Bernie Leadon, the "Common Denominator" of Country Rock?

[GettheLeadonOut!!]

The equation(s):

• Bernie + Gene Clark
  
• Bernie + Gram Parsons
  
• Bernie + Chris Hillman
  
• Bernie + Glenn Frey

the solution(s):

• GOLD RECORDS

Honestly, does Bernie get short shrift when it comes to his contributions to the Eagles legacy or what?

[WalshFan88]

I think Bernie is a great musician and guitarist. I might have my preferences towards the more "rock" years of the late 70s of the Eagles and a certain pair of guitarists but I always give credit where it's due - and Bernie was a great player in the band and a great band member.

I'm more of a rock guy and so I prefer Hotel California but On The Border is my 2nd favorite Eagles album. I love The Long Run too. I really do like On The Border though.... The first couple of albums were wishy-washy with me. I liked some of the tracks but not front to back. On The Border I can listen to front to back.

[MikeA]

From what I've read about Bernie Leadon, he was firmly rooted in Folk and Bluegrass and his playing style certainly indicates that background. My opinion was and is that he is The Best at what he believes in and seems devoted to.

In the early years, that was what the Eagles were about and Bernie was definitely a defining force in what the Eagles came onto the scene as. But though it sounds cliche, Bernie was more about the music than the super-stardom that Glenn and Don were committed to achieving. Most Bluegrass artist that I've know are like that....somewhat necessary I guess because Bluegrass and Mountain Folk were never major genres for commercial appeal.

I think there must have been an enormous amount of pressure focused on Bernie as "the band" started yearning towards a more commercially appealing (and FAME MAKING) Rock & Roll sound. They had accomplished what they wanted to do with "Country Rock" and Bernie's role just wasn't as critical to the new sound they were after.

Seems I read somewhere that Bernie left the Eagles and was much happier after making that exodus! I believe he left right after "One Of These Nights" so he missed out on "Hotel California" and "The Long Run" (and later LROE). Still, while none of the albums except for their "Greatest Hits" came close to Hotel California in sales, I'm sure Bernie came out smelling like a rich rose! After all, "Greatest Hits 71-75" out sold just about everything that was ever charted! And Bernie was on ALL OF THAT.

So, to a point, I agree with what you are saying....Bernie was definitely a major factor in the Eagles.

[Ive always been a dreamer]

First of all, I very much appreciate Bernie’s musical talent and the contributions he made to this band in their early days. He is undeniably a very gifted musician and I enjoy the songs that he recorded for the band.

But GTLO, you ask for honesty so I’m gonna tell you what I really think. I believe that the level of recognition that Bernie gets is generally very proportionate to his contributions to the band. When put in historical perspective, he was a member of a band that is about to enter its 40th year of existence for a total of about 5 years. Okay – true the band has only been active for about 26 of those 40 years, but at best, Bernie was only a member for about 1/5 of the time the band existed. But, as Mike said, the bottom line is that Bernie’s musical style didn’t fit the direction that the remainder of the band wanted to take. To me, that became abundantly clear on the OOTN album. Although, I like his contributions on the album, it seemed to me that stylistically Bernie was “like a fish out of water”. I choose not to lay blame on anyone for this – but, call me ignorant or not, Bernie just simply wasn’t a good fit for the band at this point, IMHO.

When we look back at it now, in retrospect, there are many things that could have happened differently that may have changed the course of history. But the truth of the matter is, that the public generally remembers the hit songs, and Bernie did not have any hit songs with the band. We can speculate the reasons for this, but who knows why some songs strike a chord with the public and others don’t.

In any event, I believe things turned out in the best interest of all concerned. From all I’ve read about Bernie, while he may have wanted success, I don’t believe he wanted the super-stardom that the band had achieved by the time OOTN was released. I guess that lifestyle is suited more for bolder personalities like Don, Glenn, and Joe. As I’ve often said, I doubt if Bernie has many regrets about leaving the band – he is probably well set financially and happy with his life and that is what is most important.

