Re: Is the King of Hollywood the strangest, coolest song or what?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Houston Debutante
The octave thing is an interesting and unusual choice, it gives it an eerie vibe. I agree about the icky subject matter being unpleasant, but I think the song is well done.
It's not even just the octave thing. It's Glenn going high and Don going low, which is the opposite of how they normally sing. It makes the eerie vibe sound even stranger to someone who is used to "traditional" Eagles harmony. The song is not one of my favorites, but I do enjoy it simply because it's a bit different.
Re: Is the King of Hollywood the strangest, coolest song or what?
Old thread time. I love this song and the way it's put together from the introductory guitars on.
To summarise what I've got from this thread:
1) the lead vocals are sung by Don Henley and Glenn Frey together with Henley louder in the mix and Glenn singing an octave higher, something that's clearer in the Long Beach bootleg.
2) At first hearing, there are two guitar solos with one starting at 3:35 and another at 5:45. However, the liner notes credit three solos, Glenn, Don F and Joe in that order. Toni (chaim) puts forward the idea that the first solo is actually in two parts with a different guitar sounds and I agree there's a change around the 4:00 (or maybe 3:55) and the guitar becomes smoother and sweeter. For me, it's plausible that Glenn plays the first part and Don the second.
The guitars I really love are when there's more than one playing the same riff (eg at 5:02) - I'm guessing all three guitarists.
Re: Is the King of Hollywood the strangest, coolest song or what?
Despite Tim joining Eagles without any audition, he and Henley create one helluva groove for King Of Hollywood. As Eagles grooves go, it's one of the best:smile:
Re: Is the King of Hollywood the strangest, coolest song or what?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
UndertheWire
Old thread time. I love this song and the way it's put together from the introductory guitars on.
To summarise what I've got from this thread:
1) the lead vocals are sung by Don Henley and Glenn Frey together with Henley louder in the mix and Glenn singing an octave higher, something that's clearer in the Long Beach bootleg.
2) At first hearing, there are two guitar solos with one starting at 3:35 and another at 5:45. However, the liner notes credit three solos, Glenn, Don F and Joe in that order. Toni (chaim) puts forward the idea that the first solo is actually in two parts with a different guitar sounds and I agree there's a change around the 4:00 (or maybe 3:55) and the guitar becomes smoother and sweeter. For me, it's plausible that Glenn plays the first part and Don the second.
The guitars I really love are when there's more than one playing the same riff (eg at 5:02) - I'm guessing all three guitarists.
I could never figure out what part Glenn was playing because I always heard just two parts. Now I'm going to have to go back and listen again to see what I missed!
Re: Is the King of Hollywood the strangest, coolest song or what?
It's not just a change in the guitar tone. At 3:44 mark you can hear a "rake", which had been Glenn's "trademark" since the beginning. A "rake" is when the plectrum goes (downwards) through strings before arriving on the actual string with the actual note. The strings that are "raked" are muted, so you only hear this quick "drrr" sound before the actual note.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xdnmEqIAHU
Also, I like UndertheWire's choice of adjectives (smoother and sweeter) about the brief part that I think is Don. Perfectly put.
Re: Is the King of Hollywood the strangest, coolest song or what?
Wow, so I was just looking on line through the box set to see what was included on those discs, and found this song and listened for the first time to it. Crazy stuff!
I remember Bob Evans from stuff like Love Story and urban Cowboy. Ali McGraw was his most famous wife, but when I looked in the link about him, it said he had 7!! Nobody stayed with him more than a few years...in fact, one wife had the marriage annulled after 9 days, so he must have been a real winner!
Thanks for the breakdown on the guitar solos..nice work by all three. I think the opening riffs, that are repeated later in the song are the solo attributed to Glenn. Then the 3 minute solo sounds like classic Felder and then someone said Joe comes in at 5 min.
Very unique piece..enjoyed it...feel like I need to go take a bath now though..hhhaahaha..j/k
Re: Is the King of Hollywood the strangest, coolest song or what?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Eagles7
Wow, so I was just looking on line through the box set to see what was included on those discs, and found this song and listened for the first time to it. Crazy stuff!
I remember Bob Evans from stuff like Love Story and urban Cowboy. Ali McGraw was his most famous wife, but when I looked in the link about him, it said he had 7!! Nobody stayed with him more than a few years...in fact, one wife had the marriage annulled after 9 days, so he must have been a real winner!
Thanks for the breakdown on the guitar solos..nice work by all three. I think the opening riffs, that are repeated later in the song are the solo attributed to Glenn. Then the 3 minute solo sounds like classic Felder and then someone said Joe comes in at 5 min.
Very unique piece..enjoyed it...feel like I need to go take a bath now though..hhhaahaha..j/k
When you play a riff you don't get a guitar solo credit. Personally I think it's possible they are all (the guitarists) playing the riff, as there's one main guitar with two guitars harmonizing. Perhaps they played those parts when they were cutting the basic tracks live.
Re: Is the King of Hollywood the strangest, coolest song or what?
I tend to agree that it's most likely that Glenn plays the solo from 3:35 to 3:58-ish, then Don F takes over from the four minute mark until 4:15, going by the timings on my MP3 file. The intro riff isn't a solo, and it would seem unlikely to me that the Eagles, who have guitar solos of some form on so many of their songs, would credit something that wasn't a solo as one. I'm afraid I don't know who is playing the rhythm parts, or which guitar they are using, this would be useful for determining definitely who is doing what.
Re: Poll: Narrowing it down on songs to add/changes to my Eagles compilation
Quote:
Originally Posted by
chaim
I love King Of Hollywood musically, including the vocals from Don and Glenn. But lyrically I don't care for it anymore. When a musician takes a person from another profession (obvious target: the movie world) and bashes him, I find it pretty lame since musicians aren't above treating other people badly when they feel they have "made it" and therefore are entitled to a higher status in the society. The guy in the song is talking to a woman in a condescending way, but were they above that kind of behavior themselves - at least when it came to groupies? I get the same feeling when I hear "Filmstar" by Suede (a band I love). It could as easily be called "Rockstar".
I guess I'd vote for KOH nevertheless, although GDIH is very important in the Eagles history, because it was the first song Don Felder played on (with fire).
EDIT:
I know that the subject matter in KOH is not the same as a rock musician and groupies, but when it comes to feeling you're above someone and treating them accordingly, they are similar. KOH's subject matter does seem relevant at the moment, but there seem to be more recent stories about musicians treating women badly. But I guess there aren't many rock musicians who would write a song about rock musicians being *******s to women - except when they brag about it in a humorous way.
Well I feel treating a groupie that way vs an actress is much more different. The way the guys treated women was often how they wanted to be treated. Important to note i said often not always but there was usually equal abuse of each other. But to treat an actress that way is not similar
Re: Poll: Narrowing it down on songs to add/changes to my Eagles compilation
Quote:
Originally Posted by
YoungEaglesFan
Well I feel treating a groupie that way vs an actress is much more different. The way the guys treated women was often how they wanted to be treated. Important to note i said often not always but there was usually equal abuse of each other. But to treat an actress that way is not similar
I have no intention of opening up a can of worms with this. It could go anywhere. But I feel I should state that groupies are women too, regardless of how they 'wanted' to be treated. This appears to be saying that actresses are somewhat higher beings.