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Thread: Songs you wished you could switch lead vocals

  1. #21
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    Default Re: Songs you wished you could switch lead vocals

    Quote Originally Posted by Delilah View Post
    I got the impression Glenn wasn't very confident about his voice, esp. being in a band with Henley. Felder wrote that Glenn would not want anyone around in the control room when he was singing. Randy said he admired how Glenn kept working on his vocals till he got it right.

    I love Glenn's voice but I don't think he could have pulled off "One of These Nights" and sing those R-n-B falsettos the way Henley did. He just didn't have Henley's range. I suspect this is why he handed off "Most of Us Are Sad" to Randy b/c again, he didn't have the range to hit those low notes. Of course, Glenn did improve over time.

    I think Henley singing "Tequila Sunrise" or Glenn singing "Victim of Love" would be interesting.
    Of course Randy's version of "Most of Us Are Sad" is beautiful. But Glenn wrote it, so I feel he would have no problem singing it. And mainly, I would KILL to hear him sing that one line: "I will sing you far away...."
    It seems I remember reading that at a private show Glenn was doing, fans were demanding "Hotel California". They said he finally relented, saying he couldn't play it, but what the heck. I don't know if it's true, but would love to have heard that.
    Not saying leads should have been switched. But everyone would like MORE leads from their favorite. I wish they had made more records.
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  2. #22
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    Default Re: Songs you wished you could switch lead vocals

    Quote Originally Posted by UndertheWire View Post
    I don't think it's a coincidence that the "Henley Takeover" followed their first #1 which was sung by Henley. This followed on four singles which didn't chart highly (Tequila Sunrise, Outlaw Man, Already Gone, James Dean) and were all sung by Glenn.
    And after this alleged takeover, who sang two of the next number ones and ALL subsequent Grammy winning songs except for Hotel California?

    Glenn.

  3. #23
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    Default Re: Songs you wished you could switch lead vocals

    Quote Originally Posted by Delilah View Post
    I'm guessing without looking at all of the set lists that those Don solo songs were Boys of Summer, Dirty Laundry, All She Wants to Do Is Dance and Heart of the Matter. These were very big hits for Don, not only in terms of chart success but also sales. I believe DL went gold, as did his first solo album; his other albums went platinum and were top 10 albums. He won Grammy awards for his solo work and also scored top 10 hits with his duets with Stevie Nicks and Patty Smythe. He has also won critical acclaim, being listed as one of the 100 Best Singers of All Time by Rolling Stone magazine. His Building the Perfect Beast was ranked among the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time by RS.

    His solo work was quite high-profile so it does seem the Eagles would want to capitalize on that. I enjoy Glenn's solo material, I own some of it and I just bought his Live in Dublin cd. But I am not surprised that Henley's solo songs outnumbered Glenn's.

    I haven't read through Soda's Pebble Beach thread entirely; it's something I'd like to do when I can do so uninterrupted. But I have read parts of it. Something that stuck out in my mind was when someone asks Glenn if he plans to add some solo songs to the Eagles setlist. His reaction indicated he didn't seem warm to the idea (it would be interesting to know why). So I'm not sure that Henley was singing more of his own stuff b/c he was doing what was best for Don, or that's just the way it worked out. Besides, he was getting paid more than the others so he should have sang more leads.
    Please provide a source for this assertion, because as far as I am aware Don & Glenn were paid the same (BOTH of them were paid more than the others). Also, Glenn wrote the setlists.

    It should be remembered that The Heat Is On & You Belong To The City were in fact bigger chart hits than any of Don's songs. But in my view chart success should not have been a deciding factor in how the setlists were composed. Presumably HFO became the Henley & his backing band show also because Henley had the highest profile. This may have been true, but it totally destroyed the balance of that show. The tour was far more balanced, and even included Smuggler's Blues, on which Henley even deigned to play drums.

