Glynn Johns

[OntheBorder74]

Hi, I've always felt Glynn deserved more credit for making the Eagles focus on acoustic guitar ballads, I think I'm right in that TIE was a electric rnb song which I honestly can't imagine, I just wonder how many songs were supposed to have acoustic guitars too them before Glynn Johns arrived as I got the feeling they wanted to be a pure rock band? Or did they always incorporate acoustic elements from the start?

[Delilah]

Hi, I've always felt Glynn deserved more credit for making the Eagles focus on acoustic guitar ballads, I think I'm right in that TIE was a electric rnb song which I honestly can't imagine, I just wonder how many songs were supposed to have acoustic guitars too them before Glynn Johns arrived as I got the feeling they wanted to be a pure rock band? Or did they always incorporate acoustic elements from the start?

Well, 6/10 tracks on the best-selling U.S. album of the 20th Century were produced by Johns, so he definitely deserves a lot of credit. I don't know about the original intent for TIE--never heard about the RnB thing--but I understand it was Johns who suggested to Bernie that he play the banjo part double-time, which changed the whole vibe of the song.

Do you mean "not supposed to have acoustic guitars"? I don't know about starting out wanting to be a pure rock band. Glenn learned a lot from watching Poco, a pioneering country-rock band and was no doubt influenced by J.D. Souther. When Geffen told him he should be in a band, he didn't seek out pure rock musicians afaik. He ended up in a band with the bassist he watched rehearsing and performing with Poco as well as a former member of the Flying Burrito Brothers. Henley's band wasn't a pure rock band either. While Glenn did write Chug All Night, he also gravitated toward country-tinged songs like TIE and PEF. He even wrote country songs like Tequila Sunrise. Maybe when he left Detroit he intended to be a pure rocker, but the Southern California sound obviously appealed to him.

While Johns had a huge effect, I don't think he changed them from a rock band to a country rock band. I think what happened is that the band just changed over time as the members decided they wanted to rock more. Plus, Glenn probably realized that's where the big bucks were.

[Funk 50]

The reason Eagles chose Glynn Johns as their producer was that he had produced those classic 60's English rock bands. Henley wanted to sound like Led Zep's, John Bonham.

Johns told them they couldn't rock and focused on, where their real talent shined, on acoustic harmony vocal stuff. He also encouraged them to share out the lead vocals and song writing between them.

The band enjoyed playing their acoustic songs on stage, according to Glenn.

If Eagles make another album, I'd like Glynn Johns to be the producer.

[OntheBorder74]

Yeah that makes sense its just I know Randy once said in the book Take it to the Limit that in the early days they played Take It Easy as an RnB song and that they played some Chuck berry songs when they woodshed in Colarado. Also they aren't any live recordings of the band before their 72 debut album came out so always wondered if there was much difference. I know in that Gallery opening where Joni Mitchell was in attendance that they played Tryin and the song Get you in the Mood, two electric rock n rollers which I guess were part of the set along with maybe Chug All Night and some chuck berry tunes.

I also remember Johns saw them first in Colarado then in a rehearsal i LA and claimed in the HOTE doc they played the same kind of rock n roll they played in Aspen so I guess in my mind I'm getting the feeling they played a set of electric rock n rollers mainly with some acoustic tracks maybe thrown in like peaceful easy feeling. I'm sort of fascinated with the early lineup of the Eagles and the journey they went through in establishing their sound, I still think Take It Easy was originally intended to be an electric song closer to tryin, chug all night etc. But they had already worked out the harmonies , glynn I think just wanted to hear a prominent country/bluegrass element to it as far as I can tell.

Would love to know the setlist for those early shows in Aspen Colarado!

[scottside]

For what it's worth, "Take It Easy" was an electric song when played live until Hell Freezes Over when Glenn switched to playing acoustic. I know there were some occasions during the 70s when he also played acoustic (Don Kirshner, BBC, come to mind), but every time I saw them during that decade it was an all electric song. Not R&B, but electric nonetheless.

[NightMistBlue]

Glyn mentioned they were playing some Chuck Berry when he first saw them live, so I'm guessing the song could have been "Carol" which they would still play in concerts into the mid-70s.

Holy cow, that was a run-on sentence.

