I saw the Eagles in concert back in the summer of 77 (Linda Ronstadt opened!) at KC's Arrowhead Stadium, when the Eagles were at their peak, shortly after "Hotel California" had been released. Fast forward about 4 years, early fall 1981, I was hung-over in the afternoon after having celebrated my bachelor party the previous evening. I would be getting married in about 5 hours and was scared shitless. So I popped a beer, lit up a joint, threw a steak on the grill and listened to the HC album as it was the perfect background music for my brain as I tried to get a perspective on where I had been and where I was going. (BTW, still married to my love) The Eagles and their music were the perfect soundtrack for my life during the 70's when my priorities were girls, booze, recreational drugs, girls, bars, music, cars and girls.
So I was and remain a huge fan, although not interested in paying $200 plus for decent tickets to see them in concert (I might have paid $10 in 1977) and I've viewed the SHO doc about 4 times, recently for the first time since Frey's passing. I assume virtually everyone reading this page has also viewed it, so all can do is offer a few thoughts on a solid documentary about a what was a truly great band.
As is with most of these type of documentary's, the most interesting part are the early years, when the Eagles formed a group after being sidemen for various bands in the LA music scene of the late 60's and early 70's. Henley made an excellent observation about making it big but realizing that there were other musicians and writers, just as talented, but for one reason or another didn't get the big career break. Sometimes it's just being in the right place at the right time and for the Eagles, the wave broke just perfectly. After hitting the band hit superstardom with HC, Henley and Frey would align to take creative control of the group, which would ultimately cause the departure of two of the other originals, guitarist Bernie Leadon and bassist Randy Meisner. Lead guitarist Don Felder joined the band on album #3 "On the Border" (my personal favorite) and kicked the band up a notch with his blistering work, plus wrote the music for tune "Hotel California" (Henley & Frey try to minimize his contribution.) And it seems after HC everything pretty much went into the shitter as far as their relationships with one another as greed, arrogance and drugs devoured the band.
Some nice reflections by Joe Walsh, who was already a big name in rock when he joined the group for HC, replacing Leadon. Walsh almost killed himself through years of drug and alcohol abuse. He was able to clean himself up when the group reunited in 94 after 13 years and was able to tolerate the arrogance of Henley and Frey. Felder wasn't willing and ultimately would be fired by Henley, Frey and their manager Irving Azoff, the consigliere of the band. In retrospect Felder may have made the mistake that many make, overvaluing their contribution and importance to their organization. He did file a lawsuit for breach of contract that was settled by both parties and wrote a book about his experience that ultimately left him persona non grata to Henley and Frey and not in consideration for any further work with the band.
To this day the Eagles are still touring, with only Henley left from the original lineup. More power to them,but maybe we would be best left with just our memories of perhaps the most outstanding band of the greatest era in rock.
So I was and remain a huge fan, although not interested in paying $200 plus for decent tickets to see them in concert (I might have paid $10 in 1977) and I've viewed the SHO doc about 4 times, recently for the first time since Frey's passing. I assume virtually everyone reading this page has also viewed it, so all can do is offer a few thoughts on a solid documentary about a what was a truly great band.
As is with most of these type of documentary's, the most interesting part are the early years, when the Eagles formed a group after being sidemen for various bands in the LA music scene of the late 60's and early 70's. Henley made an excellent observation about making it big but realizing that there were other musicians and writers, just as talented, but for one reason or another didn't get the big career break. Sometimes it's just being in the right place at the right time and for the Eagles, the wave broke just perfectly. After hitting the band hit superstardom with HC, Henley and Frey would align to take creative control of the group, which would ultimately cause the departure of two of the other originals, guitarist Bernie Leadon and bassist Randy Meisner. Lead guitarist Don Felder joined the band on album #3 "On the Border" (my personal favorite) and kicked the band up a notch with his blistering work, plus wrote the music for tune "Hotel California" (Henley & Frey try to minimize his contribution.) And it seems after HC everything pretty much went into the shitter as far as their relationships with one another as greed, arrogance and drugs devoured the band.
Some nice reflections by Joe Walsh, who was already a big name in rock when he joined the group for HC, replacing Leadon. Walsh almost killed himself through years of drug and alcohol abuse. He was able to clean himself up when the group reunited in 94 after 13 years and was able to tolerate the arrogance of Henley and Frey. Felder wasn't willing and ultimately would be fired by Henley, Frey and their manager Irving Azoff, the consigliere of the band. In retrospect Felder may have made the mistake that many make, overvaluing their contribution and importance to their organization. He did file a lawsuit for breach of contract that was settled by both parties and wrote a book about his experience that ultimately left him persona non grata to Henley and Frey and not in consideration for any further work with the band.
To this day the Eagles are still touring, with only Henley left from the original lineup. More power to them,but maybe we would be best left with just our memories of perhaps the most outstanding band of the greatest era in rock.