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Showtime : History of the Eagles (split from Apropos of Nothing)

Mets – Willets Point Sep 18 2013 07:55 AM

Someone hates the Eagles more than I do: http://gawker.com/woman-stabs-roommate- ... 1335462841

Edgy MD Sep 18 2013 08:38 AM Re: Apropos of Nothing in 2013

I saw the Alison Ellwood's Eagles documentary, through what I guess was an illegal stream, and my wife and I can't stop talking about it. Even though through the whole thing, the sound synching was off by like a second and a half It's an amazing human trainwreck, and if anybody hates the Eagles more than you, it must the band themselves hating on each other and themselves and humanity. You have to suss it out. [list][*]Who'd've guessed that Frey could possibly fight Henley to a draw in the battle of who the biggest prick in the band is? He threw all the haymakers, but Henley hangs tight by being coldly and snottily above it all. [/*:m] [*]Joe Fucking Walsh comes off as sympathetic, as they had to haul him to rehab in order for the reunion to come off. He had nobody else in his life interested enough in him to save his life except these former bandmates who didn't give a shit for 14 years, and historically encouraged his self-destructive bullshit because they thought it made them look cool, but now needed him to clean up because they needed his name as part of the re-launch of their brand. [/*:m] [*]During Walsh's chances to front the band in the reunion tour, instead of singing his trademark JW songs of unrepentent destruction, he ends up croaking out these acoustic naval gazers lamenting the life he's wasted and the pain he's caused. The audience pretends they're not disappointed, while Henley and Frey join in harmonies when the chorus rolls around, sadly acknowledging with their sunken eyes that these set-wrecking songs are the price of hauling Mr. 12-Stepper around on tour. [/*:m] [*]Glen Frey talking about how he was really a rocker. [/*:m] [*]Frey's baldly embellishing all the tales of confrontations the band ever had ever in order to look tougher. [/*:m] [*]Henley's moral rationalizing of decades of incredibly heartless backstabbing. [/*:m] [*]Everything about Timothy B. Schmit being beautiful --- the hair, the voice, the cheekbones, the sweet geniality when surrounded by human horrors. Can he possibly be real? Can he possibly be straight? [/*:m] [*]The fact that this was essentially a band-approved whitewash --- stuff like the 14-year-old girl rushed by ambulance from Henley's home, naked and full of drugs, doesn't get mentioned --- but it still comes of as a monstrous study in turning self-interested douchecraft into a virtue that extends beyond the Eagles and reflects on their entire generation. [/*:m] [*]Henley refers to anybody he's feuding with as "Mr. ..." as if he can only speak about them as some abstraction at the other end of a legal filing. "If that's Mr. Geffen's position, then that's Mr. Geffen's position. After 120 million records sold, six Grammies, and the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame, we naturally see it differently." [/*:m] [*]Did you know Glen Frey had a successful acting career? It must be true. It was in the documentary.[/*:m][/list:u] We just wanted to stand and applaud at the end. Hotel California is clearly more hellish than I ever imagined. I don't need to tell you, however, that I can talk about this thing all day.

HahnSolo Sep 18 2013 09:15 AM Re: Apropos of Nothing in 2013

"Thanks for your review Edgy...I guess."

Mets – Willets Point Sep 18 2013 09:42 AM Re: Apropos of Nothing in 2013

There is a great article about that documentary on Grantland: http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/956 ... eatest-hit

Edgy MD Sep 18 2013 09:54 AM Re: Apropos of Nothing in 2013

Yeah, my wife ended up reading that to me after we watched it. Clearly I'm targeting the same stuff Simmons is. Hilarious. Of course, by watching, I'm likely lining their pockets more. It makes you really appreciate the enduring humanity of the Beatles, for instance.

seawolf17 Sep 18 2013 10:17 AM Re: Apropos of Nothing in 2013

I got the DVDs out of the library last week, but haven't watched it yet. Not a huge Eagles fan, but I've heard so much about this doc.

