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Thread: Eagles Mentions in the Press (2006 - 2017)

  1. #2281
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    Default Re: Eagles Mentions in the Press

    Disrespectful to Henley in particular. As fine a lyricist as you're ever likely to come across in the genre.

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    Default Re: Eagles Mentions in the Press

    I must say that I thought that article was rather poorly written for the most part. I disagree with most of the points made and the level of analysis of the album in general is disappointing, as is the lack of research into the band's history. No mention is made of the extremely well known fact that Joe Walsh was a newcomer to the band for the album, or that the Eagles had been wanting to move towards a harder rocking, less country rock sound for a couple of years - this latter point undermines the article's title about the Eagles perfecting soft rock.

    Obviously I disagree with the statement in the opening paragraph - as someone who discovered the Eagles for myself (from a CD in my parents' collection, yes, but no one recommended them to me, I first listened out of curiosity) I love the band as much if not more as people who grew up with them and don't feel guilty in the slightest about liking them. To me they are an elite band with many great songs and a wide variety of material.

    I also cannot agree with the comments about their lyrics. Admittedly a couple of the songs on the debut album aren't necessarily fantastic pieces of songwriting (Chug All Night being the most obvious, but also arguably Earlybird and Tryin'), but their second album was Desperado, a superbly written concept album, with a number of songs with terrific lyrics. Think of the title track, Certain Kind Of Fool and Saturday Night, for instance. I certainly can't agree with the author when he suggests that their lyrics lack depth - the Desperado album clearly showed that they knew their subject.

    At times I almost feel like the author is describing a different band, and the band that springs to mind from the descriptions is Coldplay. In particular I feel these two sections in particular sound like the extremely clean-cut and eager to please British band, rather than our guys who revel in anti-heroes (Doolin and Dalton, James Dean) and have a number of songs with innuendo laden lyrics.

    'Everything was just soft and mellow in a way that took the music away from any sort of harder-edge classic rock sound'

    I can only guess 'everything' excludes LITFL, VOL, Already Gone, GDIH, Those Shoes and every other harder-edge Eagles song (there are at least two on every Eagles album IMO). By contrast this description could apply to huge chunks of Coldplay's back catalogue, and even their 'rockers' have often been watered down with string arrangements or falsetto vocals. Listen to a song like Low from Coldplay's X&Y and then listen to an Eagles rocker like GDIH and there is a clear difference.

    'But what their words lack in depth, they made up for in a communal emotional relevance'

    I can't say I find the lyrics to most Eagles songs to be lacking in depth. The scenarios described in songs such as Take It Easy, Lyin' Eyes, LIFTL etc. provide clear imagery. In fact I consider this to be one of the defining features of Don Henley's songwriting in particular, as continued to be shown throughout his solo career and in LROOE (I would defy anyone to claim that the lyrics to Waiting In The Weeds lack depth). Indeed, the number of literary references in Henley's lyrics have lead to accusations of him being a dedicated lyricist! By contrast, this is a near perfect description of numerous Coldplay songs, including most of their hits like Yellow, Clocks or Fix You.

    At one point, the article gives a list of the songs on the album other than the title track, if you've read this you will know the section I mean. Try imagining this section with the names of the songs from Greatest Hits Volume 1. It does make me wonder whether the author has actually listened to the album apart from the title track, which is the only song to be discussed in any detail. I'm sure he has in reality, but there's precious little evidence of it in the article. This is more disappointing when the author mentions the fact that for some people the album is totally defined by the title track. I must say I'm not quite sure how VOL and LIFTL are quintessential Eagles in the sense the author means, given that both are showcases for what Joe brought to the band as a rock guitar player.

    This is compounded by the author's statement that 'they never allowed the songs to maintain a melancholic appearance'. If Wasted Time isn't melancholy I don't know what is - when the piano at the start of the song comes in I always picture a largely empty bar with Henley and/or the woman drowning their sorrows with alcohol. Hotel California is not a collection of soft rock tunes, it is for the most part a dark, serious album - it certainly feels darker and more overtly thoughtful than Fleetwood Mac's Rumours, which is also a brilliant album but I think is one where the music and lyrics can be quite easily separated compared to HC. Second Hand News for example I actually find quite an uplifting listen to if I ignore the lyrics, whereas I would never think of ignoring the lyrics to The Last Resort.

