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Thread: Which line-up had the best harmonies? (and other harmony-related questions)

  1. #21
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    Default Re: Which line-up had the best harmonies? (and other harmony-related questions)

    Quote Originally Posted by Delilah View Post
    Nice post, Derk. I especially agree with the bolded part, which I have seen expressed numerous times outside this board. Enjoy the concert!



    If you’re referring to my post, I didn’t say the band abandoned their harmonies; in fact I said they had nice harmonies later as well. It doesn’t seem the band emphasized the harmony stacking like they did in the earlier albums. Hotel California has some beautiful harmonies but the vocal arrangements had a bit of a different approach (and there’s nothing wrong with that).

    I believe the harmony sound changed when Bernie left. Felder even said so in his book and that affected how the vocals were arranged. But they still had Randy at that point, and his voice added a particular flavor to the songs that helped give the band that Eagles sound. As others have said, after Randy left the band seemed to go to 3-part (and even 2-part) harmonies which is fine, but that didn’t distinguish them much from other bands who also had nice vocal harmonies. There is an exception here and there, like with Seven Bridges Road. Also, Waiting in the Weeds, which has a really lovely 2-part harmony with Don and Timothy that stands out from the rest of the later output, IMO.

    I have had to explain this before. Glenn does sing harmony on WITW. He sings the lowest part.

  2. #22

    Thumbs up Re: Which line-up had the best harmonies? (and other harmony-related questions)

    Quote Originally Posted by Freypower View Post
    I have had to explain this before. Glenn does sing harmony on WITW. He sings the lowest part.
    I find him the hardest to hear on that song by a lot. Is his part quieter on purpose or just by the nature of the harmony?

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    Default Re: Which line-up had the best harmonies? (and other harmony-related questions)

    Quote Originally Posted by YoungEaglesFan View Post
    I find him the hardest to hear on that song by a lot. Is his part quieter on purpose or just by the nature of the harmony?
    I have no idea. I suppose it is harder to hear because it's the lowest part.

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    Default Re: Which line-up had the best harmonies? (and other harmony-related questions)

    I am a massive fan of Felder and Walsh, but even I admit it, the original 4 were the best in terms of harmonies.
    The chemistry... nuff said

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    Default Re: Which line-up had the best harmonies? (and other harmony-related questions)

    Yes by far the orginal four because they sounded so full and yet could divide up the parts so well and make the most of them, suh as Bernie doing the main harmonies on PEF or three part blend on saturday night. THey never really did the two part harmonies like during the second verse of TIE in later incarnations.

    The best harmonies post the fab four was probably on Wasted Time whne the big AAAhhhs come in on the line I think "I remember what you told me,when you run out on your own.. keep it together you go tto leave it alone" bit was extroadinary
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    Default Re: Which line-up had the best harmonies? (and other harmony-related questions)

    Quote Originally Posted by OntheBorder74 View Post
    Yes by far the orginal four because they sounded so full and yet could divide up the parts so well and make the most of them, suh as Bernie doing the main harmonies on PEF or three part blend on saturday night. THey never really did the two part harmonies like during the second verse of TIE in later incarnations.

    The best harmonies post the fab four was probably on Wasted Time whne the big AAAhhhs come in on the line I think "I remember what you told me,when you run out on your own.. keep it together you go tto leave it alone" bit was extroadinary

    Don & Glenn do some great two part harmonies on the song LROOE. Once again this album is overlooked.

    I must say though, the harmonies in both Wasted Time & The Last Resort (brief though they are in the latter song) come as a relief as Henley has dominated both songs so completely until they arrive.

    It also should be said that some of the harmonies on The Long Run are barely worthy of mention, and The Disco Strangler has no backing vocals at all. It does seem that as they moved away from country rock, they moved away from layered harmonies & towards more emphasis on the lead vocal, which is most glaringly obvious on the Hotel California album, despite the glorious harmonies of NKIT, PMIAR & TALA.
    Last edited by Freypower; 05-19-2018 at 12:20 AM.

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    Default Re: Which line-up had the best harmonies? (and other harmony-related questions)ed

    Quote Originally Posted by Freypower View Post
    I have had to explain this before. Glenn does sing harmony on WITW. He sings the lowest part.
    I’m referring to the chorus where I struggle to hear that lowest part. I have listened to this again a few times and this is what I hear.

    1st chorus at 1:34 - Don and Timothy singing, no low part detected

    2nd chorus at 3:02 - Don and Timothy again, this time I hear a low voice punched in at ‘settle’ and ‘town’ then Don sings solo again at 3:37 (‘you’re swinging on the top...’)

    ‘aaahs’ at 3:55 - no low part detected but Glenn could be singing higher here

    3rd chorus at 4:46 - more punched in low parts at ‘fall’ ‘tides’ then Timothy breaks away to sing the answering part (‘waiting in the weeds’ ‘floating on the breeze’ ‘keeping to myself’) as Don continues the chorus mostly by himself. Another punched in low part at ‘changing.’

    ‘Oohs’ and ‘aaahs’ at 6:33 no low part but again Glenn could be singing here (as I have said before when previously discussing this song).

    After carefully listening I do hear some low notes at certain parts of the chorus but they are quite subtle. Since I’ve never heard Glenn sing that low, I can’t identify the voice as his or rule out it being Joe (although I doubt it). It could be Henley himself dubbing in those parts or maybe even Steuart Smith given he co-wrote the song. There also seems to be some kind of voice effect like reverb going on during the chorus. At any rate, it still seems to be a 2-part harmony which dominates the chorus, at least to me.

    Do the liner notes say who sings bgv on this song?

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    Default Re: Which line-up had the best harmonies? (and other harmony-related questions)

    I hear Glenn in the parts which you claim are 'punched in', the low parts, particularly the word 'changing' and also in the last chorus, 'the tide's eternal tune' etc. During the section where Tim is doing the answering, I think he's singing with Don, although he's not easy to hear. His voice deepened as he got older; see the title track. He isn't very prominent & he is hard to pick out, that's true. He may not be there in the 'ah ah ah' part although I find it hard to see why he wouldn't be.

    The credits on LROOE are notorious for their lack of information. They do not list backing vocals credits. I should mention, however, that none of the backing band receive any credits for vocals.
    Last edited by Freypower; 05-19-2018 at 03:35 AM.

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    Default Re: Which line-up had the best harmonies? (and other harmony-related questions)

    I have to go with the original lineup as well!

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    Default Re: Which line-up had the best harmonies? (and other harmony-related questions)

    Quote Originally Posted by Freypower View Post
    I hear Glenn in the parts which you claim are 'punched in', the low parts, particularly the word 'changing' and also in the last chorus, 'the tide's eternal tune' etc. During the section where Tim is doing the answering, I think he's singing with Don, although he's not easy to hear. His voice deepened as he got older; see the title track. He isn't very prominent & he is hard to pick out, that's true. He may not be there in the 'ah ah ah' part although I find it hard to see why he wouldn't be.

    The credits on LROOE are notorious for their lack of information. They do not list backing vocals credits. I should mention, however, that none of the backing band receive any credits for vocals.
    I checked the first chorus and I definitely hear a harmony below Don's main melody throughout the chorus - not just on certain words. And I hear two parts above the main melody. So I hear four parts in all. The lowest part may be hard to hear in places, because it blends with the instruments in terms of frequencies?
    Last edited by chaim; 05-19-2018 at 08:52 AM.

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