[MikeA]

Kinda got to look at it another way Dreamer. The Eagles have had 7 Studio Albums counting LROE.

I think we can gauge the group as 50% Country Rock and 50% Rock with three albums more or less accredited to each genre and one in the middle that swung both ways. Their work on their music was and is very closely tied in time with the release of albums.

I'd give Leadon 4 out of the seven which suggests to me that he was there more than half of the recording life of the Eagles. Meisner (with 5 out of 7) outlasted him. Felder, like Walsh was there for three albums. Finally, Schmit hangs in there with two albums to his credit.

Of course, that is with the exclusion of Henley and Frey who were deciding the direction of the band and have been there from the beginning.

It might be argued that ALL the years have to be considered...the years when Hell Froze Over and the Millennium period, and the Farewell Tours....but I'm not really buying that myself. Nothing really new came out of that period. At best, they were reworking old material and giving their fans from the 70's what they wanted. I guess they did introduce "Seven Bridges Road" which wasn't their song. And they did "Please Come Home For Christmas" which was new. And then they released "Hole In The World" and "No More Cloudy Days" and maybe "One Day At A Time" though I don't remember if Joe actually released that as a single.

If you look at Grateful Dead (some people really did look at them <LOL>)...they were a group that you had to look at from beginning to end and consider all the years. But the Dead were different. Much of their work never showed up on albums yet, was very popular in concerts. They were ironically a "Live Band" and did their best work on stage...not in studios.

The Eagles weren't like that. Their music was centered in the Studio and the concerts were to promote those single and album sales. They wouldn't even perform a song on stage if they couldn't do it live as note perfect as it was done in the studio! That's changed a bit with the economy and now I'd imagine that they are making more off the concerts than off the record sales. But that's been a recent development.

Bernie was with them for over half their life. But undeniably, the Eagles changed genre's officially when Bernie left. I'm not thinking that Bernie would have wanted to be a part of what the Eagles became. That wasn't his direction at all. He missed his Country and Bluegrass and Folk music. In leaving the Eagles, he was able to reclaim that part of him that wasn't being fulfilled with Don and Glenn.

And, Don and Glenn went on without Bernie to their vast acculumation of fame and fortune as Rockers....and pretty much burned out after two albums. Thank GOD that they recovered, patched up differences or learned to live with them and came on back to the scene strong...though I personally don't think they are nearly as strong today as they were back in the mid-Seventies. How could they be. My goodness, they are 30 years older now and all have families! I KNOW what a Sixty Year Old deals with and to imagine myself doing what those guys are doing today is simply phenomenal! But as phenomenal as it is, their physical endurance isn't what is was 30 years ago even though today they are all sober and I don't think their creativity is where it was 30 or 40 years ago either.

The motivation IS there though not the same motivation they had 30 or 40 years ago. Now, partly it is now Political or Charity oriented and partly because of a thrill and need to perform for people. They are first and foremost performers and I don't think that as such, they could be truly happy if they were to give it up completely.

[GettheLeadonOut!!]

Nice comments by all. I'm in agreement that although Bernie may have only been in the band for 5 years, he was a major contributor on 4 of their 6 studio records recorded during their 70's heyday, and performed on the majority of their hit singles. He was also a very strong harmony singer and arranger and those harmonies are what defined the group. imo, you don't get any better than the Henley, Frey, Meisner & Leadon vocal blend.

[thelongrun]

The equation(s):

• Bernie + Gene Clark
  
• Bernie + Gram Parsons
  
• Bernie + Chris Hillman
  
• Bernie + Glenn Frey

the solution(s):

• GOLD RECORDS

Honestly, does Bernie get short shrift when it comes to his contributions to the Eagles legacy or what?

Right. And How about Leadon & Georgiades? A huge Work fav of mine... Cool.

[GettheLeadonOut!!]

Right. And How about Leadon & Georgiades? A huge Work fav of mine... Cool.

Leadon + Georgiades = yacht rock at its finest!