Felder's "Heaven and Hell" Discussion Thread

[Freypower]

Thank you, very interesting.

Regarding the previous discussion about leadership by the time Felder joined, I seem to remember he already described that in his book when he mentioned the first time he saw the band live. It seems to me that Glenn was already running the show. 'Democracy' and 'dictatorship' aren't the only options, and I think, paradoxical as it may sound, a band can jolly well be a democracy and at the same time have someone leading said democracy.

I really admire how Glenn agreed to (and possibly encouraged) Henley's increasing role as lead vocalist for so many songs, demonstrating how he emphasised what was best for the song, rather than merely seeking to cater to his own ego. He could've easily sung most of those tracks and/or played more lead guitar, achieving 99% of the quality the others did, but he was humble enough to work for the song.

That perfectly exemplifies the famous meme about 'boss' vs 'leader,' Glenn being a good example of the latter. And yes, the fact he was the one who rang Fingers already reflected their dynamics in my opinion.

I admire it but I think he was wrong to go so far. To go from three or four lead vocals on an album to one was far too drastic & a waste of his talents. It also served to give ammunition to Felder who thought he was a talentless hack. I also think the main reason that Henley sang so many more leads was because he wrote more & more lyrics while Glenn wrote fewer lyrics.

[Sebastian]

It would've been so great if they'd had alternative versions of some songs with different people on lead vocals but, then again, I guess they preferred to stick to what they thought was best. I suppose Henley, besides democratically/subjectively having the best voice of them all, also had the most commercial voice, as people associated it more with some of the best known songs, and then there's of course the lyrical side as you mentioned.

Personally, I love Don's voice but I also love Glenn's, and I really enjoy it when he's on lead ... both lead vocals and lead guitar.

[chaim]

Yeah, it was a bit ungrateful of Don F to imply in his book that the reason for Glenn stepping back was Don's talent. One of the most condescending and patronizing bits, however, was IMO that Glenn was delighted when he finally had something for The Long Run when he had Heartache Tonight. Heartache Tonight isn't exactly a minor song for Eagles. But I've probably said this before.
I remember Glenn saying at some point that he stepped back so that everyone could satisfy their egos. It's extremely ungrateful to later imply that he had to step back, because he just wasn't talented enough. But, as much as I like Don F, he's always had a bit of a "they needed me more than I needed them" vibe going IMO.

[Freypower]

As we all know the hit songs Glenn DID sing all won Grammy awards, two of which were for either Best Pop Vocal or Best Rock Vocal, the other for Best Vocal Arrangement.Two of those songs went to Number One in the singles chart while the other made the top ten. NKIT went to Number One BEFORE Hotel California, which Felder has deliberately chosen to ignore on every single occasion the subject comes up.

All three of these songs Felder pretends in his book do not exist (even though he played lead guitar on both Lyin' Eyes & New Kid In Town). The horrible anecdote about Heartache Tonight which chaim mentions is recent. Yet Felder is happy to sing the song himself, along with some other Frey songs he never even played on the original recordings.

It has to be asked why he was prepared to work with Glenn for so long if he thought he was so talentless and hated him as a person. Oh that's right. Money. The thing he claims Glenn & Henley were so obsessed with.

Perhaps someone should also tell him that attempting to ingratiate himself with Henley by claiming Henley was apparently the only Eagle as well as himself with any talent didn't work then & it won't work now.

[Funk 50]

I wish the Eagles would perform Glenn's latest Grammy award winner live "I Dreamed There Was No More War". Surely it must count as part of the History Of The Eagles. It'd give their voices a rest if nothing else.

One of our great local Radio Manchester DJs, Mike Shaft, features IDTWNMW on his religious show, every week, as backing music for his guest's, Thought For The Day.

On his pop show, way back in 1982, Mike played 6 tracks from Glenn's, The Allnighter album and 5 tracks from Felder's, Airborne album, the day they came out. Never happens now!

I remember him being disappointed with Henley's, Building The Perfect Beast, barring Boys Of Summer, though.

Sorry for straying off topic.

[NightMistBlue]

I finally finished Don Felder's book over the holidays. Overall, I enjoyed it. We'll really need at least one other Eagle to write an autobiography (hopefully Randy!) to get anything like a fuller perspective.

[chaim]

To be fair, Don does mention in the book that HT was a number one hit.

[peterscot423]

I have Already read this book so many times and I do not get that impression at all. It's not right things that Don told that he cheated on his wife and it always made him feel badly. I don't think he felt that he was better than the others. I am totally shocked that they made him an equal partner when he joined him. But that's the wrong thing they don't justify.

[UndertheWire]

It's his story so he focuses on the tracks he had most to do with. If he ignores a song, that's a pretty good indication that he played little or no part in its creation. So long as readers realised they are not getting the whole story (and why wouldn't they as he makes little attempt to describe the band before he joined?) - I don't see it matters. He probaby doesn't know who wrote what lyric on the majority of songs and they're not the first band where multiple people lay claim to having come up with an idea. If they all came up with the same story, I'd suspect collusion!

[Jonny Come Lately]

Indeed - I've only read bits of Heaven and Hell using Google books but fortunately this has enabled me to read most of the stuff from the 1974-80 era. I care about the music first and foremost and am not especially interested in the stories about drugs, groupies and all that so I don't read those sections. Inevitably the book has a lot about Hotel California and Victim Of Love, but there's also a fair bit about Too Many Hands and Visions, and Felder's view on The Disco Strangler actually seems to be quite positive (in contrast to Teenage Jail, which he loathes, including his own solo on that song), as well as songs which he made notable contributions to like One Of These Nights or The Sad Café.

As a contrast, look at the example of Heartache Tonight, where I have read accounts from Glenn and J.D. about its writing process, which differ subtly but are essentially similar, whereas Felder's recollection is rather different. I am inclined to believe the truth is closer to Glenn's and J.D.'s accounts as they were co-writers of the song whereas there is little indication that Felder was in any way involved in writing it and he didn't play lead guitar on it either.