Woah! Frey plays the solo on Witchy Woman?! Color me shocked. That is one of my all-time favorite solos - not just on Eagles records, but any records. I think I've been underestimating Mr. Frey as a musician.
My other favorites are One of These Nights and all of the Hotel California tracks (I'm so predictable, I know...). I'm currently trying to learn "Try and Love Again."
Glenn's solos sure had some interesting note choices back then. Glenn has never exactly raved about his role as a guitar player. And there are tons of people who still insist that Glenn didn't play the ICTYW solo either!
I always talk about Glenn the guitar player, but that is because it seems that no one else does! He's not one of my favorite guitar players, but I do find it a bit irritating when people hear a Glenn solo and go "hey, great, Felder!", or "great, Bernie!".
I don't know if Glenn's actual playing style (the execution of an idea) or tone were that great in the early days, but IMO he had a great talent for coming up with solo ideas that really served the songs. When I hear a Glenn solo on an Eagles album, I never go "oh, a guitar solo. Well, soon the singing starts again". I think he always really had something to say even though his "touch" was perhaps not on the level of Don and Joe.
I haven't looked at a transcription of the Witchy solo, but to me it always sounded plucked (fiercely!) moreso than picked, which led me to assume it was Bernie. And we all know what happens when we assume...
Thanks for the explanation of Greeks - I had read that it was inspired by Animal House and had something to do with fraternities but even then I never quite understood it. I think you can enjoy the song without understanding it properly but I'm glad I know now.
Looking back, I think saying that Greeks had no compositional merit was too harsh, I would have been better saying that it just isn't as deep as some of their other songs - it has more in common with Chug All Night than The Last Resort, let's say.
NightMistBlue, for quite some time I thought that Bernie played the Witchy Woman solo, in part because I knew he wrote the music for the song and therefore expected that he'd play lead guitar on it (I know this rule fails elsewhere for the Eagles - I'm pretty sure Bernie plays lead guitar on Glenn's composition Most Of Us Are Sad from the same album, for instance). It's an excellent solo too I think, I must admit I am definitely someone who digs guitar solos.
Please correct me if I'm wrong but I think Glenn plays lead guitar on both "Get You in the Mood" and "Try and Love Again." My respect for him grows daily.
Glenn playing the lead guitar - and the guitar solo - on Try And Love Again is confirmed by the liner notes for Hotel California, so yes for that one. I'm not sure about Get You In The Mood although as I think Glenn does play lead on all of the blues/rock songs on the debut album (these being Witchy Woman, Chug All Night, Take Devil and Tryin') I think there's a fair chance it's him. Either way, I'm guessing he probably played 'Old Black' (the Gibson Les Paul Jr) on GYITM - not sure what Bernie would have played though, he normally used Telecasters but that song doesn't really have his typical country rock sound.
Incidentally, could someone with a YouTube account tell these people that it's Glenn on lead guitar in Take The Devil?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6EmHPRDpzE
Someone writes:
"Love the end solo. So aggressive, yet melodic and powerful. Who played it? Was it Bernie or Glenn?"
One comment in particular seems totally clueless:
"Probably Bernie as he always played the more rock sounding solos on the early tunes."
One person does say "Glenn, I believe", but another "Glenn" comment wouldn't hurt. It would be so nice if occasionally people who love a solo of Glenn's knew that it's him and not another guitarist in the band.
(Seems that the only comments in the internet where Glenn is mentioned by name are stuff like "egoistical, money-grubbing ******". When his playing is praised, his name is hardly ever mentioned.)
Maybe it's time you got your own youtube account. I'm too scared! Then you could tell them the "rule of thumb" that if the bassist is singing, it's Glenn Frey on lead guitar.
I remember some other ill-informed comment along the lines of "Felder played all the slide guitar" which was followed up by someone pointing out a track where Joe played slide. Noone asked who played all the slide before Felder and Walsh joined.
A YouTube comment concerning the studio version of I Can't Tell You Why:
"Don Felder's early jazz training really stands out in his very understated solos and fills here. Some people may be OK with what they are doing now, and Steuart Smith is a fine guitarist who copies what Don did note for note, but there is no replacing Felder's tone, either here or in songs like "Hotel California." The practiced ear hears it and recognizes it. I suspect that aside from Glenn Frey, the rest of the band misses him more than they are willing to admit."