Pre-Eagles History

[FWIW]

And who knows what would have happened if Morris didn't cancel his vacation and keep his club open!

I followed the link in the Daily Camera article to Dave Plati's (associate athletic director at CU) blog. The Tulagi bartender/manager remembers when the Eagles played there. "The heat went out one night – Bernie Leadon was playing his banjos with gloves on." That's gotta be tough!

[NightMistBlue]

The bartender's story is so cool I want to share it:

“The Eagles played Tulagi (and the Gallery in Aspen) because David Geffen didn't want anyone to see them in L.A. until the act was perfect. So they woodshedded in Colorado. Chuck told the agent that it was Christmas break, that the students were gone and the town was dead, but the band came anyway, mostly to audition for producer Glyn Johns ("Who's Next" and tens of other classic rock albums). The heat went out one night – Bernie Leadon was playing his banjos with gloves on. I will always remember Glenn Frey and Don Henley sitting at the bar (we were only serving 3.2 beer) sharing a pitcher and talking about how they were going to be the biggest band in the world. I was stunned at their confidence verging on cockiness, given that they had just played to a room of 50 people. But sure enough, nine months later, "Take It Easy" was on the charts and they were playing the Denver Coliseum.”

[Brooke]

Too cool!

[NightMistBlue]

Randy gave this interview to Record Collector magazine some years ago - if anyone knows the date, please share - that indicates the group spent some time in a rehearsal space owned by Rick Nelson working on their vocal harmonies after being seen by Glyn Johns in Boulder. It sounds like Glyn came to see them again in L.A., where he then agreed to produce them. But that's not as dramatically pleasing as the "But wait!" story told in HOTE, where the boys break out in song at the last minute as Glyn is striding out the door of Tulagi's.

[UndertheWire]

It sounds like Glyn came to see them again in L.A., where he then agreed to produce them. But that's not as dramatically pleasing as the "But wait!" story told in HOTE, where the boys break out in song at the last minute as Glyn is striding out the door of Tulagi's.

In HotE, Glyn Johns said he went to listen to them again in rehearsal in LA and still didn't like them until they played that song, with the harmonies.
In his book, Glyn Johns tells the same story and says the song was "Most of Us Are Sad" (there's another interview where he describes it as one of Randy's songs but that's an understandable error given that Randy sings lead).

[AlreadyGone95]

That's one cool story! The guys sure knew that they were going places!

[NightMistBlue]

In HotE, Glyn Johns said he went to listen to them again in rehearsal in LA and still didn't like them until they played that song, with the harmonies.
In his book, Glyn Johns tells the same story and says the song was "Most of Us Are Sad" (there's another interview where he describes it as one of Randy's songs but that's an understandable error given that Randy sings lead).

Thank you so much, UtW - it was my own misunderstanding then. Still a good story.

[FWIW]

Thanks for posting the Randy interview, NMB. And thanks for the clarification UtW.

This must be the $6/hr rehearsal hall the guys rented from Bud. That story was part of the HotE show. I was kind of surprised that Glyn was willing to see the band multiple times (being unimpressed at least twice) before agreeing to produce them. I'd think someone of his stature would move on more quickly. I wonder if that was Geffen's influence?

[Funk 50]

It's pretty remarkable that Most Of Us Are Sad, the song that finally won over Glyn Johns, has never, to my knowledge, been performed live by the band. It's not a stand out track on the LP but it must be, at least, pretty good live.

I spent some time, a while ago, looking up very early Poco shows. They were always well regarded live. The track mentioned as the Poco show highlight was Randy's performance of Anyway Bye Bye.

Both songs are gentle ballads, written by the band leader but feature Randy on lead vocal.

In hindsight, Randy comes across as a subordinate character within the Eagles but moment he felt he was mistreated in Poco, he left.

[UndertheWire]

I read Glyn Johns' book and he admitted to sometimes being a bit hasty in his judgements. He initially dismissed Eagles and Joan Armitrading but changed his mind and considers the first album from each to be amongst his greatest achievements. He was also reluctant to work with Eric Clapton but eventually they built a good relationship.

With the Eagles, Johns said that once he started working with them he realised they were a lot better musically than he had originally thought.