Eagles books

[sodascouts]

Yeah, it's got some inaccuracies for sure. A rather inglorious beginning. It's really the Don Henley stuff that's the best, because he had immediate access. The rest of the members... not nearly as much. I still enjoyed it overall, though.

[thelastresort]

Just got home for Easter from university about half an hour ago. I'd asked for Don Felder's Heaven and Hell for my birthday but it didn't arrive in time last weekend before I had to head back down south. As such I've only literally just now got my hands on it. Something tells me I'll be reading it almost non-stop! Sat down to have a quick flick through and have already rattled off about 10 pages

(I know it's a bit controversial, but I'm hoping it'll be good for the non-b*tching aspects like how albums got out together etc).

[DJ]

Read Heaven and Hell recently, I was ok, I thought It would be more insightful on how stuff was done or came together. I give it a c+.
I just ordered To The Limit, I hope it's better.

[MaryCalifornia]

TLR - I enjoyed Felder's book, especially the first half. Sure, it's all obviously his opinion and is biased, but still a very entertaining, quick read. Let us know your thoughts.

DJ - I just read To the Limit. It was very dense in parts, like, lots of tiny details relating to all of the management changes re: Geffen, Azoff, who was the label, who was the manager, how it all changed in minute detail over the years - that all got boring, at least for me. Do you know if you got the later version with the afterword? I didn't, but I wish I did, I think I'm going to have to order it - apparently he and Henley had a falling out after the first one was published, and he adds some info in the 2nd edition. Also, there are some obvious factual errors re: dates, etc...I look forward to your thoughts and comments on it!

[Ive always been a dreamer]

Yeah - I've read every book published about the band that I know about, and, unfortunately, all of them have some errors in them. Also, unfortunately, they all tell just about the same story as well. It's kinda like if you've read one, you've read 'em all. HOWEVER - that didn't stop this fan from enjoying reading them, nonetheless. I'm pretty easy that way! As a matter of fact, I've been wanting to refresh my memory and reread them.

[UndertheWire]

With "To the Limit", it's worth looking through the notes at the end for a few more stories. I liked it because it had quotes from interviews with so many people, sometimes contradictory and that just shows how there isn't just one truth. Where I didn't like it is when the author's bias showed through - he was an east-coast journalist. I liked the business aspects of the book because I have a hard time making sense how the music business worked at that time and understanding why so many of the groups made no money for themselves despite making millions for the record companies.

I find Felder's book disappointing because it doesn't come alive. Earlier in this thread, I wrote about a book by photographer (and sometime road manager, club manager and event manager) Tom Wright. It didn't have much about the Eagles but what there was painted a far more vivid picture. For example, Felder complains about the HFO sound checks but Wright describes the band members racing to get to a sound check on The Long Run tour and that helps explain why Felder found the later sound checks to be lacking. Wright also did a good job of explaining Joe Walsh's devastation when his daughter was killed in 1974 and Smokey's role in Joe's life.

[DJ]

MC- I'm looking forward to reading it, I hope I ordered 2nd copy. Not sure.

I just wish one of the members would come forward and tell some secrets. We wanna know guys!We know you weren't angels and such and we don't care cuz we LOVE YA!! So Glenn, Don, Randy, Bernie, even Irving, somebody write something on the the group in the early years when we fell in love with them.

Even a wife or girlfriend would do but knowing the Eagles, they had them sign confidentiality contracts. HaHa

[thelastresort]

I have always wondered if any of the guys will do a (general) autobiography - Glenn would probably have the more diverse life story to tell (coming from a rougher background, getting into films etc in the 1980s), but without doubt Joe would have the most awesome read. Sadly I don't think Randy, Bernie or even TBS have done enough to be able to justify writing one, and something tells me Henley is too private / reserved to delve too deep into his life.

[MaryCalifornia]

TLR - I think that between eight years in Poco and 23 (37 including the hiatus) years in the Eagles, Timothy has plenty that would be interesting to write about, to anyone who is interested in the music business. However, I think his best tales would come from the hundreds of collaborations he has been part of over the past 4 1/2 decades. See here - http://www.allmusic.com/artist/timot...604940/credits

(These credits are not even comprehesive - we know of recent records he has sung on that aren't included)

His story would be a major "six degrees of separation" tale. It would be a name-dropping extravaganza!

If nothing else, I would love to hear about his transition time into the Eagles and what that was like for him - to go from being frustrated with nothing going on with Poco, to all of a sudden being in the biggest band in the world, and having to deal with all that being an Eagle entails, and then to having his song be their hit on the album - who wouldn't want to hear about that??!!

Agree that Joe's story would be FANTASTIC, and we must have it!!!!!!!!!

[tjh532]

I agree Mary - I think that even though Poco may not have had third encore parties, they certainly did their share of partying! And I think that anyone who has navigated the music world for as long as he has would have some pretty interesting stories. He is so private, however, I don't think he would share any details about his personal life.

I think that they all would have an interesting story to tell. The only guys we really learned about (in regards to their early life) in HOTE was Don and Glenn. And I would really love to hear Joe's story.