Discussion of Eagles Documentary "History of the Eagles"

[Shadowland07]

After Felder joined the band, he mainly played rhythm while Felder and Leadon, and then Walsh later on, played the lead. But Glenn did play the solo on his solo song "Smuggler's Blues" though that was after the Eagles broke up. I think he's underrated guitar player. He's a bit overshadowed with Felder, Bernie, and Joe in the band. Plus he gave some solos away, Joe played the slide solo in "Midnight Flyer" after he joined, and Felder would play the "I Can't Tell You Why" solo live.

[shunlvswx]

After Felder joined the band, he mainly played rhythm while Felder and Leadon, and then Walsh later on, played the lead. But Glenn did play the solo on his solo song "Smuggler's Blues" though that was after the Eagles broke up. I think he's underrated guitar player. He's a bit overshadowed with Felder, Bernie, and Joe in the band. Plus he gave some solos away, Joe played the slide solo in "Midnight Flyer" after he joined, and Felder would play the "I Can't Tell You Why" solo live.

I didn't know he played solo on I Can't Tell You Why. I always see him playing the piano in the videos even in the official music video.

[Shadowland07]

Yeah he wrote and played both the solos on "I Can't Tell You Why", Felder just plays them live and Glenn plays the electric piano part he also played on the record. I kinda suspect he started getting self conscious about his lead guitar playing with both Felder and Joe in the band. It seems as he began to sing lead less and less, he also played lead less and less. Shame, but as he says in the doc over and over again, it was all for the good of the band.

[Sebastian]

I think it was also better for the song to include the e-piano intro, as it's just as vital as the solo IMO.

[chaim]

Glenn indeed was very much a lead player until Don F - and later Joe - joined. In my opinion Glenn's recorded solos became less interesting in the 80's; more boring and ordinary.

[shunlvswx]

I remembered Glenn saying in the documentary(I might be quoting this wrong) that everytime he wanted to do a rock n roll song,, Bernie would play lead and when they played a country song that Bernie sings, Glenn would play lead. Glenn said he wasn't a country music musician and that's when they brought in Don F. I think when Joe join the band, he played less and less because they had the two rockers. He was ok with Don F playing leads since Bernie wanted the band to stay country rock.

[chaim]

I remembered Glenn saying in the documentary(I might be quoting this wrong) that when they play a rocking song, Bernie would play lead and when they played a country song, Glenn would play. Glenn said he wasn't a country music player and that's when they brought in Don F. I think when Joe join the band, he played less and less because they had the two rockers. He was ok with Don F playing leads since Bernie wanted the band to stay country rock.

I found that comment from Glenn a bit weird, since Bernie played the dobro solo in Twenty One, electric solos in Peaceful Easy Feeling and Take It Easy - "countryish" songs - and Glenn played lead in Tryin', Witchy Woman, Chug All Night, Out Of Control, Already Gone - rockers. To some extent I understand Glenn's comment - Glenn did play lead in Midnight Flyer and Bernie in James Dean - but I can't find a fixed "Glenn: country solos/Bernie: rock solos" procedure. Maybe Glenn meant that they tried to divide it like that so that there would be a bit of rock'n'roll in the country songs and a bit of country in the rock'n'roll songs.

[shunlvswx]

Chaim. I changed a few lines in my post after I went back to my DVD to see what Glenn actually said because I didn't want to quote it wrong.

[chaim]

Chaim. I changed a few lines in my post after I went back to my DVD to see what Glenn actually said because I didn't want to quote it wrong.

I think you quoted him correctly. At least that's how I remember it too. Glenn said the same thing in the 90's, but he didn't mention lead guitar. He said that Bernie wasn't good at playing rock song and Glenn wasn't good at playing country songs, because "country picking wasn't his forte".

[UndertheWire]

This is from a 1982 interview:

MUSICIAN: You're coming out of the shadows as a guitar player. With the Eagles, you never really did pursue the heavy instrumental route you could've, because you !et Don Felder do it.
FREY: Well, you see I drafted all those guys. I was the one who chose Don Felder and chose Joe Walsh. I had a lot of singing to do. What I want to say is that it was all of my own choosing. I felt that for the benefit of the Eagles it was most important that we get a couple of blistering guitarists in there. After Bernie Leadon left, my role as a singer became much more important. I had to be in tune-all the time. But then again, for the albums I always got to play lead on one or two tunes. The bass players! (proudly) The bass players always chose me to play lead on their songs.
MUSICIAN: So you area frustrated lead guitarist.
FREY: No, as a matter of fact, I'm a happy lead guitarist. But then again, the best way to learn how to play guitar is to play with people who are better than you are. So what does it hurt me to play with the Joe Walshes and the Don Felders and the Bernie Leadons of this world? Didn't do it too bad at all. I just call it smart. No, I laid back on purpose, because it eaves something for people to discover about you later.

source


I see his point about the singing. It sometimes seems that people forget what a good singer Bernie was/is and how his departure would have affected the harmonies. To me Glenn and Bernie had the two voices that were most alike, so it's natural that Glenn would have had to fill the gap.