    In the interest of fairness, I did quite like the comment about the album being 'the sound of a band who finally understood the balance between stadium anthems and the quieter side of rock 'n' roll'. The Eagles have a good balance of harder and softer songs, likewise a balance of out-and-out rock songs and country/acoustic songs, with many lying at some point in between the two extremes. They weren't the only ones to get this, Led Zeppelin also understood the need to find a balance. To my mind, albums containing nothing but hard rock or nothing but very soft and mellow songs are both likely to boring unless they are extremely good. However, whereas Led Zep's acoustic songs tend to get ignored in favour of their hard rockers the Eagles often get criticised for their mellower songs - though I suppose both do not get the credit they deserve in the rock world.
    Last edited by Jonny Come Lately; 03-29-2015 at 09:13 AM.

  3. #2283
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    Default Re: Eagles Mentions in the Press

    Excellent post.

    You forgot though how critics salivate over Rumours because it was about failing personal relationships, whereas the Hotel California album was apparently about cocaine use, and therefore meaningless.

    At the risk of sounding very tedious Dire Straits also had a perfect mix of hard rock & mellower songs. Critics sneer at them because Brothers In Arms allegedly appealed to people who had just bought CD players & wanted to test the sound.

    Very quickly, I am one person who prefers Zeppelin's ballads to their hard rock, except on the IV album, which (again) is one of the most perfect blend of the two styles ever made. In fact it's the third best, in my view, after Revolver & Making Movies. With the Eagles, however, my favourites tend to be the rock songs.

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    Default Re: Eagles Mentions in the Press

    JCL - while I agree with most of what you said, I don't agree with the Coldplay reference.

    Coldplay are pop rock and I would never compare them to the Eagles although they do have a mix of rock and ballads even if "their 'rockers' have often been watered down with string arrangements or falsetto vocals" - that's what makes them recognisable as Coldplay just as HC is instantly known as the Eagles sound.

    From your comments, it seems that you don't particularly like Coldplay but having seen them in concert on their last tour, they rocked the stadium out and it is up there as one of the best concerts I have ever been to. Coldplays lyrics might not be as deep as the Eagles but they still managed to win 7 Grammy awards in their career.

    BTW - GDIH - not really the Eagles best song IMO, if that was the first song that I heard from the Eagles, I would find it hard to listen to any other songs in case they were all as bad as that
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    Default Re: Eagles Mentions in the Press

    Freypower, I could not agree more about Dire Straits - I listened to the debut album this week and found myself thinking much the same. I could say the same about any album of theirs, that just happened to be the one I heard.

    I have loved Rumours for most of life (my parents say I would fall asleep during The Chain when I was a baby! Must have liked it even back then) and it is definitely my favourite Mac album but I agree that HC is underrated compared to it. This kind of comment is not unlike some things I've heard about The Dark Side Of The Moon (basically that 'it's all about drugs'). By contrast I think Tusk is overrated in some quarters - I am not a fan of most of Lindsey's thrashy punk/new wave-inspired throwaways on the album or of Christine McVie's songs aside from the Mac classic Think About Me and Over & Over - her other four songs are unmemorable and all sound the same to me.

    I must admit I tend not to think of ballads as a major component of Led Zeppelin's repertoire. I would say that most of their albums have one ballad, with the exception of Presence (which is all rock 'n' roll aside from the bluesy Tea For One) - think of Thank You on II or The Rain Song on Houses of the Holy for instance, but most of their acoustic songs tend to be fairly sprightly, more like Ramble On or Bron-Yr-Aur Stomp. I agree that Led Zeppelin IV does feature an excellent balance of harder and mellower songs, much like HC. One thing I will add is that although I absolutely love the first two records I think their songwriting improved on Led Zeppelin III, with more thoughtful lyrics on songs like Tangerine or That's The Way compared to the 'cock rock' that dominated I and II.

