Defending the indefensible: Don Henley

DON: Well, yeah.

Was debating whether or not Don deserved a place on the "a very stupid man convinced of his own brilliance and surrounded by lapdogs and yes-men" thread, but I suspect Don is so convinced of his own brilliance he has no lapdogs and yes-men. Well, maybe he has "well, yeah" men.

I'm not that familiar with him outside of his hit records, but his biggest and best-known hits rely so much on established contributors, I imagine he realizes he has to listen to other people to repeat that success, though I guess you can't expect Mike Campbell, Stan Lynch, Bruce Hornsby, etc. to be "yes men."

FWIW found this recently - Michael Fremer of all people interviewed Henley right about the time Building the Perfect Beast was released, back when he was still trying to attain the same audience as the Eagles. (I'm guessing the new album hadn't taken off yet.)

https://www.analogplanet.com/content/don-henley-finds-his-thrill-sunset-grill-0

This part's pretty key:

“I like to think of myself as a good casting director. One of the most joyous parts of recording for me is assembling the musicians and especially the singers. I mean, that’s the fun part at the end, after you’ve sweated the lyrics.” Henley called on Motel Martha Davis, Patty Smythe of Scandal, Go-Go Belinda Carlisle, and Sam Moore (of Sam and Dave) among others, to sing harmonies and background vocals.

“I have a lot of nerve. I’ll call anybody. I didn’t know Patty or Sam and some of the others. I was afraid some of those people were not going to be into an old guy from the mellow Seventies, you know? And Patty said, ‘Are you kidding?’ I used to sing ‘Witchy Woman’ when I was 15!” Don called bare-acquaintance Lindsey Buckingham, who would up singing and playing guitar on “You Can’t Make Love.” Sixteen year old guitar wiz Charlie Sexton played on “Man With a Mission,” and producer Jimmy Iovine’s suggestion that Don work with a young writer named Mike Campbell yielded “The Boys of Summer.” “It’s really unhealthy to just stick together in little groups.”

(FWIW, I think a lot of the album sounds terrible. The four A-sides and maybe the Sam Moore duet are pretty much the only things I'd listen to again, and even those have plenty of detractors, especially "All She Wants to Do Is Dance.")

it's really unhealthy to just stick with Don Henley

On the contrary: the album sounds great. The synths on "The Boys of Summer," of course, but also on "Sunset Grill" and "All She Wants to Do is Dance," Buckingham's harmonies on "You Can't Make Love," lots of other details. It's the lyrics that let it down.

He's a real well, yeah man
Stuck there in his well, yeah land
Making all his well, yeah plans for Don Henley

"A young writer named Mike Campbell"?

Huh? I would think that Campbell was already pretty well-established by that point. Dude had already cowritten "Refugee," "Here Comes my Girl," "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around," "You Got Lucky," surely several other indelible songs.

Gotta say that I love the duet and duet-adjacent stuff. "Leather and Lace" is all-time. "Sometimes Love Just Ain't Enough" is great. I suspect he is there but uncredited on "No Mistakes." Whoever is singing backup on "No Mistakes" is either Henley or someone doing a very good job of sounding like Henley.

I yakked whenever "Sometimes Love Just Ain't Enough" came on for the seventh time that hour in fall '92; in retrospect it's one of the last times aging boomers scored a legit #2 pop hit.

De gustibus, your lordship. I think it's sweet.

Henley solo > Eagles, well yeah

But also Henley solo > Frey solo.

Walsh is a highly entertaining person with some very good records, but there is a limit to how much Walsh I need to hear in a sitting. I could probably fill a reasonably capacious cassette tape with just Henley and Henley-adjacent material and it would be listenable.

The goofiness of Walsh is so overstated, his albums are full of meandering moody Floyd-like epics

sorry, I wasn't clear: I can stand the Smythery now.

xp Not saying you were overstating his goofiness there, ymp

Glenn Frey needed more "You Belong to the City"s

Sax on the Beach 12” remix

He needed less sax.

I think he and Glenn had plenty of sax.

Oiled Up Sax Guy

"Josh, Jim, you don't get it, guys. Let me explain, man."

https://i.imgur.com/b6foObE.jpg

The deal with "Boys of Summer" was Petty passed on it, right? But Jimmy Iovine liked it and shopped it around.

Yeah, Petty passed on it (though he did try tweaking it a bit with Campbell first), and then Iovine sent word to Campbell that Henley was looking for songs and asked Campbell to send him some demos. Warren Hanes wrote about it his book - it culminates in Campbell and Petty going into a car to play a rough mix of "Don't Come Around Here No More." Apparently it wasn't a good mix, and as soon as they stopped it, the car switched to the radio and they heard the final seconds of "Boys of Summer," along with the DJ raving over it and saying it was going to be a huge hit. (In Campbell's words, "['Don't Around Here No More'] wasn't finished yet, but still, BIG difference.") Petty that congratulated Campbell, saying he wish he had the foresight to hold on to that song, and Campbell then expressed his relief that Petty didn't break his other hand.

Then he wrote "Runaway Trains," which gleefully pilfers the "Boys" sound.

birdistheword, a pity you weren't here for our epic Eagles listening thread. Those who have functioning cerebellums remember the experience as if we'd survived Omaha Beach.

That’s what a fool believes, Kenny

Speaking of yacht rock, TIL that on Patty Smythe's self titled album, one of the credited backing vocalists is Kipp Lennon.

Kipp Lennon later joined Ambrosia.

I find it backwards that steely mentioned the eagles first and then the eagles had to “volley” back a reference…wtf

Irving Azoff threatened to break their knees iirc

This photo is a pretty good litmus test for politics: do you regard these men with respect, or disgust? pic.twitter.com/i449hrbnzD

— haulin’ boss crude (@bosscrood) November 21, 2022

"We Saw You From Across The Bar And Really Dig Your Vibe...Would You Like A Drink?"

"Come join us at your local Big Daddy's!"

Drink your big black cow

Well, Hey 19

Dave’s on Canal st

I think you know what I mean

Fagen giving out some “just on a weekend fishing trip on the lake with my pal Don” vibes imo

What are the odds that Donald knows how to swim

I'd learn to swim if I shared a rowboat with Don Henley

We haven't had that spirit here since 1979

Warm smell of Sunny D rising up through the air

"We found a body."

if Don Henley fell in the woods, would he make a sound, and if so, would he record it, and if so, would you listen to it

He would probably smell like colitas

The Walden Woods

Holy fuck, that horn section play out on “Sunset Grill” is completely ridiculous. Is that Emulator or the real thing?

Guilty pleasure song, tho.

Also: Party Smyth’s ace chorus harmony, Pino Palladino’s burping fretless and the rolling Linndrum beat (credited to—checks notes—no one) while Don moans about working girls, “basket people” and auburn skies make “Sunset Grill” peak Henley.

In general I’d say the rolling Linndrum songs are the best things on this album by a mile. It would appear that Danny Kortchmar’s contributions are the worst.

Don’t be fooled: “sunset grill” sucks

I know he meant it compassionately but is there a better encapsulation of Henley's putrid us-vs-them ethos than this bit:

Maybe we'll leave come springtime
Meanwhile, have another beer
What would we do without all these jerks anyway?
Besides, all our friends are here

It sounds like a commercial for a competitor of Sizzler or Applebees

TGI Henley’s

You can check out the potato skins anytime you want but