Took It Easy: Glenn Frey, May You RIP

Some of those Eagles songs are truly great. Take it Easy was written in collaboration with Jackson Browne, a favorite of mine.

It was a timeline group. Not innovative like Bowie, but still a huuge impact on AMerican rock. (Actually I thought that Hotel California was probably the second worst song after "Theyre Coming to Take ME Away").

He will be missed. We gotta keep Joe Walsh from getting too stoned at the shivah

Hotel California -
A niece of my first wife stayed with us for a month. She was obsessed with that song. She would write the words on every scrap of paper in the house. Then sign it, as though she herself had written them. When she ran out of loose paper she got into my private notebooks and continued to write it down. It did no good to write: Private: Keep Out on the covers. She did it anyway. I was never a fan of the song, and now I just can't listen to it.

See?

I often times...get sentimental...and can go to hyperbole when someone big such as a music celeb that I used to enjoy a lot...takes the dirt nap. I just now wrote Osso a PM about my thoughts about how my taste has changed over the years.

My change in taste happened right in the middle of when rock music went from a big music biz a bit after the Beatles break-up into a mega-big business. Sadly The Eagles went from being Linda R's studio band..to a huge act of their own. Some of the lyrics were some of the most memorable..often those written by Don Henley. But clearly Frey had some great lyrics, too.

Umm as for Hotel California.,..it was amazing (as an audiophile) for me to listen to...but it was 100% content-free. Nowadays, I haven't listened to it in 10 years as that sterile, studio..perfect sound ..and almost clinical direction..where rock lost its soul - hate to say it...but they were at the epicenter of that.

Furthermore, Frey was infamous in his mistreatment of some of the non-founding members of the group ...it was abominable and selfish.

Amen to the Jackson Browne comments.

I did not follow the group as people that closely, but I always paid attention when a new song would come out. In my world that is high praise.

Jackson Browne also released Peaceful, Easy feeling, and did a great job. Years ago, I would have viewed Hotel California the same way others described it, but when they embarked on the Hell Freezes over Tour, they had refined that song into an epic masterpiece with amazing guitar work that makes me melt. The Eagles and Tina Turner are the first musical acts I can think of who actually improved with age. Tina's rendition of River Deep, Mountain High soared as she took control of her voice, miles and mile better than when it was originally recorded. Likewise, the 1994 version of Hotel California.

Tina...was/is the best. She is the first of a very short list of singers that sends chills up my spine. As Tina aged, she got better and better...not just vocally but her whole act..became an amazing work of art to behold.

When it comes to virtuoso guitar work, for me, it is that later version of Eagles...and Queen.

My taste (as it developed after mid-80s or '90s) in what I reached me emotionally migrated over to a slightly less-than-perfect ... perhaps less-refined sound ...more acoustic and acoustic-folk and more jazz.

That doesn't detract from those who excelled in studio-perfect sound..and those lovely guitar tones produced by those we mentioned. I just needed more grit and fiber in my musical diet.