    I agree that Coldplay are pop rock and quite different in style from the Eagles. In truth though genre classifications have probably changed since the 1970s so there are Eagles songs which at the time would have been seen as rock that could pass for country nowadays, whereas had Coldplay been around then they would almost certainly been seen as a pop act. My aim was to try and contrast the difference between the two bands as I feel that Coldplay rarely rock out and would be unlikely to write songs about sex, drugs, outlaws or rebels like the Eagles did but I can see why you disagree.

    When it comes to Coldplay as a band I would probably describe myself as a lapsed fan. This UK newspaper article is for the most part actually a pretty accurate summary of my thoughts if you substitute Bowie and new rock bands for Neil Young and my favourite classic rock bands in my case:

    http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-en...w-9578027.html

    I should probably clarify that I still like Coldplay's first two albums - Parachutes has a lot of charm and I have a lot of fondness for songs like Don't Panic, Shiver and Trouble, while A Rush Of Blood To The Head is their best album and contains their best songs, The Scientist and Clocks. I think they went downhill from X&Y, a record which was hyped greatly at the time but had numerous problems. The album is far too long and is overproduced, while the songs (excluding the acoustic hidden track, which is actually an album highlight) essentially fall into two groups, the emotional ballads (which Coldplay did better on the previous albums) and the rockers, which are generally better but sound a bit too much like a watered down U2 (I know they have some fans here so I'll just say that they are one of rock's most overrated bands IMO). Speed Of Sound was a rewrite of Clocks but inferior in almost all respects. Coldplay have never been great lyricists in my view but some of the lyrics on X&Y were embarrassing, providing ample ammunition for haters of the band. Viva La Vida had some good songs and had better lyrics and more variety, but it just doesn't sound natural - it feels at times like the band was experimenting for the sake of it. I hated the modern pop of Mylo Xyloto and didn't bother with the last album as I wasn't impressed with any of the singles.

    I have heard plenty of positive comments about Coldplay's concerts but I have to say I think they are more of a studio band. My personal impression is that the band put on a really good live show (in terms of the spectacle and big sound) but whenever I have heard Chris Martin sing live I've always thought he sounds rather strained and they use backing tracks far too much for my liking.

  6. #2286
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    Default Re: Eagles Mentions in the Press

    Glenn has been dropping hints about the Eagles musical.
    http://www.heraldrecorder.com/entert...rey-h7803.html
    “I’m going to see a lot of shows, so you never know,” he said, citing “Beautiful,” the musical Carole King bio, as a current fave. And as to whether or not an Eagles musical would function a lot of heated arguments (the band was infamous for its squabbles), he laughingly replied, “Conversations. Give and take.”
    I had assumed they were going the "Mamma Mia" route - using the songs to tell a new story - but maybe they're really considering a bio.

    "Bernie" could sing "Already Gone" as he pours a beer over "Glenn's" head.

  7. #2287
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    Default Re: Eagles Mentions in the Press

    Quote Originally Posted by UndertheWire View Post
    Glenn has been dropping hints about the Eagles musical.
    http://www.heraldrecorder.com/entert...rey-h7803.html

    I had assumed they were going the "Mamma Mia" route - using the songs to tell a new story - but maybe they're really considering a bio.

    "Bernie" could sing "Already Gone" as he pours a beer over "Glenn's" head.
    I have never had as many Google alerts about one topic as I have about this one this morning!

  8. #2288
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    Default Re: Eagles Mentions in the Press

    Thanks, UTW. The story is the same, but the grammar is better in this one.

    http://www.nydailynews.com/entertain...icle-1.2166360
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    Default Re: Eagles Mentions in the Press

    The MasterCard Center in Beijing, China, has turned 10 years old, and our guys made the list of top 10 moments in its history.

    http://www.thebeijinger.com/blog/201...th-anniversary
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  10. #2290
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    Default Re: Eagles Mentions in the Press

    LAUREL CANYON DAZE | CSN, JONI MITCHELL, JACKSON BROWNE, MAMA CASS, THE EAGLES

    The author doesn't exactly sound like he adores the Eagles like we do, but they get a mention with photos nonetheless!
    Last edited by Thirsty&Hot; 03-30-2015 at 06:17 PM.
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