Eagles books

[Ive always been a dreamer]

Yep - thanks for reviving this thread, UTW and reminding me about this book. I had forgotten to order it, so as soon as I read your post, I hopped over to Amazon and snagged one for under $15. I'm not expecting to learn anything new, but since I'm somewhat of a completest when it comes to the band, I need to have it. It's been a while since I read any of the books. I keep saying I'm going to go back and reread all of them to refresh my memory, but I can't seem to ever get around to it.

[GlennLover]

I keep planning to reread them too as it has been awhile and my memory isn't that great I must really make the effort to actually do that!

[VAisForEagleLovers]

I've read a couple of them, and they aren't accurate, so that ruins it for me. I go through the entire book doubting everything I've read. I felt the same way about Felder's book. Knowing going into it that he relied on Eliot's book, which is chock full of errors, to fill in the holes in his memory meant it lacked credibility to me. Still, at least Eliot got the names right as far as I can tell. A book that has such basic facts wrong means it was put out by someone who doesn't know the band, and is doing it purely to make money off its fans. I refuse to fund their ignorance.

[NightMistBlue]

"Hotel California" by Barney Hoskins
This is the one that opens with five naked young men in a sauna.
I really enjoyed this. It has a broader sweep covering The Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, CSN&Y, Joni Mitchell, David Geffen which all gives context and perhaps a better perspective. Hoskyns interviewed lots of people, including JD, Jackson and Bernie. Lots of good anecdotes.

I recently finished this book and enjoyed it very much. It does give a wonderful perspective and I came away with 2 pages of densely-written notes of songs and albums to check out. Hoskyns has done books on two of my other main musical obsessions - the Doors and Led Zeppelin - so those are going on the ol' Amazon wish list. If he writes about the Beach Boys next, he's gonna be my hero

[Ive always been a dreamer]

Well - I received my Eagles Q&A book, but have only had time to browse through it. I did read the short introduction and, predictably, I thinking I'm not going to get a lot of new information. Plus, I have already found a couple of inaccuracies. As others mentioned, even if I do happen upon something I didn't already know, I'm not sure I'll be able to trust that it's true. Oh well, silly me will probably go ahead and read it anyway eventually just because.

And it is cool that Vaughan credits the online fan sites, but he didn't even manage to get that information exactly correct either.

[Funk 50]

I've just watched a BBC tv documentary, presented by Mark Radcliffe titled Biggest Band Break Ups And Make Ups.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode...s-and-make-ups

Mark Radcliffe looks at the highs and lows of band life - the creative tension that produces great music and the pressures that come with success and fame, which pulls many apart.

The aforementioned Barney Hoskins is one of the music jounalists interviewed.
This documentary attributes the "The Eagles will reunite when hell freezes over" to Glenn Frey.

Although there doesn't appear to be much evidence of where and when it was said, it's usually been attributed to Henley.

If the BBC say it's Frey, I'd normally call that conclusive evidence but I'm pretty sure that the HOTE documentary go with Henley, although there doesn't appear to be any concrete evidence that anybody said it. Certainly not before the Hell Freezes Over album was announced.

[UndertheWire]

If the BBC's source is Barney Hoskyns, then they're not reliable. I liked his book, but I remember it as having some inaccuracies.

Thanks for the link to the new doc (probably only available in the UK). It was a good watch and although the Eagles references were simplistic and possibly inaccurate*, the stories of the breakup of other bands reminded me of the Eagles, particularly The Police and The Smiths. The New Order bassist and his lawsuit helped me see Don Felder's side a little.

*I may have misheard it, but I remember Barney Hoskyns saying the Eagles broke up over money. I can accept the argument that they reformed for money (at least in part) but the breakup seems to be down to other staples of band breakups - drugs, stress, broken friendships, personal ambition etc.

[You can see part of the Smiths section here]

[NightMistBlue]

[You can see part of the Smiths section here]

Thank you! Poor Johnny Marr. I loved Morrissey (saw him like 7 times in concert, plus once with the Smiths) but he's got to be the biggest PITA in the world. I went off him after his grotesquely insensitive comment about the Norway massacre.

UTW, what parallels do you see between the Eagles and the Police break ups? Sting went solo because he could make more money and was tired of the other guys challenging him. I don't know about Glenn, but Don H. sure didn't seem confident that he could be a front man. Sting never seemed to lack confidence in that (or any!) regard.

[UndertheWire]

The Police comments that resonated for me were:
- going from all three travelling in a van to separate limos and leading separate lives except when they were shut up in a studio together with the pressure of knowing everyone outside the door was waiting for whatever they came up with.
- they fell apart when one member left to make a solo record (that would be Glenn with the Eagles). Also, Glenn was tired of dealing with Felder and Walsh and probably Henley, too.
- a regret (from Andy Summers) that they didn't agree to take a two year break for solo work and then get back together.
- complaints about not getting songs onto the albums (Andy Summers said he couldn't get Sting to sing his songs).
- Andy Summers talking about the reunion tour as "exhilarating" (just a reminder that playing in front of a huge, appreciate audience has rewards beyond money even if you don't like the other band members).
I will say that compared to Sting (or Mick Jagger), Glenn and Don seem quite democratic and benevolent!

As for The Smiths:
- the comment (from a journalist) about nobody talking about the problems so they don't get addressed.
- Johnny Marr quitting because he'd had enough of dealing with the crap and because he wasn't enjoying it (again, part of the reason Glenn left).
- two band members feeling they had been treated unfairly wrt royalties (one won in court and the other settled).

With New Order, the issue is whether the band split or the bassist left. If they split, the bassist owns 25% of the name and goodwill but if he let, he owns only 1%.

[NightMistBlue]

I got cracking on the Laura Jackson book "Flying High" a few days ago, and am a little dismayed by the copious errors - of chronology, quotes taken way out of context, etc.

However, she did shed a little light on Bernie's various musical adventures after he left the Eagles. She said he was in a Christian bluegrass band, for one thing. Is Bernie a Christian by any chance, does anyone here know?