Eagles Short Run vs. Longevity

[BillBailey1976]

I was pondering the Eagles time together today, and it just amazes me, when I put it in perspective, how short the original run of the Eagles was.
If you count from the release of "Eagles", the run to the last show at Long Beach was 8 yrs and 2 months exactly. Eagles released on June 1 1972, and the last concert was July 31, 1980.
When you think about the amazing amount of hit music they created in 7 years, from June 72, to September 79 it's pretty incredible. 6 albums in 7 years, with those hits!!!

Then you compare that with the "second act", you have a run from April 23 1994 to July 2015, that's 21 yrs!!!!
They were together almost 3 times as long the second time around.

It's hard to believe that Hell Freezes Over will be 25 years old in 2 years.

[Funk 50]

It wasn't just the Eagles BillBailey1976, practically all today's heritage acts were releasing great new albums annually. It was a magic time to be a recorded, rock music fan.

I'm a little too young to remember the early 70s but I was lucky enough to spend many hours in record shops checking out albums by Genesis, ELO, Joe Walsh and stuff I'd seen on TV or heard on the heard on the radio, and then deliberating for ages over which LP I'd be taking home to get better acquainted with.

The whole of the Eagles original run isn't that much longer than the time it took them to produce the Long Road Out Of Eden album. You can sorta see why Don's singing Wasted Time in a new light since Glenn's passing.

It's difficult to see an Eagles anniversary celebration of the release Hell Freezes Over or The Long Run without first honoring Hotel California but it'll be an achievement worth celebrating in a business that you very rarely get to retire from before it retires you.

[BillBailey1976]

I was watching an old Glenn Frey video of Heartache Tonight from 86. I think it was the Japan show with Christopher Cross...and having the discussion with my wife about the great music and performances that stubbornness cost the Eagles getting to make.
Imagine Don, Glenn and Joe's best songs from the 80s as Eagles tunes, along with the stuff that they'd have co-written for sure.
Oh well....Wasted Time is right.

[Dawn]

Alot of this has to do with being in the right place at the right time.

Namely the 1960s early 70s Southern California/LA/Laurel Canyon. Birthplace of what became known as the Country Rock Sound

The Troubadour Nightclub

Meeting and associating with people each playing a pivotal role in their success:

Bob Seger, JD Souther, Don Henley, Jackson Browne, Jack Tempchin, David Geffen of Asylum Records, Bill Szymczyk and the very talented, artistically well connected and generous Linda Ronstadt who ultimately led them to Bernie Leadon who in turn led them to Don Felder.

IIRC it was John Boylan who suggested Randy Meisner of Poco
And Irving Azoff who later recommended Joe Walsh

It's a primitive incomplete disjointed timeline I know - these are just a few events and names that come to mind.

FWIW I think Irving Azoff has been highly influential in terms of securing the Eagles financial success as a touring band and other ventures but there is no disputing the significant role played by David Geffen early in their career. Or decisions made by Frey, Henley and the other band members themselves.

Of course we must acknowledge the successful marriage of Classic Rock and Nostalgia Filled Baby Boomers which is still going strong and the main reason why it can cost a home mortgage payment to see certain legendary bands up close and personal. Supply and Demand.

The History of the Eagles documentary tells their story in their own words.

[UndertheWire]

I was watching an old Glenn Frey video of Heartache Tonight from 86. I think it was the Japan show with Christopher Cross...and having the discussion with my wife about the great music and performances that stubbornness cost the Eagles getting to make.
Imagine Don, Glenn and Joe's best songs from the 80s as Eagles tunes, along with the stuff that they'd have co-written for sure.
Oh well....Wasted Time is right.

The other way of looking at it is that instead of sharing writer's block and unproductive months in the studio, they recorded lots of new music with other collaborators.

[BillBailey1976]

I think they mention in the documentary, that what they really needed to do was take time off to recharge more between albums.
I think a post Hotel California break would have done them a huge good, but the record company wants wants wants. Gotta deliver the album.....it's sort of ironic that the pushing of the record company probably cost them millions.
Had they let the band take more time, and pace themselves with albums better, they may have gotten several more quality albums out of the band.

[thelastresort]

It would be interesting to know what was the straw that broke the camels back: I'm sure Glenn has said in the past he knew way before Long Beach et al that he was going to take time out of the Eagles, but I can't remember if that was before or after the strain of making The Long Run began to manifest itself.