Frayed Knot Sep 18 2013 10:55 AM Re: Apropos of Nothing in 2013

That Simmons piece is great as I LOVED that documentary for all the same reasons. It's got sex, drugs, rock-n-roll, egos, prima-donnas, prima-donna haters, fights, backstabbing, and villains and heros often at the same time. It's got excesses along with rationalizations for those excesses set cheek by jowl against explanations for why cut-throat band decisions were being made as if they were being made by 100% rational people. It's clearly been done with the approval of the band and yet manages to have no one come off well in it. And good God almighty was the young Linda Ronstadt a vision!!

Edgy MD Sep 18 2013 12:12 PM Re: Showtime : History of the Eagles (split from Apropos of

Glyn Johns in his clipped English accent, responding to their second producer, who made a courtesy call asking him if it was OK if he took the band's next album, was great. Losing the Eagles gig was like Christmas morning to Glyn Johns.

Chad Ochoseis Sep 19 2013 07:35 PM Re: Showtime : History of the Eagles (split from Apropos of

[youtube:18jy7y02]-JlmvtAHhnc[/youtube:18jy7y02]

d'Kong76 Sep 19 2013 08:19 PM Re: Showtime : History of the Eagles (split from Apropos of

[youtube:1dynet7u]AEzTdBJUHO8[/youtube:1dynet7u]

Frayed Knot Sep 20 2013 06:12 AM Re: Showtime : History of the Eagles (split from Apropos of

We had a poster around here years back (or maybe it was at the old place) who once wrote: "I hate the Eagles ... the band AND the football team!!"

Vic Sage Sep 20 2013 08:24 AM Re: Apropos of Nothing in 2013

Frayed Knot wrote: ...And good God almighty was the young Linda Ronstadt a vision!! um, yeah.

MFS62 Sep 20 2013 08:57 PM Re: Apropos of Nothing in 2013

Edgy MD wrote: [*]Did you know Glen Frey had a successful acting career? It must be true. It was in the documentary.[/list] I remember seeing him playing a sleazy drug smuggler in an episode of Miami Vice. Type casting? Later

batmagadanleadoff Sep 21 2013 12:16 AM Re: Showtime : History of the Eagles (split from Apropos of

[youtube]xFjrypLD4Vo[/youtube] Cameo by Adam Batman West

Edgy MD Sep 21 2013 06:32 AM Re: Showtime : History of the Eagles (split from Apropos of

This is SUCH a hijack.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Sep 21 2013 07:02 AM Re: Showtime : History of the Eagles (split from Apropos of

I had such a crush on Linda Ronstadt-- like, drawing-pictures-of-myself-with-her bad-- when I was a little kid, around 3 or 4. And Lynda Carter. Miss Piggy, too, briefly. I can't say I ever felt that way about Frey or Henley. Or even Walsh.

Frayed Knot Sep 21 2013 07:26 AM Re: Showtime : History of the Eagles (split from Apropos of

Edgy MD wrote: This is SUCH a hijack. You wanna look at her pony-tail or Don Henley's? Or her tail or Don Henley's? In truth she was only in that docu for a few seconds, but she looked real good in that brief cameo. Young and thin, dressed with that whole hippie-chick vibe and the biggest voice in the room, I bet she was real ... umm, popular at the time. She actually has a new book out, although, unlike many R-n-R bios, it supposedly sticks more to her musical journey and skimps on the more juicy details.

Edgy MD Sep 21 2013 07:51 AM Re: Showtime : History of the Eagles (split from Apropos of

I can't say I ever felt that way about Frey or Henley. Or even Walsh. Well, brace yourself, laddie. Is it hot in here?

Edgy MD Sep 21 2013 08:15 AM Re: Showtime : History of the Eagles (split from Apropos of

Minor revelation from Henley's Wikipedia article: "In 1995, Henley married Sharon Summerall, a former model from Texas who had lived in Paris and studied art history. Performers at the wedding included Bruce Springsteen, Sting, Billy Joel, John Fogerty, Jackson Browne, Donna Lewis, Sheryl Crow, Glenn Frey, and Tony Bennett." Where do you start? 1) How about Frey, using the leverage of the suddenly reunited Eagles to get launched into that sort of stratosphere? 2) Did the novelty of celebrity bigshots performing with the wedding band get tedious after a while? "Wait, I take a trip to the chocolate fountain and I miss McCartney?" 4) How did such a celebrity orgy like that go down and Elton John NOT get a piece of it.

