Celebration of Airborne

[UndertheWire]

I'm pretty sure Don was referring to the carnal lusts of teenage boys in Haywire rather than a predilection for underage girls.

Agreed, except he includes the lust of teenage girls, too. It still makes me uncomfortable. If it had been a first person telling of his experience, I might have given it a pass.

I enjoy listening to most tracks on Airborne, I don't enjoy his second album but, despite his inference that he is, in my opinion, Don isn't a solo artist.

He can bring some guitar wizardry to a project but I quickly find that tiresome, listening to a whole album. He needs a band around him

That's a good point. When I've tried to listening to his work, I start of thinking it's ok but I get tired quickly, often before the end of the song. If he had someone to work with/against, that might add variety.

Ouch for that "premium Eagles tribute act" comment.

[Freypower]

Agreed, except he includes the lust of teenage girls, too. It still makes me uncomfortable. If it had been a first person telling of his experience, I might have given it a pass.

That's a good point. When I've tried to listening to his work, I start of thinking it's ok but I get tired quickly, often before the end of the song. If he had someone to work with/against, that might add variety.

Ouch for that "premium Eagles tribute act" comment.

I couldn't have put it better myself.

[RamboIV]

I hope no one minds me resurrecting this thread, but I was hoping to garner some responses for a project I'm working on.

As some of you may know, I produce a rock'n'roll based YouTube show called "Play That Rock'n'Roll", which you can check out here. In many of my episodes, I review failed albums. I've reviewed Dirty Work by the Rolling Stones, Kilroy Was Here by Styx, Eye of the Zombie by John Fogerty, among others. The goal of these episodes is to discover how and why the albums didn't sell/are not remembered/are disliked/etc.

Since the Eagles are pretty strict about copyrighted footage on YouTube, I haven't discussed much work that related to them. But that is about to change! My next review is going to be a look back at Don Felder's Airborne, which I think is a pretty bad record.

So when I decided to write this review, I knew I would need to immediately check in with two vital sources: Felder's book and this website! I know Nancy's Felder archive will be a good place for me to start on this project, but I was hoping to get some help from people here on the forum as well. Basically I am looking for any and all information about Airborne. Trivia, fun facts, interviews, videos, reviews from the time, etc. If any of you know anything interesting about this record, please post it here!

I'm most interested in learning why he wanted to make a record, and why he did not tour to support it. Otherwise, I'm happy to learn (or be reminded!) of any information.

Once the video is complete, I'll post it here on this forum! Thanks in advance for your help!

[Freypower]

I know no more about it than the brief amount of space which Felder gave to it in his book, although I've owned it since it was released, and I think I am one of the few people active on this forum who does own it. I can give you opinions on it, as I still have it on my iPod.

Remember I'm not American & would not have had access to any interviews from the time of release, given that it sank without trace. So if you've got the book & you're looking at DFO that is probably as much as you will find. But the general consensus is that it was made as a contractual obligation exercise. I have no idea why he didn't tour it.

Have you not seen the video for Bad Girls? Here it is:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oIH8bNsRpU[/ame]

[New Kid In Town]

Rambo - I have Don F.'s book and from what I can remember he stated he was contractually obligated to release one album after the Eagles broke up. I don't remember if he said why he did not tour but, he did say he turned down gigs with other musicians so he could spend time with his family.
Hope this helps.

[Dawn]

Per Felder's own words from his book Heaven and Hell

Pages 226-228

"As an inducement for the last Eagles album, Elecktra/Asylum had offered each of us a record deal, so I decided to take up the offer"

Paraphrased

His budget was $300,000 which per Felder "wasn't huge".

He called the album "Airborne" to "signify that this Eagle wasn't grounded"

One song was called Still Alive , "a comment on my journey through life with the Eagles and my relationship with Susan. Another song called Night Owl was about the "lightless rock and roll lifestyle - living in the darkness and going to bed when the sun comes up, a statement on the slithering, intoxicated nights we had allowed to devour us. A song called Bad Girls he had originally offered to the Eagles for The Long Run. Joe Walsh and Felder had come up with it in one all night drinking session. It was previously called Wild Turkey. His favorite was a song called Who Tonight on the theme of fidelity.

While he plodded on doing his own stuff everything was changing at the record label. Asylum had done a 180 degree shift and its new direction was in black R&B acts.

"I eventually delivered Airborne to a company that has no interest in it and had even closed its offices in LA relocating to New York.

