Felder's "Heaven and Hell" Discussion Thread

[sodascouts]

I look at Don and Glenn and I don't see two unhappy men. Perhaps he should think of the fact that they were unhappy when they were with him.

LOL! Good point! Getting rid of Felder probably turned a lot of their frowns upside-down.

[GlennLover]

Right on FP & Soda! Don H has indicated that the band would not have continued on without the personnel change.

[TimothyBFan]

That last interview bothers me twice as much as the others for some reason. Can we say "bitter"? GET OVER IT FELDER!!! Every interview drives me just a little crazier than the last and I lose a little more respect for Mr Felder (if that is possible).

This part in particular made me really grit my teeth:

"While Felder was still reeling from the heady effects of his new gig back in 1974, he had no way of knowing that he'd soon become a cog in a dysfunctional machine that was in the service of Henley and Frey. Clearly, Henley and Frey had seized control of the band in its early days and are characterized in Felder's book as cruel and cold, self-serving opportunists who traded their musical integrity for rock 'n' roll spoils.

"They saw the Eagles as a production, like a play, not as a band," Felder said. "They wanted it note-perfect at every performance, a reproduction of the recordings.

"There was very little creativity in that band after Hotel California. We were living off the past – just look at how many greatest-hits packages the Eagles have released.

"Sooner or later we all came to realize we were just pumping gas at Mr. Henley's station," Felder added, repeating a quote attributed to one of the Eagles' producers in Heaven and Hell."

Boy that really bothers me!!!

[Freypower]

I can see why it made you angry. None of it is true. If he felt there was no creativity there, he could have left. As for the number of Greatest Hits releases you show me a major band that hasn't repackaged their material several times. If you look at it, it's only GH1&2, Selected Works and Very Best Of plus a couple of budget compilations. That is not that much.

I don't know what he is talking about when he says Frey & Henley 'sacrificed their musical integrity'. Frey and Henley continued to make music. What has this man done except brag for 7 years about how he wrote one song?

Again, if there were even a vague hint of self-criticism, this would not be so hard to take.

[GlennLover]

the sorry tale of his 27 years as the drug-addled, groupie-banging, often abused and eventually discarded guitarist with the enduringly popular American country rock band

This quote bugs me.

I also heard Felder say in a very recent interview that he was fired after being in the band for 27 years. It was 27 years from the time he joined the band in 1973 until he was let go in 2000, but does he not remember that the Eagles did not exist from 1980 to 1994 He did not have 27 years service with the band.

Anything to make Glenn & Don look bad.

[sodascouts]

Very true. He was in the Eagles for 11 years (1974-1980; 1994-1999).

[MikeA]

In reality, all of them including Meisner and Leadon were "in the band" during the 80's. They just weren't performing. They were still getting royalty checks from sells of all of the works they were each a part of.

[sodascouts]

Since when is collecting royalty checks the same as "in the band"? I daresay if you asked Bernie if he was still "in the Eagles" because he still got checks, he would give you a resounding "NO."

Not to mention that a lot of non-Eagles get royalties as well from Eagles material. Are they also "in the band"?

Is Ringo Starr still "in the Beatles" though the group has been disbanded for decades and half its members are dead?

[ticky]

I do seem to remember someone says Ringo IS a Beatle ...

[EagleLady]

That was a little rude Soda.