Eagles 40th Anniversary

[Ive always been a dreamer]

Thanks all, I'm glad some of you enjoyed my post about the contest. During the contest, the website had a blog where folks could post comments about the bands. In that article, when he quotes the Eagles fan that said "It doesn't have to be hard rock to be rock", that was actually me who wrote that. I may post what I wrote later, but it's a little long and I have another person's post that I want to share right now. I loved the story this person who called him/herself "Take It Easy" wrote. After you read what they wrote, you'll see why they called themself that ...

Almost a month ago, on a business trip I had to drive through the town of Winslow, Arizona and you'll never guess what I saw. After passing through the town, I continued driving along the road in my rental car and I couldn't get "the song" out of my head. So when I made my next stop, I pulled into a record store and bought the Eagles double CD - The Very Best of the Eagles. I listened to the hit-packed CD's (all 33 songs) and have hardly stopped listening to them since. To be honest, I hadn't thought a lot about the Eagles much recently, but listening to these songs brought back a ton of memories. One night back at home, I decided to "surf the net" to check out to see what the band has been up to lately. I found a lot of information, including information about your band contest. When I checked out your web site, I got really excited to see how well the band was doing in your contest. Anyway, I thought the timing of all this was interesting and I really hope they win. They deserve it - they wrote and sang the songs that pretty much defined my generation and these songs still connect today. Take It Easy!

[Ive always been a dreamer]

One other thing I forgot to mention about the first article I posted. I pretty much agree with everything in the guy's 10 reasons except the part where he says Joe can't sing. He may not have the traditional voice that you normally think of when you hear a singer, BUT the man can carry a tune. He didn't get this successful a singer w/o being able to sing, that's for sure. Just sayin' ...

[BramwenR]

I've just got to add here: even if we didn't grow up with the music we can still relate to it because intelligent lyrics, strong melody and beautiful harmony are timeless.

Oh, and Bramwen - JB HiFi over here usually have Eagles CDs for around $9 each - I'm sure they'd have them in Sydney too.

Beautifully put, EK..intelligent lyrics, strong, not wishy washy and predictable like some of the [c]rap stuff out there right now

Thanks for the tip, JB HiFi is about 45mins from me so I'll just mosey on over there when I get a chance! still haven't heard LROOE

[BramwenR]

Wow! Some of these posts really choked me up - they are so moving and are straight from the heart. I truly wish the band members could hear some of them.

I'm going to try to post several things throughout the week about the band. One of the things I thought about is this question: Are the Eagles truly America’s greatest band? I know this group, including myself, is probably a bit biased, but my answer is a resounding YES THEY ARE! I’m also aware that there have been tons of polls and surveys about who is the best band ever conducted in various formats, and our guys usually fare pretty well in many of these. I want to share with all of you about a contest that I participated in back in the spring of 2005 not too long after I had become involved in following the band on the internet. The contest was sponsored by the Florida Times-Union at their Jacksonville.com website and it was modeled after the “March Madness” tournament, which determines the NCAA Men’s College Basketball champion here in the states each year. The question they posed in the contest was who is the greatest American rock band of all time, and there was a bracket with 64 bands chosen for the contest. After four elimination rounds, the band that came out on top was ... of course, none other than our Eagles. I thought I’d share an interesting article that was written by a reporter on the publication’s website after the contest was over …

I agree wholeheartedly with all except the first one..as someone else here said.

I had never even heard of Joe Walsh before the F1 Tour DVD (largely because I never caught up with lineup changes, etc..) and I have to say, looking at him and watching him play, made me wonder what sort of sound he'd make when he opened his mouth. He has very real character, knows how to play to the camera, how to ham it up, a rubber face that contorts into all sorts of questionable expressions and I thought to myself, wow, is he for real??

Then he started singing One Day At A Time..it took me completely by surprise because...he has one of those real rock voices, like a heavy metal singer and strong..and...annnnnnnndddd....he sung it all with chewing gum in his mouth, never missed a beat, never hit a bum note, just raised the roof with that soaring voice of his and absolutely blew me away..and I think he does the low parts too..the guy is a lot of fun and has loads of personality..sooooo...


I don't agree with this guy who says "the dude can't sing"

(he needs to get his hearing aid checked)

[TimothyBFan]

still haven't heard LROOE

You mean none of the cd or just the song itself? WOW---Are you in for a treat!!

I had never even heard of Joe Walsh before the F1 Tour DVD (largely because I never caught up with lineup changes, etc..)

You're just full of surprises. I just figured since you were a Timothy fan from way back, you had probably kept track of all the Eagles info also. You hadn't even heard of Joe's solo stuff? How about the Hotel California album and the song Pretty Maids All In A Row on it?

