Post by erik on May 8, 2021 17:40:39 GMT -5
One of the most loved (and hated, largely by the critics) rock groups finds itself in the Pop Music Hits Spotlight with a modest hit of theirs that they had intended would move them from medium-sized venues and a country-rock sound to arena/stadium-level smash success.
ALREADY GONE (The Eagles; Asylum; 1974)— Apart from the Beach Boys and the Rolling Stones, the Eagles, by the turn of the millennium (which they celebrated at Staples Center in Los Angeles), were arguably the longest-existing group in rock and roll still standing. Like any group that would become hugely successful, of course, they also had a great deal of internal friction going on behind the scenes. This became rather evident in late 1973, when, having seen their 1972 self-titled debut score big, and then their follow-up, the Western concept album Desperado, partially bomb on the charts, they were looking to sharpen their sound from their California country-rock roots (under which they had begun backing up Linda Ronstadt in 1971) to what would eventually become arena/stadium rock. Their first two albums, with the classic line-up of Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Bernie Leadon, and Randy Meisner, had been done under the aegis of legendary (and highly critical) British rock producer titan Glyn Johns, who absolutely didn’t think they could “rock” like other bands he had worked with, including the Stones. It didn’t help that those two albums were recorded seven thousand miles away from their L.A. homes in England. The group finally put a stop to Johns’ totalitarian way of doing things when, after several weeks of recording at Olympic Studios in London what would become the album On The Border, they had only finished two tracks, “You Never Cry Like A Lover” and “Best Of My Love”. Once back in Los Angeles, they even found new management, separate and apart from their original benefactor David Geffen, in Irving Azoff, who was still managing them as of 2021; and Azoff even managed to find the band a new producer in Bill Szymczyk, who began working with them in January 1974. But even as Szymczyk started working with them, he still noticed, as Johns had, that they didn’t quite have enough muscle to pull off the kind of rock and roll they wanted to exercise. Szymczyk’s suggestion to get another guitarist was immediately filled when Frey got Don Felder, who had been a session musician for several years, to join in. Even with this, there was already infighting between Henley and Frey on one side, and Leadon and Meisner on the other, over this move away from country-rock into a harder rock sound. Still, Felder provided enough heft for a song written by Jack Tempchin (who had written the band’s 1973 hit “Peaceful Easy Feeling”) and Robb Strandlund, called “Already Gone”. According to Frey, the attitude of feeling free from dictatorial rule (in this case Glyn Johns) gave the band the fuller sound he had imagined. Felder’s guitar breaks had more of the influences of Eric Clapton and Duane Allman than the group’s previous Telecaster licks (provided by Leadon). Despite the fact that “Already Gone” would only get as high as #32 on the Hot 100 at the end of June 1974, the Eagles were “already gone” down the path toward superstardom. Ironically, it was the Glyn Johns holdover “Best Of My Love” that would prove to be their first #1 hit (in March 1975); and it was a country-rock ballad co-written by Frey and J.D. Souther.
ALREADY GONE (The Eagles; Asylum; 1974)— Apart from the Beach Boys and the Rolling Stones, the Eagles, by the turn of the millennium (which they celebrated at Staples Center in Los Angeles), were arguably the longest-existing group in rock and roll still standing. Like any group that would become hugely successful, of course, they also had a great deal of internal friction going on behind the scenes. This became rather evident in late 1973, when, having seen their 1972 self-titled debut score big, and then their follow-up, the Western concept album Desperado, partially bomb on the charts, they were looking to sharpen their sound from their California country-rock roots (under which they had begun backing up Linda Ronstadt in 1971) to what would eventually become arena/stadium rock. Their first two albums, with the classic line-up of Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Bernie Leadon, and Randy Meisner, had been done under the aegis of legendary (and highly critical) British rock producer titan Glyn Johns, who absolutely didn’t think they could “rock” like other bands he had worked with, including the Stones. It didn’t help that those two albums were recorded seven thousand miles away from their L.A. homes in England. The group finally put a stop to Johns’ totalitarian way of doing things when, after several weeks of recording at Olympic Studios in London what would become the album On The Border, they had only finished two tracks, “You Never Cry Like A Lover” and “Best Of My Love”. Once back in Los Angeles, they even found new management, separate and apart from their original benefactor David Geffen, in Irving Azoff, who was still managing them as of 2021; and Azoff even managed to find the band a new producer in Bill Szymczyk, who began working with them in January 1974. But even as Szymczyk started working with them, he still noticed, as Johns had, that they didn’t quite have enough muscle to pull off the kind of rock and roll they wanted to exercise. Szymczyk’s suggestion to get another guitarist was immediately filled when Frey got Don Felder, who had been a session musician for several years, to join in. Even with this, there was already infighting between Henley and Frey on one side, and Leadon and Meisner on the other, over this move away from country-rock into a harder rock sound. Still, Felder provided enough heft for a song written by Jack Tempchin (who had written the band’s 1973 hit “Peaceful Easy Feeling”) and Robb Strandlund, called “Already Gone”. According to Frey, the attitude of feeling free from dictatorial rule (in this case Glyn Johns) gave the band the fuller sound he had imagined. Felder’s guitar breaks had more of the influences of Eric Clapton and Duane Allman than the group’s previous Telecaster licks (provided by Leadon). Despite the fact that “Already Gone” would only get as high as #32 on the Hot 100 at the end of June 1974, the Eagles were “already gone” down the path toward superstardom. Ironically, it was the Glyn Johns holdover “Best Of My Love” that would prove to be their first #1 hit (in March 1975); and it was a country-rock ballad co-written by Frey and J.D. Souther.