[Funk 50]

Take It Easy was largely a Jackson Browne song. His recording of it is pretty similar to the Eagles version. Missing the harmonies of course.

I read somewhere that an early Eagles concert, due to a very enthusiastic audience response, included 3 performances of Witchy Woman. Which kinda gives the impression that they only had a minuscule repertoire, despite having previously performed with Linda Ronstadt, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Poco, Ricky Nelson, Longbranch Pennywhistle, Shiloh and other artists between them. Also gave the impression that they weren't prepared to jam beyond the rehearsal room.

Maybe after that show, they changed that policy because I remember hearing, at least a rare live Roy Orbison cover from the original line up.

[Delilah]

I remember reading that too, Funk50--something about "Witchy Woman" being performed three times at a show; I thought it was at the Gallery exhibit, where they also played "Tryin."

As a new band starting out and still getting used to each other, it's not surprising they would play standards like Chuck Berry songs at their very early gigs. Any young aspiring musician would know those songs, esp. back then, including Glenn, Don, Bernie and Randy. There may not have been much else they could immediately start playing together and rehearsing that they all knew well.

It's pretty well documented that Glenn, with the influence of others like J.D. Souther, was interested in forming a band with a new country rock sound.



Would love to know the setlist for those early shows in Aspen Colarado!

Me too. Randy has said he taped all those shows and even rehearsals, I think. I wonder if he still has the recordings.

[NightMistBlue]

Randy has said he taped all those shows and even rehearsals, I think. I wonder if he still has the recordings.

If any of us ever has the great good fortune to meet the Randstar, we must ask him.

[New Kid In Town]

The show where they played Witchy Women three times was an art show for I believe Boyd Elder, who did art work on their first three albums. David Geffen, Joni Mitchell some of the others in that crowd were at the art show. It's discussed in a few of the Eagles books including I believe "To The Limit". It has been awhile since I have watched it, but if I remember right, HOTE states he was one of the seven who took the trip to Joshua Tree to film the photos for the first album.

While Glyn Johns wanted to the Eagles to sound more country, they, especially, Glenn, Don and Randy, wanted to include a mix of country and rock in their songs.
I believe some of the songs played at the bar in Aspen are listed in TITTL.

When I saw the Eagles in concert before HFO, TIE was always more rock played on electric guitar like in the Capital Center video.

[UndertheWire]

Another song they had at that time was "Kate". They recorded a version with a different producer in LA and a live version (with Glenn and Don) is a bonus track on Linda Ronstadt's Capital Years collection.

(The photographer for the Joshua Tree trip was Henry Diltz. The other non-Eagles on that trip were Gary Burden and John Barrick. Boyd Elder did the skull artwork for OOTN and GH1 and is also one of the men standing on the back of the Desperado album cover.)

[New Kid In Town]

Hi UTW - Thanks, I had confused Gary Burden with Boyd Elder.

I remember there were very rough recordings that were posted here that the Eagles did either before or right after they came back from England in 1972. One of them if I remember right was "Get Back Kate". The songs were recorded with a different producer than Glyn Johns in either LA or SF. There were also at least two other songs but I can't recall them right now.

IMHO, Glyn Johns served the Eagles well in their first two albums. By the making of OTB, they had outgrown him and made the right move to Bill S.

UTW - How is Linda's Capital Years album - do you like it and would you recommend it ? I have her "Greatest Hits".

[UndertheWire]

I've just been reading the part of Glyn Johns' book where he talked about the two songs that were recorded in LA with Bill Halverson as producer. David Geffen wanted another Henley vocal but Johns said the album was done and he wasn't going to have another try at recording Nightingale. So Geffen sent the band into the studio with a Halverson but they weren't happy with that. Bernie called Johns on behalf of the band to explain what had happened and that Geffen had refused to release the album without the extra track. A furious Johns went to LA to take Geffen and the band to task but eventially agreed to have another go and they recorded the version of Nightingale that's on the album. Johns still thinks that was a mistake and it should have been left off.

Linda Ronstadt's Capitol Years collection is a bit too country for me. However, it was a cheap mp3 purchase (surprisingly much cheaper in the UK than US on Amazon) and I got my money's worth. I like that live version of Kate better than the Halverson studio recording.