Frayed Knot Sep 21 2013 09:52 AM Re: Showtime : History of the Eagles (split from Apropos of

[youtube:14kwy379]Wm-o7_VVAoU[/youtube:14kwy379]

Edgy MD Sep 21 2013 11:05 AM Re: Showtime : History of the Eagles (split from Apropos of

Sure, but Mojo never had such a sexalicious photo spread as Don.

SteveJRogers Sep 21 2013 11:46 AM Re: Showtime : History of the Eagles (split from Apropos of

Frayed Knot wrote: Edgy MD wrote: This is SUCH a hijack. You wanna look at her pony-tail or Don Henley's? Or her tail or Don Henley's? In truth she was only in that docu for a few seconds, but she looked real good in that brief cameo. Young and thin, dressed with that whole hippie-chick vibe and the biggest voice in the room, I bet she was real ... umm, popular at the time. She actually has a new book out, although, unlike many R-n-R bios, it supposedly sticks more to her musical journey and skimps on the more juicy details. Speaking of that. Where was that footage from? I assume an Eagle doc, but the Ronstadt stuff made it seem that it was about Southern/California Rock in general. About the latter point, the fact that George Harrison's I Me Mine was so singularly focused on the author's musical and other interests journey that apparantly that was one last wedge between him and John Lennon.

Frayed Knot Sep 21 2013 12:16 PM Re: Showtime : History of the Eagles (split from Apropos of

SteveJRogers wrote: Speaking of that. Where was that footage from? I assume an Eagle doc, but the Ronstadt stuff made it seem that it was about Southern/California Rock in general. The Eagles documentary, which ran on SHOWTIME and is brought up by Edgy at the beginning of this thread and also linked elsewhere, contains some brief footage of Frey & Henley's pre-Eagles days when they were backing musicians for Ronstadt. She, along with the likes of Jackson Browne and JD Souther, were just some of those whose paths they crossed in the early days (Linda launched 'Desperado' before they had a hit with it for instance, and both Browne & Souther were occasional co-writers) but the docu is strictly about the Eagles. The scene was meant to represent that of 'The Troubadour', then LA's hot-spot for up and coming musicians, but it could have been from anywhere and I suspect it was filmed in a similar but smaller joint.

Edgy MD Sep 21 2013 12:19 PM Re: Showtime : History of the Eagles (split from Apropos of

What's unstated in the documentary is how much Frey passes himself off as a singer/songwriter but is mostly the former, and has leaned on a lifetime of being fortunate in his friendships (Henley, J.D. Souther, Jack Tempchin, Jackson Brown, etc.) to get some of other people's finest stuff. Henley pretty much shares composition credits on all his songs during the band's run, but at least had a prolific post-Eagles songwriting career, while Frey's solo career relied almost entirely on a now-quite-schlocky Tempchin.

SteveJRogers Sep 21 2013 12:43 PM Re: Showtime : History of the Eagles (split from Apropos of

Frayed Knot wrote: SteveJRogers wrote: Speaking of that. Where was that footage from? I assume an Eagle doc, but the Ronstadt stuff made it seem that it was about Southern/California Rock in general. contains some brief footage of Frey & Henley's pre-Eagles days when they were backing musicians for Ronstadt. She, along with the likes of Jackson Browne and JD Souther, were just some of those whose paths they crossed in the early days (Linda launched 'Desperado' before they had a hit with it for instance, and both Browne & Souther were occasional co-writers) but the docu is strictly about the Eagles. The scene was meant to represent that of 'The Troubadour', then LA's hot-spot for up and coming musicians, but it could have been from anywhere and I suspect it was filmed in a similar but smaller joint. Yeah, it's that vintage footage that I'm talking about. The stuff from the concert, the band in the limos, it looked like either a documentary or some 60 Minutes type of story footage on either The Eagles themselves, or the genre in general.