Felder writes he "was relieved and happy to have finished the album which had taken all his strength. I turned it in and thought "If it sells that's great. If it doesn't sell, it doesn't really matter. Which was just as well."

--------

Don't know if any of this is relevant but in rereading the section on the making of the album it sure sounds to me like he gave it his all and was focused on enjoying a "new relaxed attitude to life" post Eagles.

Something else ... Felder writes about how when making the album he still had serious inhibitions about his voice. "I mixed my voice down so low that you had to strain to even hear it above my guitar playing. For years I had been browbeaten into believing that my voice was mediocre at best. When it was time for me to step up to the mike for my own album my self confidence was a bludgeoned, bleeding thing and it showed".

I have not listened to the album and don't really have an opinion one way or the other. I like Don Felder and have to give him props for all the hard work he put into the album as well as his efforts to overcome his inhibitions about his vocals.

Your local library should have a copy of his book, if not, they can usually order from another branch. There's much more about the album that should be helpful to you especially if you plan to use the info you would want to be sure to get the whole story.

[UndertheWire]

Here's an interview from 1983:
http://alumnus.caltech.edu/~markowit...s/latimes.html

Fastlane has a radio interview which is about the release. http://www.eaglesfans.com/don-felder...-thanksgiving/

My impression is that Felder did almost everything himself - writing, singing, arranging, producing (?) and that might be part of the problem. He was used to a collaborative approach to record making and while he probably enjoyed the freedom to do whatever he wanted, he wasn't getting the feedback from others that might have made it better.

[Dawn]

Here's an interview from 1983:
http://alumnus.caltech.edu/~markowit...s/latimes.html

Fastlane has a radio interview which is about the release. http://www.eaglesfans.com/don-felder...-thanksgiving/

My impression is that Felder did almost everything himself - writing, singing, arranging, producing (?) and that might be part of the problem. He was used to a collaborative approach to record making and while he probably enjoyed the freedom to do whatever he wanted, he wasn't getting the feedback from others that might have made it better.

I agree. Felder said in the book he felt stuck out on a limb with no one to ask how he was doing. I also think the big changes at the record label were a factor.

Edited to add

Thanks for the links UTW, good find!,

[chaim]

It is indeed very common as far as I know that people who are used to feedback from band mates are a bit lost when they're alone. Well, not necessarily lost, but they and/or the audience feel they should have someone to bounce ideas off. Felder could have used a producer, but perhaps the budget didn't allow it. (Or perhaps he did something else with some of the money. ) Don Henley didn't do his albums alone - he even had composers who gave tracks to him (like Boys Of Summer). Glenn had different people. Felder was pretty much alone.

Incidentally, for a person who says he doesn't care about money he sure does mention the word quite a lot. Two times in that interview from '83. Anyway, thanks for the link. I loved reading it. Too bad it's so short.

[Delilah]

I hope no one minds me resurrecting this thread, but I was hoping to garner some responses for a project I'm working on.

Since the Eagles are pretty strict about copyrighted footage on YouTube, I haven't discussed much work that related to them. But that is about to change! My next review is going to be a look back at Don Felder's Airborne, which I think is a pretty bad record.

I'm most interested in learning why he wanted to make a record, and why he did not tour to support it. Otherwise, I'm happy to learn (or be reminded!) of any information.

Once the video is complete, I'll post it here on this forum! Thanks in advance for your help!

As others have pointed out, Don discussed why he made the record in his book. As far as touring, he said flat out he didn’t want to tour again, that he already missed out on his children’s lives and he enjoyed being with them again. I do suspect his pride played a role too. He thought Henley’s offer of $5000 a week to go out on the road with him was insufficient for a “rock star.” This may have been a misstep on his part though. Had he toured with Henley, their relationship may have been improved and they could have collaborated on some music outside the confines of the Eagles’ system. They did well together on HC, Victim of Love and Those Shoes, after all. It would have raised his profile and his name recognition probably would have shot up, too.

It’s been a long time since I’ve listened to Airborne. I remember liking a couple of tunes like “Never Surrender” and “Still Alive.” The rest of it was kind of ho-hum but not terrible. I’m impressed that he wrote or co-wrote all the material. He stated he wanted to do what he wanted which is understandable after years of compromising being in the Eagles. That’s probably why Timothy wrote his own material and used no co-writers for his last 2 albums.