    The video of Glenn singing LITFL seems to have disappeared. I thought he did an excellent job. I would also have liked to have heard him sing songs like Victim Of Love, The Sad Café & what would have been wrong with HIM doing King Of Hollywood? He could have even possibly have done the title track from LROOE, given how distinctive his backing vocals are on that song.
    Last edited by Freypower; 09-06-2017 at 07:15 PM.

  4. #24
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    Default Re: Songs you wished you could switch lead vocals

    Groupie - No, I am sorry I do not have the link. I remember reading it in a newspaper article in the early 80's. Almost all of those old articles have disappeared. I am paraphrasing from what I remember but, he pretty much said he had given away too many vocals and too much power to Don. I was not surprised about either comment as I figured that was part of the struggle (along with other things) that broke them up.

    I would have loved to see a "Party of Two" Tour although I know Joe was was in his worst phase of addiction during that time period. How did Glenn sound(despite the severe cold) singing LITF ? I also would have loved to see him sing VOL and Sad Cafe. I think he would have done an incredible job on both songs.

    I think Glenn most definitely sold himself short in terms of his singing and guitar abilities. His jokes regarding his abilities did not help things. I think it is interesting we have rarely seen/read any compliments from Don, Tim or Joe regarding Glenn's singing/guitar abilities. He sure praised all of them, including Randy and Bernie(rightly so). I think one of the few times I saw Don praise Glenn was in the special RS issue after Glenn passed.
    Last edited by New Kid In Town; 09-06-2017 at 11:24 PM.

  5. #25
    Border Rebel Pippinwhite's Avatar
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    Default Re: Songs you wished you could switch lead vocals

    NKIT-- So true. I think it was a case of "didn't realize what you had until it was gone." Although Joe has always been very complimentary of his bandmates. And I've heard Tim say nice things about Glenn, too. I think it would be so against their personalities not to give credit where credit is due. But it's a fact Glenn was always so generous in praising the abilities of his colleagues. And he might have criticized some of the things Don F. did, but never would you hear Glenn say the man wasn't a fine musician. That would have never happened.

    Maybe I "get" Glenn's self-deprecating humor, though. My parents were a little older when I was born, and are of pretty much the same generation as Glenn's folks. Grew up in the Depression, worked hard -- just good, solid working folks.

    Not surprisingly, Glenn was in the gifted program at school. So was I. If his mom and dad were anything like mine, he heard, "Don't be such a know-it-all. Nobody likes a know-it-all" every day of his childhood. I know I did. And if they were anything like my parents, they had absolutely no idea what to do with their smart little kid in the early going. So you grow up thinking that you might be smart/talented, but showing it off isn't going to win you any friends. So you pull back a little and decide that maybe you'll be less smart in front of your buddies, or you'll make jokes about it. And eventually, you start doubting your gifts. It's a fine line to walk.

    I think that's one reason Glenn worked so hard. It was in his blood, but also, I know it was in the back of his mind that he was going to work hard, put in the time to getting his vocals or whatever right, so no one could say, "Well, you're smart, so you don't have to work as hard as other people." I heard it. I know he did.

    Call it armchair psychoanalysis, but I understand that mindset so well. And selling tens of millions of records and writing Grammy-winning songs still doesn't quite erase that from your psyche. You'd think it would, but some habits don't fade so easily. It's taken me a long time to be able to say, "Look. I'm smart. I didn't ask for it. I was born this way. I'm not trying to make you feel stupid. But I'm not apologizing for being what I am, either." It's been a long time coming. But I still hear "don't be a know-it-all" echoing, too. So, I get it.

  6. #26
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    Default Re: Songs you wished you could switch lead vocals

    I would have liked to hear Randy sing another rocking song. I like his voice on Take the Devil and Tryin' a lot more than on his other songs.

    Watching the start of that 1973 BBC show, I was reminded of how remarkable it was that the first four songs each had a different lead singer. It was certainly a selling point with me.

    FP, the success of the Glenn-sung later singles shows that the move to more Henley-sung songs wasn't necessarily the right way to go. However, back in 1974/5 when they finally had that #1, I could see them thinking that Henley's was the voice people wanted to hear and Glenn going for it because the success of the band meant more to him than personal glory. Also, with the OotN, there were compromises to keep Bernie on board.