TransMonk Oct 27 2013 07:59 AM Re: Showtime : History of the Eagles (split from Apropos of

Every guy in this movie is a raging douchebag and it sucked over three hours of my life last night. Edgy's covered most of the major points and Ronstandt's Hasten Down the Wind cover is one of the best of all time. It's surprising to me that for all of the success that this band had and for all of the partying that they did, all of their members are still living (though, Randy Meisner is just barely hanging on). I believe that Frey says at one point during the film that Meisner's "Take It To the Limit" was their first #1 single...but wikipedia disagrees with him ("Best of My Love" and "One of These Nights" were number ones prior to "Take It to the Limit" peaking at #4.). I would hate The Eagles (and this movie) a little less if they had never come back in the 90s after breaking up in 1980. It was so purely evident in the movie and at the time that they were coming back for the money even though they still wanted to kill each other.

SteveJRogers Oct 27 2013 08:28 AM Re: Showtime : History of the Eagles (split from Apropos of

TransMonk wrote: I would hate The Eagles (and this movie) a little less if they had never come back in the 90s after breaking up in 1980. It was so purely evident in the movie and at the time that they were coming back for the money even though they still wanted to kill each other. While for every Eagles there are a slew of successful "Getting The Band Back Together" examples, but it is a great cautionary tale to the scores of Beatle fans who, even after John's murder, pinned for full blown reunion albums and tours. Hell, the friction between George and Paul during the Anthology recordings should have been reason enough! BTW, no one still hasn't answered where that 1970s filmed footage of The Eagles and related acts were from (the concert footage, interviews backstage and in limos, etc). Documentary? A 60 Minutes style show piece? Come on, I expected better from the 1970s music buffs around here! ;)

TransMonk Oct 27 2013 09:59 AM Re: Showtime : History of the Eagles (split from Apropos of

This movie did get in my head, though, as I have spent the past couple of hours listening to their greatest hits. Felder was an above average bass player. Everyone else, while usually technically proficient, played (and even sang) with very little soul or deviation from the hit making machine. Walsh interjected a bit of variety when he came on board, but it didn't rub off on any of the others. I've always had a soft spot for bands with multiple singers. I do like how Frey's vocals mostly land on the countrified, feel-good songs, while the Henley songs tend to be darker and sadder. However, I don't find either of them to be exceptional song-smiths. Also, I thought I've understood the meaning of "Hotel California" since I was about 14 years old. Isn't it a pretty obvious metaphor between the Hollywood machine and a giant whorehouse? For all of the bitching they did in this movie about Glyn Johns, sonically I prefer those albums to the Szymczyk ones. Frey and Henley got their way, but I think Frey's vocals never sounded better than when Johns put his echo on them and Henley's drums got worse and worse after Szymczyk started individually tracking them...and those were the two things they had the biggest complaints about.

Edgy MD Oct 27 2013 01:42 PM Re: Showtime : History of the Eagles (split from Apropos of

I would hate The Eagles (and this movie) a little less if they had never come back in the 90s after breaking up in 1980. It was so purely evident in the movie and at the time that they were coming back for the money even though they still wanted to kill each other. I have to give the movie props (perhaps ironically) for it's utter failure to disguise this point. Felder was an above average bass player. Everyone else, while usually technically proficient, played (and even sang) with very little soul or deviation from the hit making machine. Walsh interjected a bit of variety when he came on board, but it didn't rub off on any of the others. Do you mean Meissner here? I've always had a soft spot for bands with multiple singers. Very agreed. I do like how Frey's vocals mostly land on the countrified, feel-good songs, while the Henley songs tend to be darker and sadder. Ironic, considering Frey always whining about wanting to rock more. Also, I thought I've understood the meaning of "Hotel California" since I was about 14 years old. Isn't it a pretty obvious metaphor between the Hollywood machine and a giant whorehouse? I like to think it's more broadly about the entire state, and the lie it represents as the paradise at the end of the rainbow. I think pulling the curtain away on the American dream and the endless summer is Henley's strength as a songwriter. For all of the bitching they did in this movie about Glyn Johns, sonically I prefer those albums to the Szymczyk ones. Glyn Johns made good records. Full stop.

TransMonk Oct 27 2013 06:05 PM Re: Showtime : History of the Eagles (split from Apropos of

Sorry, yes, Meissner.