Felder's "Heaven and Hell" Discussion Thread

[UndertheWire]

Some interesting thoughts about how Azoff could have managed things better. It reminded me of David Geffen supposedly being appalled at the idea of someone like Azoff managing a band as highly-strung as the Eagles.

As Felder joined after Azoff became manager, his book doesn't have anything on the wranglings with management early in their career and because he was shut out/not interested it doesn't have much on the wranglings with record company later. That's why I'm hoping for something from one of the founding members.

I've been thinking about the timelines. I'm not certain of when Azoff moved in and when he split from Geffen-Roberts. He was certainly managing them before Felder joined because he was part of setting them up with Bill Symzyck and Felder only joined at the end of those recording sessions. The "money for Christmas" incident must have been late 1973, after they returned from London and the aborted recording of "On the Border". At that time they had no money and their management hadn't been doing a lot for them.

What this has to do with Felder is that I believe he's right when he says they had nothing when he joined them - at least financially - and then within a few years of his joining they were superstars. What's harder to determine is how much he contributed to that change. He was recruited because Frey/Henley/Meisner/Azoff wanted a harder sound for the band. At the same time, Azoff was pushing for a better deal for them, organising the new corporate structure and making sure the record company supported their releases.