It... To the Limit! weeee heeee haaaa
Take It... To the Limit!
Take It... To the Limit! hooo aaa ooooo
One more time!
Can't you feel how hard we're rocking here?

Amazing harmonies, tho

yeah the harmonies are a+

Furthermore, it's not that different when steve Alibini or god knows how many indie rock people are pissed that the 80s are over and younger people are making music that contradicts their unchanging principles.

Lol Albini does not want it to be the 80s and he spends 50 hours a week recording music by young people

Like why would he want it to be the 80s when he wasn't well off and highly successful?

not a good tactic to beat up on the eagles-positive even if u do have important ripostes. hating on the eagles is so unavoidable the thread is constantly bordering on the corny

"eagles-positive" sounds kinda clinical. "I'm sorry Mrs. Jenkins, your baby has been born...eagles-positive."

I remember having to stay up with my son, what with his chugging all night.

"He'll be stricken with life-long obsessions with social commentary, residential addresses, banjos, and wanting to kick Don Felder's ass."

"Is there anything we can do for him?"

"Yes, ma'am. You can get over it."

hahaha

"thread is constantly bordering on the corny"

yes, on the border, but we only take it to the limit

love you guys. eagles power 4 ever.

it's a strong one!

ah i was coming back to amend constantly to occassionally but look, just look what u've done

Breaking: newborn infant found abandoned on a corner in Winslow Arizona. Police suspect the parents abandoned him after the child was found Eagle-positive

Authorities suspected the child to be Eagle-positive after observing it's 'Lyin' Eyes'.

rumours abound that the mother was a witchay woman

There was no wasted time. The parents must have seen this action as the last resort outside the sad cafe.

Tried to gain contact but they were already gone

"Visions"

http://i912.photobucket.com/albums/ac327/whitcap/DFWP.jpg

http://youtu.be/wXMJ9Q6W8rY

the songs sucks, but the guitars are cool. so there is that anyway.

Visions, that you stir in my soul
Visions, that will never grow old
Sweet baby, I had some visions of you
If I can't have it all, just a taste will do

Go ahead and live all your fantasies
(Don't you ever think about the other side?)
Helps you get from where you are
To where you want to be
(You and me oughta be taking a ride)
You do the best you can
And you make your mistakes
(If you don't like it, you can say that you tried)
'Cause all I have to give is whatever it takes

Play on, El Chingadero, play on
Play on, El Chingadero

Dance, angel, dance 'til you wear out your blues
(Only thing that's gonna save you now)
Take another chance, you got nothing to lose
(The boy didn't love you anyhow)
Girl, you drive me wild when you do what you do
(Something makes me want to take you down)
If I can't have it all, just a taste will do
Just a taste of you

So if this thread/exercise is demonstrating anything, it's that, yes, the Eagles do sort of quantifiably suck.

A made-up Spanglish word used in a similar fashion to the word thingamajig. The root word in Spanish is chingar, "to fuck".
Hey Pete, hand me that there chingadero.

I gotta go to Wal-Mart and buy one of those chingaderos to fix my sink.

http://books.google.com/books?id=dJpmlFiM1UYC&pg=PA132&lpg=PA132&dq=el+chingadero&source=bl&ots=8BAfoOcLfy&sig=Tklir4o875lU_BCbxTColJ4nJLs&hl=en&sa=X&ei=-YBFUqqQKM3a4AO4rYCoCg&ved=0CEQQ6AEwAzgK#v=onepage&q=el%20chingadero&f=false

"Glenn, I really think I should be the one to sing 'Victim of Love.'"

"Fingers, go listen to 'Visions' again and get back to me."

I like the bagpipe-like drone they used for the ending. the rest of it: sheesh.

so i find that quote about el chingadero on google books in felder's book and i totally had to tear myself away from reading every page. riveting, i tell you. lots of stuff about one of these nights album.

Yeah I read it in just a couple days.

The way he sings vi-i-iii-sions kind of proto vedder

Book looks great. Is Felder a good guy? I know little of him.

Peanut gallery backing vox in this is sooo stupid

Felder is basically ok for a rock jerk. A little affirmation-y

Most jerks believe in self-help maxims.

Everyone's already said what I was going to say.

• Glenn & Don were right about who should sing "Victim of Love"

• Awesome guitars. This sounds great on an 8-track, I bet.

• Parenthetical statements in rock lyrics always suck.

So. Who's singing "Visions" in the current line-up then?

This is a mess, but yeah, the guitars are kind of OK; you can tell it's kind of the prototype for the "Hotel California" outro solos.

Fuck this drum mix AGAIN.

man this sounds late 70s to me in ways that the eagles themselves never actually did in the late 70s, like if there was a boogie nights ost vol 3 this thing would be lurking on it and you'd be like 'wait where was this' and it'd be during some thomas jane scene. walter egan deep cut. kinda like it!

Is this the closest the Eagles got to being The Doobie Brothers (Johnston-era)? balls otm about the isolated '70s-ness of this track, and as already pointed out, the guitars are the best part.

I got a hardcover copy of Felder's book way back in the Borders' going out of business sale. I guess I should dig it out and finally read the thing.

Howard Stern's interview with Felder (around when the book was released) is worth tracking down.

http://www.marksfriggin.com/news08/7-14.htm#thu

Howard asked Don why they got rid of him if he was capable of writing such a great song. Don said that when the band was first formed the guys had all agreed to be equal members in it. He said that it was still going on when he joined the band. He said that they created the band as a 5 way membership so they all got equal shares. He said that as time went by and the main songs got to be hits, Henley and Frey felt they were more entitled to the money coming in. Don said that he talked to his manager about that and the trouble started in the 90s when he started asking questions. He said that he was only a 1/3 owner at that time because some of the other guys had left the band by then.

Don said that the other guys became demons and they took away the fun from the band. Don said that even Glenn Frey and Don Henley were fighting with each other. They were concealing a lot of anger and hate for each other. Howard wondered what could be so bad that they'd hate each other.

Gary came in and said that he read the book so he has a good idea about it. He said that he thinks that Don Henley became a song writing machine and even Glenn Frey's songs weren't good enough for the band and that's why there was so much hate between them. Don told Gary that was very well put.

Howard asked Don if he ever had any doubts about writing the book. Don said that he didn't really. Howard asked Don about the chicks he was banging back when they were really big. Don said that he used to go to parties where they had tons of women, from wall to wall, just wanting to meet them. Howard asked how long he resisted that stuff. Don said he had a lot of guilt when he was doing it and it was very tough for him. He said that they had nothing to do when they weren't on stage so they were doing drugs, drinking and stuff like that.

Howard said that Joe Walsh isn't even a full partner in the Eagles but he must be getting paid well. Don said that's true. He said that he's surprised by that because Joe helped give them that rock and roll image too. Don said that he and Joe would dance around and have fun during some of the songs and Don Henley used to get upset about that so they had to put an end to it. Don said that drove him nuts. He said that he was reprimanded for wearing the wrong color shoes on stage one night.

Per Felder, the even steven Eagles Inc. five way split was written up in legally binding form. Pretty brazen, if so, that Azoff, Henley and Frey went ahead and just froze him out later on. But then, Felder did win his settlement.

that Walsh & Felder were cut out of a bigger share despite tangibly contributing to who the Eagles *became* soundwise just drives me insane.