It always sounded to me like Henley/Felder sing the verses and Frey/Mesiner sing the harmony and the "play on el chingadero"
It always sounded to me like Henley/Felder sing the verses and Frey/Mesiner sing the harmony and the "play on el chingadero"
The One Of These Nights album credits;
Visions: Lead vocal and lead guitar by Don Felder
Good job Felder didn't sing Victim Of love or Those Shoes. They wouldn't sound right with an amalgamation of voices.
Visions must be the only Eagles track where the lead vocals are questionable, except maybe King Of Hollywood.
I cannot imagine anyone but Don Henley singing Those Shoes or VoL. I guess I feel that way about most songs he sings. Good choice by the Eagles!
I must admit when I first heard King Of Hollywood I really wasn't too sure who was singing it, but once you know why it's different from usual (with Don singing the lower part and Glenn the higher part, the opposite to the more expected vocal combination - listen to the shared vocal on Good Day In Hell as a contrast) then it makes sense. I can clearly tell that it's Don and Glenn, unlike the rather indistinct combination of voices on Visions.
Couldn't agree more about the vocals on VOL and Those Shoes, especially the former - the fact that Don Felder himself acknowledged that Henley's voice was better for that song tells you a lot. Had I not known about the plans for Felder to sing those two songs, I wouldn't have ever thought that anyone other than Henley would have even been considered to sing those two, his voice just suits them both perfectly I think.
I've always thought that the main vocal in Visions is Felder harmonizing with himself. I don't hear any other voice "jumping" from the mix. Usually I seem to hear Glenn no matter who he sings with. There are three people singing the "short people are just the same..." bit in Short People, for example, and Glenn is all I hear!
Last edited by chaim; 03-07-2015 at 05:29 PM.
But Glenn is so easy to hear in 'don't you ever think about the other side', 'you & me oughta be takin' a ride' and 'the boy didn't love you anyhow' that it surprises me you would say that.
I clearly hear Glenn in those bits - always have - but I consider them background vocals. I was talking about the "main" vocal part:
Go ahead and live all your fantasies
Helps you get from where you are to where you want to be
etc.
That "main vocal" is where I think Felder is harmonizing with himself.
The "background vocal" part is another example where I hear Glenn, but I have no idea who's singing with him.
I watched the 1973 BBC video of Peaceful Easy Feeling recently and realised that it's just Glenn, Bernie and Randy singing. About 2 minutes into the song, there's a shot where Don is in the background and he's not singing whereas the other three can all be heard.
This got me wondering whether Don sang "Silver Daggers". It's impossible to see in the BBC concert, but in the 1972 Central Park performance, Don is clearly shown singing.