[Delilah]

I was watching an old Glenn Frey video of Heartache Tonight from 86. I think it was the Japan show with Christopher Cross...and having the discussion with my wife about the great music and performances that stubbornness cost the Eagles getting to make.
Imagine Don, Glenn and Joe's best songs from the 80s as Eagles tunes, along with the stuff that they'd have co-written for sure.
Oh well....Wasted Time is right.

I don't know if I would consider it "wasted time." There was some great solo material created during that time. Don H, Glenn and Joe had such different-sounding albums and songs; I don't see them coming together and agreeing to the collaborative effort required for an album. Especially given the ordeal they endured with "The Long Run"--a decent album with a couple of great tracks, but hardly their best work.

By the 80s, the Eagles were considered passé, a throwback to the hippie era. I don't believe they were simpatico enough then to agree to what the next "Eagles" sound should be to keep up with the times. What might have happened is an album with a collection of solo tracks--not unlike LROOE. At least "The Long Run" sounds like the band working together, however painful it may have been.

[thelastresort]

What might have happened is an album with a collection of solo tracks--not unlike LROOE. At least "The Long Run" sounds like the band working together, however painful it may have been.

This is one of my reasons for not being overly eager on LROOE, nor the concept of more to follow.
Glenn has three (of many) songs on it LROOE that are excellent - ILTWAWD, It's Your World Now and You Are Not Alone. The trouble is is that for the first two especially, there's basically no input at all from the other Eagles. They belong on solo albums just as LTBS belongs on a Don Henley album.
Don H. gets far too preachy on some of his contributions too - what made The Last Resort and LROOE (the title track) so good was that they hold the truth as Don Henley saw it, but in the way that a philosopher tells a story, not the way an angry church minister does. I got the sense that with Henley not having an equal (as in control) songwriting partner for something like Business As Usual like Glenn would be perhaps led him to go all guns blazing, and it makes him sound like an angry, bitter old man.
Joe's two contributions vocally range from bang average (GOTC) to so bad I've never actually listened to it all the way through (Last Good Time in Town). Not his finest hour by a long way. I wonder if any of his potentially better contributions were sacrificed to be saved for Analog Man (as I believe One Day at a Time was).
TBS is actually very good on it and his two songs are two of the better ones on the album.
If LROOE had been a single disk of the ten best songs on the album (yes, I know, it'd be different depending on who you asked) then it would be a belter - How Long, Long Road Out of Eden and Somebody are cracking tracks that I am so glad saw the light of day. The abundant, mediocre tat though drags it down so badly. Not a chance in a million years that all four of them are present on every track, which is what a band should be doing as a starter!

[groupie2686]

This is one of my reasons for not being overly eager on LROOE, nor the concept of more to follow.
Glenn has three (of many) songs on it LROOE that are excellent - ILTWAWD, It's Your World Now and You Are Not Alone. The trouble is is that for the first two especially, there's basically no input at all from the other Eagles. They belong on solo albums just as LTBS belongs on a Don Henley album.
Don H. gets far too preachy on some of his contributions too - what made The Last Resort and LROOE (the title track) so good was that they hold the truth as Don Henley saw it, but in the way that a philosopher tells a story, not the way an angry church minister does. I got the sense that with Henley not having an equal (as in control) songwriting partner for something like Business As Usual like Glenn would be perhaps led him to go all guns blazing, and it makes him sound like an angry, bitter old man.
Joe's two contributions vocally range from bang average (GOTC) to so bad I've never actually listened to it all the way through (Last Good Time in Town). Not his finest hour by a long way. I wonder if any of his potentially better contributions were sacrificed to be saved for Analog Man (as I believe One Day at a Time was).
TBS is actually very good on it and his two songs are two of the better ones on the album.
If LROOE had been a single disk of the ten best songs on the album (yes, I know, it'd be different depending on who you asked) then it would be a belter - How Long, Long Road Out of Eden and Somebody are cracking tracks that I am so glad saw the light of day. The abundant, mediocre tat though drags it down so badly. Not a chance in a million years that all four of them are present on every track, which is what a band should be doing as a starter!

LROOE is hit or miss to me. There are some songs that I love, and some that I don't care for. I agree with you, TLR, about Henley's ranting on Business As Usual and other tracks like it. It sounds reminiscent of some of his solo work (If Dirt Were Dollars, Gimme What You Got, I Will Not Go Quietly, etc.) - those songs all sound the same to me. I agree with you about Joe's songs too. Mixed bag though it is, I'm glad they got together to make LROOE.