[zeldabjr]

One other thing I forgot to mention about the first article I posted. I pretty much agree with everything in the guy's 10 reasons except the part where he says Joe can't sing. He may not have the traditional voice that you normally think of when you hear a singer, BUT the man can carry a tune. He didn't get this successful a singer w/o being able to sing, that's for sure. Just sayin' ...

I agree..a lot of famous rock singers don't have that beautiful sweet Timothy B voice, but that doesn't make them any less valid a singer...other than that...he's right on with everything!! and I love Take It Easy's comments too...wish I could drive through Winslow Arizona someday!!

[zeldabjr]

You mean none of the cd or just the song itself? WOW---Are you in for a treat!!



You're just full of surprises. I just figured since you were a Timothy fan from way back, you had probably kept track of all the Eagles info also. You hadn't even heard of Joe's solo stuff? How about the Hotel California album and the song Pretty Maids All In A Row on it?

wow she is in for a treat...you must hear LROOE...you'll love it!! and yeah there's a lot of great Joe stuff you need to hear too!! I adore Pretty Maids All In A Row..

[BramwenR]

wow she is in for a treat...you must hear LROOE...you'll love it!! and yeah there's a lot of great Joe stuff you need to hear too!! I adore Pretty Maids All In A Row..

Okay, so yeah...I am a gal who has a few surprises up her sleeve

Right, so the reasons I never kept up with Eagles music is because when I first moved to Sydney in 1975 I was fresh off a little island in the Sth Pacific Ocean (Norfolk) and we never had music stores over there. I had my favourite music sent from Sydney from my twin sister who had moved there ahead of me and the only way I could keep up with any music trends was listening to Top Of the Pops on our local radio station (relayed by the BBC at the time).

So I didn't even know about our guys' music until I got here in Sept of 1975. I think One Of These Nights was one of the first I heard. I was kind of very naive when I first arrived and it wasn't until the early 80s that I really got more into the music scene; lots of concerts, etc and once I got my radio show (which I did for 20 years) I played a bit of Eagles stuff.

But you know, in those days I didn't really follow music trends, or goss about who was doing this or that. So I think I remember them breaking up but sometimes Australia is a little slow to catch up with what's going on in the rest of the world musically.

Also, I was never really up on who sang what, I just knew I loved this voice and that song etc..I had never heard Pretty Maids until HFO, in fact, before coming here to this board I didn't even know what albums they all had.

Guess that's one of the pitfalls of being Down Under, we are behind the times LOL .. but I aim to rectify all that, got some listening to catch up on..oh...and on Norfolk Island we didn't even have tv until the late 70s and even then, it was only to watch videos.

So I'm here to be educated, girls!!!

[BBKron]

Well, of course, I join everyone else in saying Happy 40th Anniversary!

It really is an amazing thing, 40 years, and it is especially amazing to me, because I have been following them for every one of those 40 years!

I can still remember the first time I ever heard them on the radio, when 'Take It Easy' was released as single, and responding immediately to the brightness and freshness of the sound, style, and harmony vocals, wondering 'Who are these guys?'. Of course at that time they were generally introduced as being a new band composed primarily of members from Linda Ronstadt's back-up band, but I knew right away that this was a group to watch. I do have to admit that I was much less impressed with their follow-up single 'Witchy Woman' at the time, and that did keep me from buying the album right away. But after I did hear the whole album (from a friend), I was hooked on them for good. But what really made the group stand out as one of the best ever for me was their next 2 albums, Desperado and On The Border, 2 of my all-time favorite albums.

Anyway, now that the big 40th Anniversary is finally officially here, we need to do something special to commemorate it. One thing I recommend is that we compile an official The Border 40th Anniversary Top 40 Eagles Songs. Now, I know we have already made all kinds of lists, rankings, and preferences over the years, of albums, songs, etc. But this would be conducted specirfically for the 40th Anniversary, and represent our collective frame of mind right now. I suggest we conduct this by having each member who wants to contribute, submit their list of their own personal favorite TOP 20 Eagles songs. After sufficient time (2 weeks), these will be compiled to determine the ultimate list of top 40 songs (with ranks determined in the usual way - #1 on a persons list would be worth h 20 points, #2-19 points, etc.). Because there are so many different tastes and favorites, it will not be difficult at all to come up with a top 40 list based on each persons top 20 selections, and will keep the individual lists a bit more manageable.

So, Soda, Dreamer, what do you say? Is this a workable (and fun) idea and exercise, to conduct a new poll to determine everyone's all-time favorite songs and compile a Top 40 for the $0th anniversary? Let's do it (but should probably start a new thread for it)!

[Freypower]

I'd like to see that happen but I will leave it to the experts, Soda and/or Dreamer, to initiate it.