  7. #27
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    Default Re: Songs you wished you could switch lead vocals

    Quote Originally Posted by Freypower View Post
    Please provide a source for this assertion, because as far as I am aware Don & Glenn were paid the same (BOTH of them were paid more than the others). Also, Glenn wrote the setlists.

    It should be remembered that The Heat Is On & You Belong To The City were in fact bigger chart hits than any of Don's songs. But in my view chart success should not have been a deciding factor in how the setlists were composed. Presumably HFO became the Henley & his backing band show also because Henley had the highest profile. This may have been true, but it totally destroyed the balance of that show. The tour was far more balanced, and even included Smuggler's Blues, on which Henley even deigned to play drums.

    The video of Glenn singing LITFL seems to have disappeared. I thought he did an excellent job. I would also have liked to have heard him sing songs like Victim Of Love, The Sad Café & what would have been wrong with HIM doing King Of Hollywood? He could have even possibly have done the title track from LROOE, given how distinctive his backing vocals are on that song.
    Even with Smuggler's Blues, I think Glenn only did 2 solo songs for the HFO tour. SB and You Belong to the City. I remember really hoping he'd do "The Heat is On" and was kind of disappointed he didn't.
    I think easily you could have taken one of Don's solos and plugged in The Heat is On or Lover's Moon, to have balanced the solos out more.

  8. #28
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    Default Re: Songs you wished you could switch lead vocals

    It's funny how talk of switching vocals as become about Glenn singing less.

    I'm trying not to make this too negative. One thing that sticks in my mind is a comment from Glenn when he was promoting No Fun Aloud about singing in a different way and that Bob Seger had told him he could do it. A year or two later, Henley did an (audio) interview and made a comment about Glenn not having the right voice for that kind of music whereas he did. I'm sure there are people who would agree with Henley (the interview certainly did) but I'm with Bob Seger.

    Anyway, if you have band members who criticise your efforts, it may push you to do better but it may also damage your confidence.

  9. #29
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    Default Re: Songs you wished you could switch lead vocals

    Sorry...didn't mean to make it about that...but I guess when you think about it..there are a lot more songs that people would like to hear Glenn do, as opposed to Glenn songs that people would want to hear Don do....and I guess that's because Don did sing so many.

    I think Henley would have done very well singing Heartache Tonight.
    I would like to hear that.

    I think Glenn would have done very good with Train Leaves Here This Morning.
    Really, any of Bernie's songs could easily have been Glenn's.

  10. #30
    Stuck on the Border Delilah's Avatar
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    Default Re: Songs you wished you could switch lead vocals

    Quote Originally Posted by Freypower View Post
    Please provide a source for this assertion, because as far as I am aware Don & Glenn were paid the same (BOTH of them were paid more than the others). Also, Glenn wrote the setlists.
    Sorry, that was sloppy posting on my part, assuming everyone knew Don and Glenn were getting paid more. This is what I should have said:

    Being one of the 2 highest paid members of the band, Don should have been singing more leads and bringing more to the show.

    Quote Originally Posted by UndertheWire View Post
    It's funny how talk of switching vocals as become about Glenn singing less.

    I'm trying not to make this too negative. One thing that sticks in my mind is a comment from Glenn when he was promoting No Fun Aloud about singing in a different way and that Bob Seger had told him he could do it. A year or two later, Henley did an (audio) interview and made a comment about Glenn not having the right voice for that kind of music whereas he did. I'm sure there are people who would agree with Henley (the interview certainly did) but I'm with Bob Seger.
    I'm not surprised that the discussion has become about Glenn singing less. I'm not trying to cause waves by any means but the board seems to be going back to what it was originally, a forum for Glenn Frey fans.

    I remember that interview. If I'm not mistaken, Don said Glenn did not have the voice for RnB, which I believe Glenn tried to tackle on The Allnighter. He seemed to have moved away from that sound on his next albums, which were not as successful as No Fun Aloud and The Allnighter.

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