Felder's "Heaven and Hell" Discussion Thread

[WalshFan88]

It's one thing to buy an album, it's something else to want to listen to it. I've bought quite a few albums that have been permanently filed shortly after.

Well normally I don't buy albums to be paperweights or for looks.

I'll correct myself - I'd listen to a hard rock instrumental album.

[chaim]

When Don described in his book how he was thinking of the other guys' styles and capabilities (or something like that) when he was was writing parts for different instruments in his demos, I didn't take it as a negative thing - like he was frustrated by it. I didn't get a vibe that he was complaining about the other guys restricting his songwriting. It's just something you do when you're in a band, IF you do sophisticated demos.

Of course this is a bit strange when you think about the interview with Don F that I've kept bringing up, from the OOTN era. He said there that the best songs happen when the band writes them together (I think that was an exaggeration, by the way. I think he was just proud that he had written the bass part for the title track). He said that someone comes up with a couple of chords, or a piece of melody, or a couple of words and then the band writes the song together. And the exceptions to the group writing are when he works with one of the guys - like with Randy on TMH and with Don F on Visions.

So the songwriting style changed quickly. On OOTN the band basically wrote the actual songs together. On HC Don was doing demos, writing even the other guys' parts!

Someone said that Don can't make a hard rock album with vocals, because of his voice. Maybe he could do what Mike Rutherford did. He sang on one of his solo albums early on, but then he decided to do a solo album with different people singing on different songs. For marketing reasons the project of course became a band - Mike & The Mechanics. And it was successful. Don could use different, carefully chosen singers for different songs and call the project something like Don & The Dentists.

[VAisForEagleLovers]

Or different guest singers on each song, Carlos Santana did that a while back and he does have a good, strong voice. That makes it hard to tour, though.

I got the impression that when it came to song writing, the guys would bring ideas to whole band, then they'd work on them together. Or, usually lyrics, a melody, and a chord progression and they'd all work on filling in the rest.

[Funk 50]

Well the "Don And The Dentists" act almost happened in the early nineties with "Mechanics" vocalist Paul Carrack, and Timothy B.. Maybe the late, Jim Capaldi involved too.

With the demise of the record companies, side projects are popping up all the time. I hope Don (F) latches on to one.

Talking, about an instrumental album, I'm surprised that Don hasn't yet produced an instrumental track, despite Glenn and Don commenting that a lot of Felder's instrumental demos didn't leave any room for vocals.

The intros to One Of These Nights and Victim Of Love show he's certainly capable.

Are there any other instrumental Felder pieces that differ from the main chord progression of the song?

[chaim]

Well the "Don And The Dentists" act almost happened in the early nineties with "Mechanics" vocalist Paul Carrack, and Timothy B.. Maybe the late, Jim Capaldi involved too.

With the demise of the record companies, side projects are popping up all the time. I hope Don (F) latches on to one.

Talking, about an instrumental album, I'm surprised that Don hasn't yet produced an instrumental track, despite Glenn and Don commenting that a lot of Felder's instrumental demos didn't leave any room for vocals.

The intros to One Of These Nights and Victim Of Love show he's certainly capable.

Are there any other instrumental Felder pieces that differ from the main chord progression of the song?

Are you referring to OOTN and VOF? Those intros are based on the chord progression in those songs. But they are great nonetheless.

[UndertheWire]

Or different guest singers on each song, Carlos Santana did that a while back and he does have a good, strong voice. That makes it hard to tour, though.

I was thinking of that, too. Supernatural is a really strong album but I hadn't realised it was quite so huge - sales of $30m worldwide according to Wikipedia. If you look at the writing credits, Carlos Santana didn't write many of the songs so it may have been more of a case of inviting different artists to bring along their songs and record with Santana rather to play on his songs. Although that might work musically for Don Felder, he doesn't have the name recognition and distinctive style of Santana.

[VAisForEagleLovers]

It occurs to me that I've not listened to Supernatural in a long time, maybe I should do that now.

You have a point, UTW, about Santana's approach and the songs that were brought to him.

I've been thinking about his for a while now, when the Eagles 'stopped' back in 1980, why did Felder decide to go solo? I suppose I can see why he tried going solo with Airborne, but when that didn't work out, why didn't he join another band, or form another band? It's what Jimmy Page did when Zep decided to not continue after Bonham died. Even a band where he shared vocals with someone would have worked. With his rare talent on guitar, he could have been successful.

[Brooke]

It occurs to me that I've not listened to Supernatural in a long time, maybe I should do that now.

You have a point, UTW, about Santana's approach and the songs that were brought to him.

I've been thinking about his for a while now, when the Eagles 'stopped' back in 1980, why did Felder decide to go solo? I suppose I can see why he tried going solo with Airborne, but when that didn't work out, why didn't he join another band, or form another band? It's what Jimmy Page did when Zep decided to not continue after Bonham died. Even a band where he shared vocals with someone would have worked. With his rare talent on guitar, he could have been successful.

That's a very good point, VA. I wonder too why he didn't do anything after Airborne. What did he do all that time?

[UndertheWire]

I've been thinking about his for a while now, when the Eagles 'stopped' back in 1980, why did Felder decide to go solo? I suppose I can see why he tried going solo with Airborne, but when that didn't work out, why didn't he join another band, or form another band? It's what Jimmy Page did when Zep decided to not continue after Bonham died. Even a band where he shared vocals with someone would have worked. With his rare talent on guitar, he could have been successful.

I think he covers that in the book. As part of repairing his marriage and making the family his priority, he decided that he wouldn't tour and he turned down offers from friends because of this. That would limit his options considerably. Apart from that, there may be some clues in his description of making Airborne. He was finally able to do what he wanted to do rather than fit in with others. Maybe he wasn't ready to make compromises with the members of a new band. He was also hoping that the Eagles would come back together (he says this in a 1983 interview). Then something happened in the mid-eighties and he seems to have given up music altogether in favour of being a realator (he mentions Susan's health scare and his own depression).

[chaim]

That's a very good point, VA. I wonder too why he didn't do anything after Airborne. What did he do all that time?

Indeed. And "he was with his family" is not a great answer. We're talking about 15 years or something. It's not totally unheard of that people who have families also go to work.